Business Referrals – how do you ask for them?

Written by on - 3 Comments
Categories: Business Attitude, Marketing Small Business

man-handshakeYou know that asking for business referrals is good thing, don’t you?  But how to go about asking for them can be an entirely different kettle of fish.

One of the most simplest, yet most effective, ways of increasing the number of referrals from existing clients is to stop asking:

“Do you know of anyone who may be interested in what I offer?”

and start asking:

“Who do you know who may be interested in what I offer?”

The simple change of emphasis on the word “who” opens the person’s mind up and they start searching for an answer.  “Do you know” is a classic closed question which only gives you two answers:  yes or no.

“Who do you” is an open question which allows the person to think about an answer.

And if they can’t think of anyone at the time, there is a greater chance of them thinking of a name at a later date.

Other articles you may be interested in:

  1. Small Business Mistake: Attracting anyone and everyone to your business
  2. Marketing Drip-Feed is Essential for Small Business Success
  3. Writing a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business: The 3 questions you must answer
Tags:

 Like this article? Subscribe to get more!

3 Responses to “Business Referrals – how do you ask for them?”

Comments

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Helen Cammack
    May 8, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    I’ve just joined your group Karen and this post really rings true for me.

    My business is in customer feedback, and we find that phrasing the question just slightly differently can lead to dramatically different response rates.

    As you say, if customers are asked a closed question like, “Do you have any comments?” they’ll often think or say, “No”. But asking open questions like “What did you like best?” or “What would you change?” allows them to be more creative and something interesting will often come out.

    Great and thoughtful blog, I’m looking forward to more!

    [Reply]

  2. Karen Skidmore
    May 10, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Thanks for stopping by and adding your thoughts, Helen. And love the name of you business – “Niggle”. I can see how you can help solve many clients’ niggles :)

    [Reply]

  3. Sue Atkins
    May 10, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    It’s amazing just by changing our language slightly we can change our mindset, attitude and feelings. The words I always notice in other people when I’m coaching them is “must, should, need to or ought to” as they always sound like judgement words which can often hold people back. Open ended questions always create better creative solutions and open people up to possibilities but it’s funny how I have not used this myself in my business….. wood for the trees I suppose. I’ve created a poster in bright red with “Who do you know who may be interested in what I offer?” and have it right by my phone already! Great tip Karen – thank you.

    Sue Atkins

    [Reply]

Got a question or comment to make? Add it here ...


Spam protection by WP Captcha-Free