Beyond Referrals: How to Use the Perpetual Revenue System to Convert Referrals into High-Value Clients - Softcover

Cates, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071791663 ISBN 13: 9780071791663

Publisher: McGraw Hill, 2013

Synopsis

More Introductions! More Appointments! More Clients!

You face four hurdles to gaining new clients: finding enough of the right prospects, getting their attention, making the sale, and multiplying your clients through referrals.

While referrals are important, they're not the endgame. Beyond Referrals helps you turn referrals into introductions, appointments, and sales--showing you how to turn referrals into introductions to the prospects who are eager to hear from you. Then, you'll learn proven ways to convert a high percentage of prospects into high-value clients.

"Bill's referral system is being used throughout our company because the results are undeniable. He has truly revolutionized the way our advisors are acquiring new clients through referrals. This book will turbocharge your client acquisition!" -- JOE JORDAN, Senior Vice President, MetLife

"Beyond Referrals is a gold mine of value-based, profit-creating information. Utilizing Bill's Perpetual Revenue System, we learn that obtaining the referral is only the first step in an ongoing and very profitable cycle." -- BOB BURG, coauthor of The Go-Giver and author of Endless Referrals

"Beyond Referrals explains how to avoid leaving money on the table from what I call the 'secondsale.' You can read this book and double your business, or you can merely work twice as hard. That's not much of a choice." -- ALAN WEISS, PhD, author of Million Dollar Consulting and Million Dollar Referrals

This is the ultimate blueprint for converting referrals into clients." -- Ivan Misner, PhD, New York Times bestselling author and founder of BNI

About this title

About the Author

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Beyond Referrals

How to Use the Perpetual Revenue System to Convert Referrals into High-Value Clients

By BILL CATES

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Bill Cates
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-07-179166-3

Contents

FOREWORD
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
SECTION I Get More Referrals: Leverage Your Successful Relationships
1 Your Referral Mindset
2 Enhance Your Referability
3 Promote Referrals
4 Ask for Referrals
5 Create "Word of Internet"
SECTION II Get More Introductions: Create Connections to Your New 
Prospects
6 Introduction Basics
7 Securing Effective Introductions
8 Event Marketing
SECTION III Get More Appointments: Reach Your New Prospects and Begin the 
Conversation
9 Crafting Your Approach
10 Contacting Referral Prospects
11 Staying in Touch with Prospects
SECTION IV Get More Clients: Confirm the New Relationship with High-Value 
Clients
12 Building Trust
13 Asking the Right Questions
14 Creating an Effective Sales Process
15 Talking About Your Value
16 Dealing Effectively with Objections
17 Asking for the Business
APPENDIX 1 What's Your Referral Confidence Quotient?
APPENDIX 2 Professionals Never Stop Practicing
APPENDIX 3 Get Your Assistant or Staff Involved
INDEX

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

YOUR REFERRAL MINDSET

STRENGTHEN YOUR REFERRAL MINDSET

Your beliefs and awareness with regard to referrals is what will ultimatelydetermine your success with generating referrals. If you believe something ispossible, then you'll see the opportunities. Once you see the opportunities, youcan apply the right strategy or tactic to produce results. On the other hand, ifyou do not believe something is possible, then your awareness will be shut down,along with the possibilities of taking action and producing results. Ultimately,your belief system is your foundation for all success in life—business andpersonal.

Applying the above concept to referrals, I call this having a referral mindset.This chapter will help you examine your own referral mindset—where it'sstrong and where you might need to work.

ELEMENTS OF YOUR REFERRAL MINDSET

There are many qualities that go into a powerful referral mindset. Here are thetop five:

1. Are you committed to referrals? Have you made the decision to build abusiness based on how your new clients would prefer to meet you? I don't carewhat industry you work in; it won't affect the way your next great client wouldprefer to meet you—and that is through an introduction from someone theprospect already trusts. Are you dabbling in referrals, knowing what to do withone when you trip over it? Or have you made a commitment to referrals? How doyou know? Look at your actions, not your intentions. The way of the world ismeeting people through other people, and the referral is the warm way we getinto their lives.

2. Do you believe asking for referrals is safe? I've been teaching my referralsystem since 1996, and one thing is very clear to me. Most people are afraid toask for referrals. They don't see asking for referrals as a safe thing to do. Ifyou believe that asking for referrals is risky, guess what? You won't even seethe opportunities that are right in front of you. This is a limiting belief thatshuts down your awareness, actions, and results. Never fear, Chapter 4 will showyou that there are ways to ask for referrals that aren't pushy and don't comeacross as begging. You'll see that being proactive for referrals is a very safething to do. Then this limiting belief will be transformed into an expansivebelief.

3. Are you giving referrals? Finish this sentence for me: "As you giveyou__________." Receive! It works in all aspects of our lives, including thereferral process. One of the fastest ways to start getting referrals is to startgiving referrals—to your prospects, your clients, your colleagues, yourfriends, and your family. Just start playing the giving game, and you will seehow it comes back to you. If you are reluctant to give referrals, how can youexpect to create a culture of referrals within your business where clients aregiving referrals to you?

4. Do you have a process to generate referrals? Most people see referrals as abonus for doing a good job with their clients. They don't have any processes inplace to make sure they are leveraging their hard work. Generating referrals isnot just about serving your clients well, though that's important. To get morereferrals that turn into clients, you have to be more referable, and you have tobe more proactive. You can wish and hope for referrals. Not a good plan. Or youcan adopt a few processes that start generating referrals right away. That'swhat this book is all about.

5. Do you expect referrals? Would you agree that going into any particularsituation expecting a certain result increases the chances to achieve thatresult? Of course it does. It doesn't guarantee it, but it increases thechances. Enter every new relationship with confident awareness. You areconfident in the work you do and how you help your prospects and clients. Andyou are aware of all the connections in their lives. You look for thoseconnections with genuine curiosity, because at some point you may be a greatresource for them. I do not recommend you tell your prospects and clients thatyou "expect referrals" from them. That can actually hurt your chances forreferrals. Just enter every new relationship with an expectation of confidentawareness. With your confident awareness, you'll see the connections in yourprospects' and clients' lives. This book will give you the tools to step intothose connections.

PREFERRED STATUS

Michael Vickers, in his book Becoming Preferred: How to Outsell Your Competition(Summit Press; see http://www.MichaelVickers.com), says, "All of us as serviceor product providers seek to achieve Preferred Status with our customers andclients." There are three levels of preferred status.

Loyalty

Vickers makes the case that loyal or satisfied customers are simply not enough.He says that, for instance, if customers are loyal to you on your price, theycan be lured away by a lower price elsewhere. While we all want satisfied andloyal customers, there are higher levels to achieve.

Advocacy

On this level, your customers have become advocates for you. They are talkingabout you to others. Word of mouth is a form of referral. Vickers says, "Assales and service organizations we should be continually striving to move ourcustomers from loyalty to advocacy."

Insistence

Insistence is advocacy on steroids. Not only are your clients talking about youto others, but they have become evangelical about you. Vickers says, "Companiesthat enjoy this level of status with their customers enjoy high profit marginsand have real market security." How do you go from one level to the next andcreate clients who advocate and insist for you? You go the extra mile ineverything you do. You distinguish yourself through the value you provide andthe relationships you establish. Many companies talk about "great service" orcreating an "extraordinary client experience," but few actually deliver. Howabout you?

BORROWED TRUST

People don't do business with us—or give us referrals—until theytrust us. Therefore, we want to meet all our new prospects starting at thehighest point of trust. That's a referral (or introduction). Borrowed trust! Weborrow the trust in one relationship long enough to earn our own trust in thenew relationship.

I was delivering a seminar in Philadelphia. In the audience was an experienced,successful financial advisor named Steve Perlman. Steve had heard me speak a fewtimes before. Steve has a great referral mindset and even shared with me (andwhich I am now sharing with you) a couple of diagrams that show why it's alwaysbetter to meet prospects through introductions. The diagrams depict therelationship between the four T's of referrals: tension, trust, time, andtransaction. The diagram below illustrates that when you don't meet yourprospects through referrals, at the beginning of the relationship trust is lowand tension is high. The lower the trust and the higher the tension, the longerit takes for a transaction (T) to become possible.

The diagram that follows shows that when you meet a prospect through anintroduction from someone the prospect already trusts, initial trust is muchhigher and tension is lower. Therefore, the opportunity to do business comesmuch sooner in the new relationship.

My first sales trainer was a man named Dave Sandler, founder of the SandlerSales Institute. Dave once told me, "Going into a meeting with a prospect basedon a referral is like walking in with a bag of trust over your shoulder."

Have you made a commitment to meeting your prospects the way they want to meetyou?

CLEAR INTENTIONS PRODUCE CLEAR RESULTS

A wise man once said to me, "Clear intentions produce clear results. Vagueintentions produce vague results." When we're clear about something, we stand amuch better chance of getting exactly what we want. A clearer target createsbetter, more precise decision making and action taking.

Are you crystal clear on whom you want to attract into your business? Are youcrystal clear on whom you don't want to attract into your business? If you'regoing to become more proactive for referrals, you better be clear.

First, you want to be able to communicate to your referral sources which kindsof clients you serve best. Second, you don't want to get stuck taking on clientswho aren't your ideal fit. When you take on clients that aren't taking you inthe direction you want to go, you don't have time to find and serve the clientswho do.

If someone isn't a perfect fit for your business, then you are the wrong personto be serving that person. You must always strive to create win-win scenarios.

What stops some people from attracting the right type of referral client is thatthey just haven't taken the time to think this through or to revisit this fromtime to time. For others, it's a deeper issue of belief. Do you not only knowwhom you want to attract, but also believe you can find those people and servethem? Napoleon Hill, in his classic book Think and Grow Rich, writes, "What themind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." Vision without belief usuallyisn't enough.

CHAPTER 2

ENHANCE YOUR REFERABILITY

ARE YOU REFERABLE?

Are you referable? How do you know? One barometer of your referability is thatyou're getting referrals without asking for them. Are you? Do you have such agood initial process with new prospects and clients that they are thinking ofpeople to refer you to before you even do much work for them? And as you workwith your clients, do some of them continue to pass your name along and connectyou with people? This is one measure of your referability. And this counts, bythe way. Getting referrals without asking for them is a testimony to your goodwork.

This section will give you a few ideas on how to become even morereferable—to be purposeful in enhancing your referability—so thatyou get more referrals without asking for them, and so that when you do ask,you'll have people receptive to your request.

A REFERABILITY CHECKLIST

Alan Weiss, in his book Million Dollar Referrals (McGraw-Hill), provides thislist of qualities that contribute to one's referability. Measure this againstyour current client relationships.

• Trust. Do you live up to your promises and claims?

• Value. Do you demonstrably improve the client's condition?

• Responsiveness. Are you accessible, and do you respond rapidly?

• Credibility. Does the client feel it's impressive to be partnering with you?

• Reciprocity. Do you recommend people to the client where appropriate?

• Professionalism. Are you on time and on deadline?

• Innovation. Are you leading edge, state of the art?

• Reputation. Are you seen by others as being the best of the best?

Weiss notes, "The more you create and maintain breakthrough relationships, themore you will receive unsolicited referrals from your clients."

THINK PROCESS, NOT PRODUCTS

If you'd like to get referrals sooner in your relationships, then you need tothink process over products. Selling a product will make you some money, butit's unlikely to make you referable and create word of mouth unless you have aprocess designed to deliver value every step along the way.

Do you have a clearly defined process through which you put most of your newclients? Is your process educational? Do you ask questions that get yourprospects thinking in ways they haven't thought before? Do you discussexpectations? Do you question their assumptions? Do you remain consistent withyour process, or do you wing it?

One Barometer of a Great Process

As I've already mentioned, one way to measure how good your initial process is,is by the number of unsolicited referrals it creates. If your initial process isnot creating referrals without your asking for them, then something could bemissing. Perhaps you're not creating value quickly enough to prompt yourprospects to tell others about you.

Leveraging Your Process

Here are five steps that will ensure you get the most out of yourprocess—to help you make your clients happy and to generate referrals andintroductions:

1. Have a clearly defined, client-centered process that makes your prospects go"Wow! More than I expected."

2. Name your process. When you name your process, it becomes yours. No one elsehas your process. Clients can only get this process from you. This is a way todistinguish yourself in a crowded marketplace.

3. Illustrate your process with graphic design—on paper. This brings yourprocess to life. It helps you explain your process to your clients and centersof influence (COIs). And most people learn and remember better visually.

4. Communicate to prospects, clients, and COIs why and how your process isbeneficial. Get in the habit of talking about your process on a regular basis.And always talk about it in terms of the benefits. No one really cares that youhave a process; what they really care about is what the process does.

5. Bring your process to life with stories, anecdotes, and case studies. Storiesengage the emotional side of the brain—which is where all buying decisionsare made.

To borrow a term from Star Trek, your "prime directive" for every appointmentwith prospects is to bring value. When you lead with value, two things happen:(1) you make more sales, and (2) you do so in a way that makes you referablesooner. Never wing it when it comes to client interaction. Have processes inplace, and have them documented by checklists. Then respect the checklists!

BECOME REFERABLE EARLY IN THE RELATIONSHIP

Helping people get started with your product or service as quickly as possiblewill help you create word of mouth and referrals quickly in your new clientrelationships. In his book The Referral Engine (Portfolio), author John Jantsch(http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com) discusses the concept of providing yourclients with an "owner's manual." Jantsch advises, "Create a getting-startedguide for your product, company, or service. Create a series of how-to videos,or an automated email series providing lessons and tips, or a follow-up phoneconsultation. With a number of our referral tools, we have built-in follow-upprograms. Driven by the technology of auto-responders, people who invest in ourreferral tools continue to get help from us long after their purchase.

"The point is, the faster someone implements your product or service and,therefore, sees results, the more likely they will talk about you to others.What's more, if you've done a good job educating your clients that word of mouthand referrals are appreciated, they'll be happy to spread your good word."

APPRECIATION MARKETING

In their book Appreciation Marketing (http://www.Appreciation Marketing.com),Tommy Wyatt and Curtis Lewsey introduce a great concept that will enhance yourreferability: "In today's fast-paced, electronic world, that once handwritten'nice to meet you' greeting card has been replaced by a robotic e-mail or textmessage. That once heartfelt 'Happy Birthday' phone call is now left on theanswering machine. Everything is done faster, faster, and faster than everbefore and it has to. It's the new millennium. Alas, all this wonderfultechnology that was supposed to open the door to new horizons and make yourbusiness life easier has instead double-crossed you."

Appreciation marketing—building better and stronger relationships withyour inner circle and your client base—is more important today than everbefore. Not only is it fundamentally wise, but where your present and futuresuccess is concerned, it's essential.

For instance, saying thank you to clients for their business and for theirreferrals is critical to client loyalty in your referability. Wyatt and Lewseywrite, "The truth is, NOT saying thank you does more damage than actually SAYINGthank you does good. If you have to contact someone regarding business, thencontact them regarding business. Don't try to disguise your business efforts asappreciation. They're not the same thing. By the same token, if you arecontacting someone as an act of appreciation, then make it 100% about that.Remember, if you practice Appreciation Marketing principles, the people you areappreciating already know what you do for a living. You don't need to suggest itto them. If you are genuine, you are already on their mind in a positive way."

ARE YOU SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGES?

Too often, small business owners, salespeople, and professionals unknowinglysend signals to their clients that negate their desire for more referrals.

I'm Too Busy

Be careful about sending the "I'm-too-busy-to-take-on-new-clients" message. Whenyour clients have trouble reaching you or you always appear overwhelmed to them,consciously or unconsciously they are thinking, "She's far too busy for me torefer my colleagues to her." Make sure every customer-facing person in yourorganization gets this message too. Several years ago, I was considering hiringa vendor to help with a project. I heard him deliver a seminar that made mechange my mind. Several times during the session he talked about how busy hewas, how busy all his people were, how he had to be careful about taking on morebusiness. In an effort to "impress" the audience about how successful he was, hewas actually turning business away.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Beyond Referrals by BILL CATES. Copyright © 2013 by Bill Cates. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw Hill
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071791663
• ISBN 13: 9780071791663
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256