I am shamelessly stealing an idea from Thom Singer over at Some Assembly Required. He recently started a series of posts called "The ABCs of Networking" (which I highly recommend, along with the rest of Thom's blog).
The ABCs of Automatic Referrals... now that's an idea I just couldn't pass up. So today marks the inaugural post. And what better way to start than with the concept of action.
There's a reason that Nike's slogan "Just do it" became one of the best-known taglines of all time. It resonates. We all know deep down that action is the cornerstone of success, and that sitting around wishing our clients would give us more referrals isn't going to get us anywhere. We've got to take action and start asking.
The interesting thing, though, is that the very act of committing to improve your referral business can have a positive impact, even before you start making tangible changes in your strategy and tactics. Marketing expert Robert Middleton alluded to this idea in a couple of very interesting articles in his More Clients ezine. In "An Intention Experiment," Robert asked his readers to do a simple experiment: choose a positive goal or outcome and write it down as if they'd already accomplished it.
Further, he asked them to reflect on this outcome each day for a week, all the while imagining themselves experiencing the feelings of satisfaction and happiness that achieving it would bring.
"I got more email back from this than any eZine in memory," he wrote in his follow-up article, "Beyond Intentions." "People reported that they had received unexpected checks in the mail, gained new clients and workshop participants, etc.... When you finally get out of your own way with the endless stream of negative intentions (which include reasons why not, self-defeating beliefs, limited thinking, and lame excuses) you can actually get around to marketing your business."
In short, simply forming an intention or making a real committment to get more referrals constitutes meaningful action. Of course, you must then follow up on your intention with more tangible steps if it's going to have staying power.
We got validation of this concept from a top producer who started getting more referrals almost as soon as she began reading the Automatic Referrals report—to the tune of 10 referrals, each worth more than $1 million, all within a month of reading the report.
"The remarkable thing is, it's kind of like writing down your goals for the year," she told us of the transformation in her business. "You write them down and you commit to them, and all of a sudden they start happening."
Referral success is within your reach. It's all up to you. Are you ready to act?
Subscribe to our free referrals newsletter.
Comments