So, you want to use the expanded definition of a customer (someone who buys your stuff, at a profit and refers other customers) to grow your business.  You see the value of turning your customers into your biggest fans and strongest salespeople.  Sounds good on paper, but how do you do it in real life?  When and how do you bring up the whole conversation of referrals? 

Do It Now!

The first meeting is the best time in the relationship to let people know how you work.  To build your business with referrals, you can advise people of this fact immediately.

The Reticular Activated System (RAS)

You each have a center in your brain called the reticular activated system.  This system is the attention center of the brain. It also allows you to automatically filter out all of the various noises and distractions in your lives that are not important in the moment, so that you can focus on those areas that are important.

For example, a new mom sleeping in a 14th floor apartment above a noisy street can sleep, oblivious to the noise below.  Yet when her baby stirs two rooms over, she’s up like a flash and at her child’s side.  The reticular activated system is the brain’s mechanism to focus what you pay attention to.

Have you ever noticed, that after you see and like a car, all of a sudden there are more of those cars around?  Or if you, your spouse or a close friend is expecting a baby, there seems to be more expectant mom’s around?  Those things were there all the time.  Your attention system that filtered them out before, now brings them to your notice.

Exercise it for yourself

Please make a mental note:  How many yellow cars have you seen in the last 24 hours?  Now, for the next 24 hours, simply count the number of yellow cars you see.  By the way, cabs do count in this exercise.

If you try this yellow car exercise, you will most likely find an increase in the number you see.  Test it out for yourself, and you be the judge.

Letting your customer’s RAS work for you

Some people advocate that the time to bring up referrals is after a product or service has been delivered and the customer is happy with the outcome.  However, if you do it this way, your customers RAS will not automatically work with you. 

A Better Approach

Here is an example of a possible discussion that you might have with a potential client / customer, on the first visit.

“Mr. Smith, if we do business, there will be a time when you will be thrilled with who we are and what we do.  That may sound a little brash, but let me explain.

We won’t take on a new client unless we can see a clear win for them in advance of working together.  Our business grows by word of mouth. No single client fee is worth the loss in reputation that might occur by taking on an assignment that we are not confident of success.  Then, if we see the win and get started, we do not stop until we achieve it together.

So, If we do business together, there will be a time when you are thrilled with who we are and what we do.  We actively set it up that way.

When this happens you will probably want to talk about us to your friends, colleagues and associates.  This is a good thing.  As I mentioned, our business grows by word of mouth, so it is important to us that you are happy enough with our services to pay us for our work.  We also want you to be so thrilled that you become one of our biggest allies and fans.

A couple of things about that.  First of all, if you refer someone to us, we won’t give you a free toaster or a trip to Mexico.  We provide our clients with the best pricing possible, so we haven’t built in awards, prizes or cash back if someone refers us.  If you refer us to a colleague, it will probably be because of an opportunity you see for that colleague to benefit by working with us.

Second, we make no promise that we can assist the person you refer.  Just like you, we won’t do business with them unless we see a clear win for them from working together.  However, we will promise you:  We don’t know if we can assist someone you refer until we talk to them. We will treat anyone you send our way with just as much courtesy, professionalism and respect as we treat you with… and of course you would never send anyone to us unless you were satisfied with the levels of courtesy, professionalism and respect we provide, would you? Of course not!

I only have one request:  If we work together, may I periodically check with you to see if you are thrilled yet?”

Summary

By planting seeds in this manner (or in your own style), you will increase your effectiveness in gaining referrals. Your customer’s RAS will automatically respond by bringing to their attention the colleagues that will benefit from working with you. 

You will end up getting and keeping more customers at a profit as you build your business consistent with your goals and commitments in life.