A confession: for years my teeth would grate anytime I heard colleagues brag about how much business they received from word-of-mouth referral.

I wasn't getting referrals. Why?

My clients seemed to love me; they told me I was great. The evaluations I received were effusive with praise. Clients wrote to me about how I had fundamentally altered their careers for the better. Plus, I know my clients loved me because they would come back to me; I got lots of repeat business. My business was growing, growing and growing - yet very little of my new business came from referrals.

WHY?

To make matters worse, I was even asking clients for referrals and getting nowhere. "Who else do you know who needs media or presentation training?" I would inquire.

Nothing. Zip. Something wasn't adding up.

Finally, I realized that I was breaking one of my own cardinal rules of presenting. At the end of a day of great training, I was asking clients for referrals, but I wasn't asking in a specific enough way. Anytime you ask your audience to take action for you, even if that action is to give you names and contact information, you must be as specific as possible. Abstraction is the enemy of presenters everywhere and I was being too abstract in my request for referrals. Additionally, I was not spelling out in explicit detail how my clients/audience would benefit themselves if they helped me.

Eventually, I wizened up. Now, when I am finishing a day of training and the positive evaluations are flowing in, I make a specific request. I ask each attendee to provide me with the name, email address and phone number of the following people (plus I give them the list on a paper handout form):

Key Contacts:

• Public relations department head
• Corporate communications head
• Human Resource Department head
• Meeting planners
• Other colleagues in office with training needs
• Others who hire trainers
• Training department head
• In-house university system
• Chief learning officer
• Executive leadership programs
• Executive assistants to the CEO
• Sales Manager
• Sales Convention
• Marketing Manager
• Public Affairs
• Community Affairs
• Outside Organization colleagues
• Outside meeting planners/ decision makers

Why do I ask for these people? Because these are the people who hire me to give speeches and conduct media and presentation training workshops. People who "need media or presentation training" don't hire me, because that is a category of people that is too abstract to be real.

To sweeten the pot, I give my attendees a specific benefit if they give me the information I desire. I give them an autographed copy of one of my books. This way, everyone wins in a tangible way.

Now, my clients pour over their PDAs for 10 minutes to fill out my contact sheet request, instead of merely filling out "several people in my department" on my old evaluation form.

The results? I now get tons of referrals from clients leading to new business!

When I think of the millions of dollars of business I have lost over the years because I didn't make this specific request, I cry. Fortunately I won't make that mistake anymore.

So remember, it is nearly useless to ask people to take actions on your behalf. Be extremely specific and give them specific benefits for helping you.

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More Insights from TJ Walker & Jess Todtfeld
http://www.tjwalker.com and www.SpeakingInsider.com

 

 

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