Grow your business - right now - by generating more referrals

By Jeffrey Scott

Here are three big ideas that will change the way you market and grow your business.
You can grow your business, even in today's economy, if you have enough people out there selling your services! The most cost effective way to increase your sales force is by growing the number of people who advocate for you.

The following ideas are what I call the big three fallacies about referrals; ideas that have become accepted as truth, that are holding companies back from more growth.

1. You can grow your company with 100 percent referrals.
This is not entirely true and it will hold you back. Consider the following:

Your basic marketing plan typically addresses four growth categories:
   1. Referrals and customer relationships
   2. Professional outside relationships
   3. Branding your firm
   4. Marketing for new leads
Customer referrals is only one of the four elements of your growth plan. There is immense synergy when you combine/integrate the different strategies, and there is trouble when you do not.

(Definition: Synergy means, 1 +1 + 1 = 5. In other words, when you focus your energy, like a laser, your performance jumps a level, from light that shines, to light that burns.)
I know one business owner who relies 100 percent on referrals, and they are only growing with inflation - and that was when the economy was doing well. They are a large business, but they are not in control of their fate. They are rising and falling with the tide.
There are numerous examples on how to create growth through synergy; one happened when I took over my family's swimming pool and landscape (lawn and tree) maintenance and design/construction firm, about a decade ago.

$2 million in referrals? - The year I took over, referrals from professionals brought in $50,000 per year. We created an integrated approach to generating referrals from professionals. It included the following:

• Focused direct mail - post cards, letters and a brochure every now and then.
• Office presentations and networking.
• Offering support services to the professionals - inspection and evaluation services.

This approach raised referral sales from professionals to over $2 million.
There are all kinds of ways to integrate marketing to boost referrals (advertising, Web sites, e-mails, presentations, videos, cable, etc).

Action Step: look for one way to add direct mail and office presentations to your professional networking. Or review your top marketing initiatives and focus them like a laser at the same target, and you will create explosive growth!

2. People advocate for you when your product is good.
This is not quite true. People will advocate for you when they like you personally (or their contact at your firm).

If you want to increase the quality of your referrals, you have to increase the quality of your relationships.

With this in mind, consider the following:

• How up to date are your relationships with your customers?
• What do you know personally about your top 10 customers? Top 20? Top 50?
• When was the last time they heard from you?
• Following the 20-80 rule, what have you done special for your top customers? (we will explore a good example a bit further down)

3. Your customers will refer you as long as you get the end result they want.
This is also not true. You can't ask for referrals, when the work"process" is sub par. Too many contractors make the process"painful" on the client. Does your"process" make your customers smile?

They may love you, but they hate your process!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are your processes delighting your customers? Look at all your processes:

• Initial contact
• Contract signing
• Billing
• Communication before and after jobs
• Troubleshooting
• Response to issues,
• Etc, etc.

If you are not sure, involve your staff. I bet they can tell you places that your customers would like to see an improvement. Moreover, involve your customers. They will tell you, for sure.

Here is a great way to get client feedback. Ask them, on a scale of 1 to 10,"How likely are you to refer us to someone you care about?"

When they give you a score of less than 10, your job is to follow up with questions until you uncover all their issues. During this process, be prepared to ask questions about your processes. (By the way, if they score you a"10," it is a good time to ask for referrals! We will also cover this at TCI EXPO.) This is a process your office staff can do on the phone, or you can do in person.

Action Step: Review your processes with your staff and close customers, and identify three ways to improve them.

The big example
Here is one example that tackles two-and-a-half of these three strategies above - in a crazy out-of-the-box way.

A friend of mine who runs a medium-sized firm in the mid west told me recently how he chartered a plane and flew his best clients to Canada for a fishing trip.

His friends thought he was crazy and told him so. But he made enough money to cover the trip. (How many of you can say that about your own vacation trips?!)

He will make a lot of money with this venture in the coming 12 months - in referrals and in increased repeat work!

Imagine, from now on whenever he talks with these clients, they will reminisce on the trip that bonded them very tightly together. Wow! That is priceless, as you fight the competition, strive to create a way to separate yourself, and as you grow your base of advocates.

You can't afford to do that, you say?

If the idea makes you money over a 12- to 24-month period, then you can't afford not to do it. Please, stop listening to people who only draw within the lines. Create your own practices when it comes to building relationships and marketing and branding your business.

But, listen to your customers when it comes to your processes. If not, all of your good ideas will go to waste; because they won't love you until you make it easy to love you - through an easy process.

Do you want to bounce around some ideas for increased growth? Are you not sure where to turn for new ideas? Consider joining a peer group. Better yet, join us at TCI EXPO in Milwaukee in November and I'll be glad to respond to your questions.

Jeffrey Scott is president of Landscape Success Systems, a business consulting firm specializing in the green industry. He will be presenting on this same topic,"Build Your Brand - Captivate the Right Client - Grow Your Business!" at TCI EXPO in Milwaukee in November. To learn more or to register, go to www.tcia.org.