But its up to you to stimulate those referrals. A psychiatrist Ive advised made his business boom by following just one piece of advice: He told the people who referred patients to him (the bulk of his business) to tell

The psychiatrist ate that cost himself, but more than made it up in new business because so many patients urged friends and family to try him out. A client of mine, with a landscaping service company, increased his business by 33% in one year using referrals. He gives his vendors a finders fee of 20% of what the 191 referrals spend for deep-root feeding and pruning services. This averages out annually to a nice $300 referral fee per client. PUTTING A REFERRAL SYSTEM IN PLACE Look at how many referrals you get accidentally right now. Then multiply that number by 10. Then double it. And then, redouble it. Potentially, thats the increase in business you could be looking at producing. A formal on-going client referral system will bring you an immediate increase in clients and profit. A referral-generated client normally spends more money, buys more often, is more profitable and loyal than any other category of busine

And, referrals are easy to get. Referrals beget referrals. They are self-perpetuating. HOW TO DO IT Step One: Every time clients deal with you in person, through your sales staff, by letter, e-mail or on the phone, diplomatically ask them for client referrals. But first you must set the stage. Tell your clients that you realize you enjoy doing business with them and they probably associate with other people like themselves who mirror their values and quality. Tell them youd like to extend to them the opportunity of referring their valued and trusted associates to you. Then help the client see a clear picture of who in their lives could benefit most effectively, and naturally, from your services or products. Tell them what kind of person or business it might be, where they are, what they are probably doing and why theyd be benefited. Show them what that person or entity 192 would be doing or buying right now so that the picture is vivid. Then extend a totally ris

Step Two: Willingly offer to confer with, review, advise or at least talk or meet with anyone important to that client. Offer to consult their referral or let them sample or get a demonstration of your product or service in action without expectation of purchase, so your client sees you as a valuable expert with whom they can put their friends or colleagues in touch. If you do this every day to every client you talk to, sell to, write to or visit and you also get your key team members to do it too, for just five working days to start you cant help but get dozens or even hundreds of new clients. I have seen business literally tripled in six months when people followed an aggressive client-referral process. REFERRAL SYSTEMS ARE THE KEY TO OPTIMIZATION AND EXPONENTIAL GROWTH Why do you want referrals? You want referrals because this is the least expensive, has the least risk, and has the highest leverage and highest potential payoff of any wa