Referral Marketing – The Easy Way To Get More Clients

I’ve been working with several small businesses lately on their marketing strategies and I have to say that I’m amazed by the fact that NONE of them had any way of systemizing a referral system. All of them said that one of their most effective ways for them to get more clients was by word of mouth. Yet they weren’t taking advantage of this in any way.

If you have a service that your clients already love, asking your current or past clients to tell others about your services is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to grow your business and create a steady stream of warm leads.

So today I want to talk to you about some simple numbers. This is a lesson that comes from Internet Marketer, David Frey, who is one of a shrinking number of big-name internet marketers who I couldn’t complain about even if I wanted to.

Here’s David’s thoughts on How To Master Referral Marketing as he shares the following 3-1-3 Referral Strategy which has given his clients exponential results.

Most people do not like asking for referrals but you don’t even have to ask – in person. You can implement David’s 3-1-3 Referral Strategy and use cards to do the asking. Here is how it works.

You send a relationship-building card every month for three months. You don’t promote anything or ask for any business. The cards sole purpose is to build the relationship. Make sure you are sending fun, personalized, unique cards that they’ll want to keep on their desk.

Then on the fourth month, you send a referral card that reminds them that referrals are important to your business. You could send a referral card that on the front says “Who do you know?” Those are the four most important words in referral marketing. On the inside of the card you might write a personal message that says something like, “Hi Murray, this is Dave. You may or may not know that I’m trying to expand my business. I really need your help. Would you do me a favor? Would you refer me to two or three people who you feel would benefit from my services?” It’s a very simple message.

Then you repeat the process. The fifth, sixth and seventh months are relationship-building cards. The eighth month is a referral card. The ninth, tenth and eleventh months are relationship building cards. The twelfth month is a referral card.

So if you are sending a referral card once every four months – that’s three times a year you are asking for referrals.

Let’s just say that you had 200 clients. If you send out that referral card three times a month to 200 people, that’s 600 times that you have reminded people that referrals are important to your business.

Ask yourself how many times did you actually ask someone for a referral last year? Was it once, twice, or maybe three times?

It was probably none at all. Imagine if you ask 600 times. Do you think you could double the amount of referrals that you’re getting right now?

If you could just double the amount of referrals you’re getting right now, and your referral business is currently around $50,000 then doubling it would bring in an extra $50,000 and all you’ve done is send a few cards.

That is the 3-1-3 Referral Strategy. David Frey said he had implemented this with a group of pool builders in the pool industry and with hot tub retailers. They didn’t experience double. In most cases, their referrals have quintupled!

If you could quadruple (or even double) the number of referrals you get, what would that be worth to you?

Dont wait. Make it your top priority to implement the 3-1-3 Referral Strategy today.

You can implement it manually or you can use a system to automate the process. The system I recommend is SendOutCards. SendOutCards allows you to create and send custom cards with your photos in your handwriting and with your signature.

You can test drive it now and send a card with my compliments.

Let me know your results from implementing David’s 3-1-3 Referral Strategy.

Your Action Plan For The Week:

1. Make a list of all your current or past clients (even better is to get your VA to do it for you).
2. Decide whether you are going to send a relationship building card manually or using an automated system.
3. Get your first bunch of ‘thank you’ cards out in the mail within the next 14 days.
4. Watch your business grow!