Personal recommendations (or “referrals”) are brilliant.
Because, when someone recommends us, we’re more likely to be chosen.
Very useful if we’re going for a new job, a sale, a promotion.
In fact, the only problem with referrals is… they don’t happen often enough.
(Which just does NOT make sense. After all, when you think how epic you are, people should be recommending you to everyone, all the time!)
Fortunately, there’s a Golden Rule of Getting More Referrals. And it’s this:
To get more referrals, ask for them
And that’s it.
Ask people to personally recommend you… and they’re more likely to personally recommend you.
Obviously, you have to use the right words:
- So don’t ask a yes/no question, like “do you know anyone you can recommend me to?” (they might say “no”)
- Instead, ask an open one – “of all the companies you know, who do you think would most benefit from what I do?” (they can’t respond “no” to that)
If they say they can’t think of someone, you could give them a steer – “well, the people who usually benefit most from my help are doctors and dentists. Who do you know, who sounds like that?”
All this sounds very logical. But, how to even bring this up in conversation? It’d be weird to shoehorn this into a chat about a different topic.
Well, the easiest way to do that is usually by saying the word “advice” – “can I ask your advice about something?”. They will, of course, reply that you can ask them for advice. And away you go…
So, in summary:
- ADVICE – Can I ask for your advice please? (Yes you can)
- OPEN QN – Of all the companies you know, who do you think would most benefit from what I do? (If they give the name of someone, ask them to intro you. If they say “I don’t know”, reply with…)
- SPECIFIC STEER – “Well, the people who usually benefit most from my help are doctors and dentists. Who do you know, who sounds like that?”
How many times should you do this?
Well, that depends on how many recommendations you want.
But assuming you want more than none of them, you’ll need to ask more than never!
Who’ll be the first person you ask, to recommend you?
Action Point
- Find the person you’d most like to ask to recommend you to someone they know
- Next time you’re speaking with them, when it’s appropriate, use my three steps above
- If it works, great. If it doesn’t, it won’t cause any harm – after all, you haven’t said “please get me a referral”. You’ve just asked for their advice