In Part 1, I outlined why developing referral relationships with other businesses is such a powerful and important strategy for growing your business, and I presented two strategies for developing these relationships. Now let’s look at some additional strategies for developing and nurturing those relationships.
3-Step System
Step 1: The unusual mailer.
Send letters to 10 business owners with whom you might want to work. Realtors, designers, remodeling contractors and carpet cleaners are a great place to start. Make sure these companies have good reputations. Tell them about your business, and that you would like to meet with them to discuss the possibility of developing a referral relationship. In the letter tell them that you will be calling them on a specific day and time. The letter should include a grabber to get their attention and set you apart. I’ve used dollar bills, lotto scratchers and dozens of other grabbers. Always tie the letter in with the grabber.
Step 2: Call the business owner.
Don’t try and sell him anything during this call. Your only goal is to schedule a lunch or coffee meeting to discuss the possibility of working together to help each other grow your businesses.
Step 3: The meeting. This is where you want to establish the relationship.
During the meeting, make sure there is a synergy between you and an ability to work together. You don’t want to partner with a jerk. Discuss each others’ goals, and what a mutually beneficial relationship would look like. Ask if you can stop by their place of business and leave business cards or other information.
Nurturing the Relationship
Let’s say that you begin a relationship with an interior designer who owns a brick-and-mortar store, and has four designers on staff, plus a receptionist. You want to make friends with every one of her employees, including the receptionist because these people will send you the majority of referrals. Stop by her business and introduce yourself to her staff. Bring cookies or other treats to leave behind. Leave a business card holder full of your cards on their front counter so they can give them to clients.
Don’t assume that these people will remember you. Within a week you’ll be forgotten unless you continue to nurture the relationship. Subscribe each employee to your monthly newsletter. If there are seven people who work there, send seven newsletters personally addressed to each employee.
Drop by their business every month or two with some surprise goodies. If they are sending you a lot of referrals, send in lunch for the entire staff. Around Christmas and other holidays, drop by with seasonal treats.
Your goal is to become a hero to the business owner and their entire staff; to get to be friends with them. Every time you enter their store, you want them to get a big smile because you are such a fun and generous person who always takes care of them. You’re doing this for one sole purpose: when one of their customers needs flooring, they’ll instantly think of you, and you’ll get the referral.
That may sound like a lot of work, but consider these numbers:
Let’s say your average ticket is $3,500 and you have referral relationships with twenty businesses, each sending you a paltry 4 referrals per year. This equals $280,000 in revenue with few marketing costs. And that’s figuring conservatively. Imagine if you developed 40 – 60 referral relationships. You could easily add $1 Million or more to your annual revenue. These kinds of relationships will see you through recessions, ups and downs in the market, and help you grow your business much more quickly and inexpensively than with traditional advertising.
In Part 3, I’ll reveal creative ways you can do affiliate marketing with businesses who send you referrals.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!
Free book! For a complimentary copy of Jim’s book, “How Floor Dealers Can Beat the Boxes and Escape the Cheap-Price Rat-Race of Doom Forever,” visit BeatTheBoxesToday.com.