‘Referral leakage’ occurs in every firm. This refers to the discrepancy between how many times people RECOMMEND your business and how many REFERRALS you actually receive.
There is always a difference between those two figures!
In four steps, you may resolve ‘referral leakage’:
- Conduct a survey of your clients to find out who has been recommending you. You can accomplish this using a single-sentence survey. If you’re acquainted with Net Promotor Scores, this is a similar procedure, except you ask individuals how frequently they have suggested you rather than how likely they are to refer you.
- Compare the number of referrals you’ve received to the number of times individuals have suggested you. You’ll be surprised at how widely these figures differ.
- Reach out to those who have been suggesting an educational ‘bundle’ that shows them how to refer others to you rather than simply recommending you.
- Create a way to thank individuals for recommendations in the future (never provide monetary rewards!) and watch your referred business increase dramatically.
You’ve worked hard to gain referrals – sometimes you need to work just as hard to secure them. Put this plan in place and watch how quickly your business goes from losing water to gaining ground.
