To dramatically increase referrals, it's important to
educate the people you consider personal advocates (those
who know you, like you, trust you, love you, and want the
best for you), and let them know what you're up to and who
your best clients are.
If you're just starting out, it's a letter of introduction;
if you've been in practice several months or years, write
an "update letter" on how your practice has grown or new
services that you provide.
The fact is, most people who are your personal advocates
will be happy to help (people LOVE to give referrals and to
help a friend in business, especially when the person is a
trusted friend). It makes them feel good, yet most of us
somehow feel that we're being a burden on our network when
we do this. The good news is, it all depends on how
tastefully it's done.
In starting both of my private practices, I sent "warm"
letters of introduction letting my friends and family know
what I was doing and asking them to think of me when they
saw or overheard a particular situation relating to my
coaching.
Both times, I received clients right away, and both times,
friends also referred people as long after the fact as 6
months to a year after receiving the letter. One referral
came 3 years later and it came as a direct result of
sending my warm letter of introduction. It feels really
gratifying to get those phone calls from people you don't
know saying they'd like to work with you.
I sent it to everyone I knew, about 10 to 20 a week. I
hand-wrote a couple of words at the top to make it more
personal. ("Hi Mary! It's been so long since we've seen
each other. Would love to catch up over a cup of tea. I'll
call you this week. Best, Fabienne.")
That following week, I would call the person, set up a
meeting for breakfast, lunch or tea, get caught up on their
life and talk to them about my new business, asking them if
anyone they knew fit my ideal client profile.
The result? Word spread and I received a number of my first
round of clients and referrals this way. The idea with this
letter is to keep it consistently going out to people in
your network. The first time around, in my nutrition
business, I sent 250 introduction letters out at the same
time. You can also send the letters to five or ten people
per week, it's up to you. In doing this, you actually set
yourself up for getting that first client, that new client
or that referral you didn't know was waiting for you.
A Client example:
A client of mine dragged her feet with this idea at first,
thinking that it was too sales-y for her personal style and
that she wasn't going to get any leads or new clients that
way. After some coaxing and coaching, she started the
process of sending out letters of introduction.
She was absolutely shocked at the results: new clients
started coming in and her friends, former colleagues,
school friends, and family were the ones referring them.
She was thrilled and years later continues to update her
personal advocates on what she's up to, using her update
letter.
Your Assignment: Create and send a "warm" letter of
introduction as an announcement or update of your practice
to contacts that you already know. This includes everyone
(your family, friends and colleagues, past clients and
acquaintances), EVERYONE. If you have been in practice
several months or years, write an "update letter" of how
your practice has grown or new services that you provide.
Keep it friendly, as well as educational, but definitely
NOT sales-y. Describe your Ideal Client and ask them if
they know someone who might fit that profile.
You too will be shocked at how quickly you get new clients
and referrals using this simple system. It takes a bit of
work upfront, but you'll be singing all the way to the
bank! This will be one of your most effective client
attraction tools, and best of all, it's relatively no-cost
to you!
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If you'd like to see the EXACT letter I used (and got a ton
of clients with), I recommend getting a copy of the Client
Attraction Home Study System™. The letter is on page 91
(feel free to model it). The Home Study System will show
you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid
marketing systems, so that you consistently fill your
pipeline and get new clients. Get it at:
http://www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com
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