The 7 Referral Attitudes That Produce Results

Your foundation for building your practice with referrals is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions you bring to your prospecting efforts. This is your referral mindset. One of the things we teach at our Referral Champions Boot Camp is the 7 attitudes you must develop and use to create the most powerful action in gaining an unlimited supply of high-quality referrals.

As I share this referral mindset with you now, give yourself a rating of 1-5 on the following with regard to how well you’ve adopted each one.

#1 – “I meet my prospects the way they prefer to meet me.” How does your next great client want to meet you?  Simple! Through an introduction or referral from a friend, family member, colleague, or other trusted advisors.  Cold calling is purely a numbers game that aggravates most prospects.  Once you realize that a client’s preferred way to meet you is through a referral, it MUST become your primary method of meeting them.

#2 – “I understand that building my practice from the referrals is the most cost-effective and time-efficient marketing strategy available.” What does it cost to buy leads? Run a direct mail campaign? Host a seminar? Lots! What does it cost to build your practice from referrals? Virtually nothing. Referrals is clearly the most profitable way to go.

#3 – “I work to fully leverage the lifetime value of my clients.” The longer the relationship lasts, the more trust you can build (if you provide ongoing quality service), the more high-quality referrals you will receive.  The lifetime value of a client is not just the business they can do with you over their lifetime, it’s who they can introduce you to as well.  Quite often, the best referrals come later on in the relationship–as long as it’s not merely a transactional relationship.  Handling transactions does not make you referable.  Putting people through a process, and following that with ongoing great service, does!

#4 – “I ask for referrals in a consistent and systematic manner.” If you don’t have a system for generating referrals, you’ll either burn out from too many cold calls and poor quality leads or put a ceiling on your success.  With a system in place, you can begin each week knowing you’ll have a steady supply of quality prospects.  It’s like billiards, where one shot leads to the next. With a system in place, one new client leads to the next.

#5 – “My business isn’t selling products, it’s solving problems, preventing problems, and realizing dreams.” People don’t want to buy products so much as they want what your products and services can do for them.  Find out about their life, their family, their dreams, and their values, then suggest the appropriate products and services based on that. What makes you referable is not the products you sell, but the process you put your clients through.

#6 – “I give referrals as often as I can.” There is no better way to start the flow of referrals to you than by giving referrals as often as you can.  If you don’t like to give referrals, you can never expect to set up a culture of clients giving referrals to you.  Practice the Golden Rule of Referral Giving : “Give referrals unto others as you would have them given unto you.”  Follow up and make sure a great connection gets made when you connect people together.

#7 – “I expect to get referrals.” Have an attitude of expectation–it increases your chances. Not all clients will give you referrals, but when you enter every relationship expecting to get referrals, bring a confidence and awareness you wouldn’t otherwise have.  You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes.  As your awareness expands, so do your opportunities for action.

So, how did you score? All 5s? If you’re like most of us mortals, this list has pointed to a few areas in which you can strengthen your referral mindset. A strong referral mindset is necessary to creating your referral-based business. Nurture these attitudes and turn them into powerful action.