Lesson 2: The Most Powerful Referral-Getting Strategy You'll Ever Read

Welcome to Lesson #2 of the Double Your Referrals Mini-course.

In this lesson you’ll discover the most powerful referral-getting strategyyou’ll ever read, the Super 6 Strategy.

Implement this strategy well and your client-getting worries could very well be over.

Remember – proceed with care as this is a powerful weapon – so please use it ethically.

If I was in a marketing duel for my life and only allowed ONE marketing weapon, I would reach for the Super 6 Strategy.

The Super 6 is simple, cheap to run, makes immediate sense when explained – and it works.

You’ll wonder why you never thought of this before, and why you aren’t doing it.

Let me explain.

Imagine there are six people in the world that could make you rich in business.

Imagine they could create a waiting list of your perfect, first-rate clients a mile long knocking down your door.

A good problem to have, right?

The Super 6 Strategy involves identifying these six “power referrers” and building a relationship with them.

Finding Your Super 6

Where do you find your six?

Marketing can be tough when you don’t know how to find your prospects, or if reaching them is incredibly expensive.

Fear not.

Life becomes a lot easier when you remember that there are many people out there who are already talking, selling and consulting (everyday) with the exact people you are seeking and would be happy to set you up with these people.

These influencers are your Super 6.

You don’t need to find a way to market to the ultimate client when you can market to their influencers. Your Super 6 are in a position to effortlessly send you highly qualified leads if they want to.

Who are these SUPER 6?

That’s a good question. You may already know some, others you will need to get to know. You may need six months to identify them all.

The Super 6 are your POWER REFERRERS.

For architects, referrals are the strongest and best quality lead source. Referred clients usually close faster, do not haggle on price and refer again and again.

Ironically if I were to ask an architect what they are doing to nurture, expand and grow their referrals in a systematic way we find out they are doing next to nothing.

Think about it. The #1 lead source gets no water, no sunshine and lives in cold room in bad light.

Shame on you.

If only architects were to become master gardeners of the Super 6. They could easily double triple or quadruple leads from this untapped goldmine.

The Traditional Referral Problem

Most of our new clients come from word of mouth or referrals already. But I would bet that for every referral you or I get there are nine people who could have been referred to you but were not.

WHY?

Here are the 7 things your potential referrer needs to do to send someone your way:

1. They need to know, trust, and like you enough to vouch for you as a professional (this is as far as most architects get)
2. They need to know exactly the type of ‘ideal client’ you’re looking for
3. They need to know some of these ‘ideal clients’ personally
4. They need to be aware of which of these ‘ideal clients’ might be looking for an architect
5. They need to remember about you
6. They need to offer up your name to the potential client
7. They need to make it convincing and easy for the potential client to contact you.

There’s a lot that could go wrong there!

When you rely on other people to do something for you, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to take the action you want.

The more obstacles you can remove, the better.

You want your referrer to go down this path like a ‘greased chute’.

What’s a ‘greased chute’ you say?

Imagine going down a slide that is covered in grease with ice cubes strapped on your back.

That’s a greased chute.

And that’s how easy it should be for your referrers (and potential clients), to go from ‘point A’ to ‘point B’.

The ideal referral system cuts down the 7 obstacles above like George Washington chopping down the proverbial cherry tree.

Instead of an obstacle course, your referral SYSTEM becomes your greased chute.

Now, if my life were on the line here’s what I’d do:

The 80-20 Principle Tells That To Find the Super 6 You Need To Find a Dirty 30

The 80-20 principle will apply. So it will take 30 potential referrers to find the SUPER 6 (6 is 20% of 80).

Start by asking yourself who are 30 people who COULD or SHOULD be referring clients to you. Let’s call these the ‘DIRTY 30’.

There are 30 people who are ALREADY talking or influencing the type of clients I wanted to reach. They could be past clients, town planners, builders or other architects with an overflow.

If I communicate consistently to 30 potential power referrers then we know perhaps 20% will bear serious fruit.

We need to wash this list of thirty down to find our SUPER 6.

20% is SIX, and SIX is good. Very good.

Here’s how your stats may look after the first year.

Let’s say last year you got six jobs from referrals.

Then I would start a communication plan to these 30 people not just once but for the next twelve months and possibly for the rest of my career. I would cut people from the 30 who were not performing and I would introduce new people with potential.

But I would limit my list to only 30. That way I am never overwhelmed and communication is always cheap and easy.

I would use two approaches:

1. Personal contact
2. Leveraged communication

Personal Contact

Here is the hierarchy of power in communication:

1. Face to face meeting
2. Phone conversation
3. Email or letter

Face to face contact engages more of the senses, is more personal and respectful, and is more emotional.

People feel more obliged to help when you’ve met face to face. Meet for coffee, lunch or a business meeting. This isn’t leveraged, but it is the most powerful tactic if you want to build a relationship.

Unfortunately, thirty is too many to meet up with every month, so we need a mass communication tool.

Leveraged Communication: Return of the King

Done well the leverage of the old fashioned newsletter can win the hearts and minds of the Super 6.

Consider this:

• No one does ‘em anymore because they are too lazy. GREAT for you…
• The stories in your newsletter are a way to build a relationship and let the ‘Dirty 30’ know more about you and what you are doing
• Leverage: Keeps you front of mind without having to meet every week
• Keeps you connected in a non-salesy way
• Builds your brand and trust
• Informs about new services or tricks you’ve learned
• Allows you to educate and non-directly reveal how good you are
• Allows you to provide ideas that they’ll want to show others
• Sets the buying criteria by educating people
• Gives people something to talk about when you do connect directly – especially when you include personal stories (which you must)
• Make them look forward to the next month’s stories
• Makes them feel smart because they know more
• Makes them feel connected to you
• Builds your personality
• Chance to make offers and generate leads without being ‘salesy’
• Gets referrals

A newsletter on its own won’t necessarily make you a millionaire but it is the backbone of your communication strategy with the SUPER 6 and Dirty 30.

If these people are truly POWER referrers then combine a newsletter with a little extra ‘love’ (occasional calls and meeting or social events) and you are in business.

What about email newsletters?

Now I know what you are thinking. Email newsletter. STOP!

Newsletters were King, then came email and the efficiency excited everyone. People got cheap and lazy.

There’s a difference between efficient and effective.

Just because something is easier and cheaper does not mean it works better.

Q: What happens when ‘non-critical’ email #45 for the day arrives at 10am?

A: You ‘DELETE’ and churn through the rest as fast as possible

Q: What happens when personal mail arrives?

A: You open, you skim and maybe the hardcopy newsletter sits on a table for a month before you and three other people have read it.

The email newsletter is dead.
Long live the HARDCOPY newsletter.

Now the question may have is:

How do I make my newsletter effective?

How do I make it different from the newsletter my engineer sends every month that goes straight to the rubbish bin?

How do I make it STAND OUT and deliver results so my phone rings every week, consistently, with calls from my perfect, first-rate clients?

Well, that is what we will cover in Lesson #3.

Trust me, you’ve never seen newsletter like this before.

What is your #1 take-away from today’s lesson? Don’t leave without adding yours below.