How to Get Great Referrals
For us as professional services providers, the answer to the question of how to get great referrals lies in the clients we already have. The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
TRANSCRIPT
John Ray: [00:00:00] Hello. I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. How do you get great referrals? I don’t mean referrals which are average or marginal. I mean referrals to clients who are the best fit for your practice.
John Ray: [00:00:17] For professional services providers, there’s a simple answer. The answer starts with the clients you take on, to begin with. You only accept clients who are the best fit for you and your practice. Best fit clients are those clients whom you deliver stellar results for, who see the value in what you deliver, the transformation that you give them. They’re happy to pay for that value and they’re clients you enjoy working with.
John Ray: [00:00:47] Great clients know other great clients for you. And your best clients want you to succeed. And they’ll go out of their way to refer that kind of business to you. They do this in part because they feel invested in you. That’s the way great clients react to their services providers whose work they value. That’s part of what makes them great.
John Ray: [00:01:13] Your best fit clients are invariably grateful. They appreciate you and the substantial and positive changes you’ve brought about for them. It might even be years after the engagement, but your best fit clients still refer other superb clients to you because they’re still basking in the glow of the work you did, and they remember.
John Ray: [00:01:37] Now, conversely, how do you get poor quality referrals? Well, you guessed it, if you compromise or stretch and you accept clients who aren’t the best fit, then guess what profile of client they’ll send your way. A client that looks just like them. A client who is not an ideal fit for your practice.
John Ray: [00:02:02] Roses prefer roses and thorns refer thorns. That’s another reason why it’s vital that you take good care in the clients you take on. Focus on clients who are the best fit. Who you can do a great job for, who willingly write checks which are commensurate with the value that you deliver, and who you enjoy working with.
John Ray: [00:02:27] I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. I’m honored that you’d spend time listening to this episode. If you’d like to hear more of the series, you can find it at pricevaluejourney.com. If you’d like to connect with me directly, you can email me, john@johnray.co. Thank you for joining me.
About The Price and Value Journey
The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.
If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.
The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.
John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Nashville Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,100 podcast episodes.
