Your willingness to ask for referrals is a function of how much you believe in yourself and your products/services.

ReferralA Bit About Referrals

The focus of referrals is all about getting your message to more people so you can get more orders, more team members, and greater revenue.  So many people struggle with this because they don’t want to ask for help, they don’t want to bother people, or they don’t want people to think they’re only in it for the money.

But if you view referrals as an opportunity to serve more people instead of what you can possible get from them, there is room for G.R.O.W.T.H.:

G – Give.  Whenever you come from a place of genuinely wanting to help and give to others, it fosters reciprocity.  People will be willing to give to you when you are focused on giving to them.  The relationship becomes collaborative, instead of competitive, and everyone benefits as a result.

R – Request.  You must request referrals if you want them.  Ask, ask, ask!  Be willing to put yourself out there and make a humble and genuine request for help.  We recommend you read the book The Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen if you wan to learn more.

O – Offer.  Offer to give something to those who share referrals with you.  Give them an added reason to say yes; perhaps you can offer a discount or a small free gift.  Also, keep people informed with what you’re doing with their referrals.  Follow up with a note of thanks.

W – Work.  Be willing to put in the work.  Have fun exploring what you could create with referrals.  Explore strategies and add creativity; when you act with wonderment and curiosity, amazing things can happen.  It is a powerful state of energy and people will be attracted to it.

Think of referral systems.  Who else could you connect with?  Who are potential partners for you?  You could place lead boxes in congruent places of business, offering free X if they enter their business card or contact information.  When you think outside of the box, exciting things can happen for you.

T – Team.  If you’re in network marketing you know the power of the business is in the team, so encourage and teach your team to get referrals.  Help them ask for referrals.  Sometimes it’s easier to have someone else ask on your behalf.  Perhaps it’s time to ask someone else to request referrals for you, and you can do the same for them.

H – Honor.  Honor everything about the process of generating referrals.  Honor your business.  Honor the people who are giving you their time.  Time is a sacred exchange.  Explicitly thank people for taking the time to be with you.  

This is not a numbers game, this is a people game.  Each “number” is a human traveling this planet just like the rest of us.  Connect with the human journey and honor each moment.

Honor that you have chosen to be in business for yourself.  Honor the choices you’ve made, because they have made you who you are.

Now Go Ask…

Just ask for the referral.  If you don’t think referrals are going to work, prove it to yourself.  If you do prove it won’t work, then you can stop.  But most people stop before they even give themselves an opportunity to prove it.

Give it a try.  You don’t have to be perfect.  Come from the place of giving and stay in the belief that you are bearing gifts, then all will be well.