Grow your business thru referrals!
Asking for referrals in the right way will bring the right type of clients to your door. By knowing what you’re looking for and timing your referral requests just right, you’ll be able to build a referral based business that will bring leads for months and years to come. Learn the three simple steps to success in the article below.

How to Ask For (and Get) the Right Referrals

By Sydni Craig-Hart

Do you want to work with more of your ideal clients?

Would you like to save time on marketing and get better results?

Do you desire to become a recognized expert in your field?

You can do all this and more when you build your business by referral. If you ask for and encourage referrals, you’ll be able to fill your practice with ideal clients who need the exact solutions that you offer.

By taking the time to figure out exactly what type of clients you’re looking for and how to ask for it, you’ll have a much better success rate with attracting referrals and you’ll see your business grow by leaps and bounds. Follow these three simple steps to ask for and encourage referrals from your current clients and contacts:

  1. Decide what you’re looking for.  If you don’t have an ideal client profile in mind, it’s time to create one. Your ideal client profile should detail the qualities, attributes and needs of the exact type of person that you want to work with. Take some time to get clear on EXACTLY who you want to work with and what problems they are experiencing that you can help with. Getting clear on this before you start asking for referrals will make it easy for you to explain to your referral partners what kind of leads you are looking for. It will also help your clients and contacts to prequalify the referrals for you.
  2. Time your referral requests just right. The best time to ask for a referral is when a client has commented on the quality of your work. Graciously thank them for their feedback and then ask “Who else do you know who is look for [SOLUTIONS CLIENT HAS ENJOYED]?” As they brainstorm who they can introduce to you, listen carefully to the contacts they have in mind. Be sure to explain simply how they can best introduce their contact, both so the individual is comfortable and so you can effectively follow-up on the lead.
  3. Don’t be afraid to ask! Many service providers stop themselves from asking for referrals because they are intimidated. But honestly, you have nothing to be afraid of. If you’ve been doing a stellar job for the client, it’s completely acceptable for you to ask for a referral. And what’s the worst they could say? “Probably, I’ll keep that in mind.” That is a good thing! The only thing you have to lose is the opportunity to be of service to a new client and increase your income.

 

In addition to asking your existing clients, let your contacts, family and friends know that you’re open to referrals as well. Use the same steps outlined above to educate them about what solutions you offer. They may know  someone who is struggling with the exact problems you solve. By arming them with information about your business, they’ll be able to recognize people who need your services.

Many seasoned entrepreneurs have grown their business strictly by referral. If you like, you can be one of them. As with all effective marketing, creating the desired result, it simply takes focused, consistent effort on your part. By making it clear who you serve and what you do for them, you empower your clients and contacts to make referrals that will be beneficial to you and the people that they refer as well.

What type of referrals are you looking for in your business? Share your thoughts on the blog and allow others in the Smart Simple Marketing community to support your efforts to grow your business.

 

YOUR “TAKE ACTION” PLAN FOR THIS WEEK:

  1. If you don’t have an ideal client profile mapped out, now is the time to do it! Take some time to think about exactly who you want to work with and why. Describe their characteristics, the type of problems that they are experiencing and how you can help.
  2. Look for opportunities to ask for referrals. When you’ve completed a project or your client has given you a compliment on something, it’s time to ask who else they know that would benefit from your services.
  3. Push your fears aside! It’s perfectly okay to ask your clients who else they know that would be a good match.
  4. Educate friends and family about what you do so they know what to look for as well. You never know who they might know.

 

About the Author:

Sydni Craig-Hart, The Smart Simple Marketing Coach, is founder of SmartSimpleMarketing.com. Known for her easy, strategic and results-focused approach to marketing, she also has the unique ability to find untapped profit centers in her client’s businesses so they can create mo.ney NOW. Visit www.SmartSimpleMarketing.com for your FR*EE training course, “5 Simple Steps to More Clients, More Visibility and More Freedom” and apply for a FR*EE “Profit Breakthrough” session with Sydni!

LinkedIn Groups

  • Group: NEWS & TRANSLATION JOBS
  • Subject: German into Dutch translator

Hello everyone, I am looking for a German into Dutch translator with experience in medical texts. Those interested please get in touch with me through ana.garcia@garciatranslations.com

Kind regards,

ana garcia
Posted By Garcia Translations

Who takes on these jobs??  We got a serious lowball rate issue on our hands my friends….

Job description:

We have a dissertation around 17000 words and need to be proofread by a British English native speaker. Background in management, psychology, education are preferred. Our proofreading fee is USD0.0013-0.0017 per source word.

Can anyone make it? Hope to see you all there!

NCTA Happy Hour in San Mateo, CA – July 28

Ana De Moraes is organizing a Happy Hour in San Mateo at the end of this month. Details are shown below and on the NCTA.org calendar. Please attend!
July 28th from 5-7pm at King Fish
201 South B Street
San Mateo, CA 94401
Caltrain Station: San Mateo Downtown

In a recent article, a CEO of a company was quoted as saying, “Now is the time to circle
the wagons”. The early settlers probably knew that they would die if no help came. In
business no help will come because everything depends on you, the business owner, and
the course of action you take. Not only can’t you wait, but you should not “circle the
wagons”. To the contrary, in tougher times, business owners should become tougher and
more aggressive.

Maintaining one’s business is difficult in a bad economy. There may be gnashing of teeth and
wringing of hands with many people spending their energy thinking about and fearing impending
doom. It is next to impossible to sell or promote anything when all seem to display a lack of
confidence in business operation. For a business owner, being tough means that he or she must
do more in depth planning. Tough means having an optimistic point of view as a role model and
a positive aggressive outlook. The capable leader focuses on building trust by being and
appearing confident and taking strong positive action. Action has to be taken very quickly and
should be visible to employees as well as customers.
Consider the following points in your action plan:

1. Now is the time for innovation. Raise the question–what else is there that can enhance the
value of your business product or service offering? It is not necessary that they are big
innovations that take a lot of time to implement. One effective approach to this is by
brainstorming with everyone involved. Remember that in a brainstorming session, every idea is
accepted and later evaluated. The participants should build on ideas suggested by others. The
brainstorming session results should be prioritized. The order of the priorities is determined by
rating line items on a list of possible criteria, including ease of implementation, customer appeal,
and ultimate effect on the business. Once a decision is made relative to an expanded product or
service an implementation plan should be devised.

 
2. Sales Training
First and most important is that every employee is a salesperson, whether that is the title or
not. Every employee of the business should be trained and retrained on a regular basis. This
should consist of improving everyone’s ability to be a good listener. Part of listening is asking
good questions related to the customer’s immediate needs, problems and desires, and
demonstrating the interest in satisfying them. Training also includes good selling practices and
how to interface successfully with the customer. Every person who interfaces with a customer
should be trained on how to properly deal with that customer. For example, a rude cashier can
ruin a good restaurant experience for a customer. Also, always remember, what a highly-successful Christian businessman advised: “If you think training is expensive, NOT training will cost you even more!”

 
3. Promoting the product/service and the sales organization.
Product/service promotion and organized sales can be effectively executed with an active
network. Regardless of the economy and a company’s financial situation, small budget
networking is the most effective way to accomplish any number of activities including recruiting
and product/service promotion. Such a network can be built with friends, relatives, members of
your church or other society, old schoolmates, and past co-workers. Chambers of Commerce are
especially effective. Referrals should be asked for, and of course given in return. Learn the
products and services of those in your network and make sure they know yours. Make sure they
know why your products or services offer something that your competitors don’t.
Find a reward for those in your network who bring in new business to you, and make sure other in
the network know that they have been rewarded. Of course, the biggest reward will be a referral
back from you. Keep a “scorecard” on the referrals and have them announced at any networking
meeting.

 
In summary, to not only survive an economic downturn but to thrive in it. Expand your business
horizons, show optimism, plan, test, and make decisions while your competition is “circling the
wagons.”

Love to hear your feedback about how you are thriving in these slow times my friends!

Bridges to Burn:

 

How You Invest in Your Time Is How You Invest in Your Success

By Chris McDonell

Bridge

“Don’t burn your bridges” reminds you to make sure that you can always go back the way you came. Perhaps to get a reference or a referral from a former prospect, or maybe even go back to work for a company with whom you once worked. This can be good and practical advice. In business today, you need all the allies you can get.

There are times, however, when burning your bridges is exactly what you need to do. Burning your bridges is another component of the Formula for Success. Sandler has identified three particular bridges that need to be burned:

  • The Bridge of Reliance
  • The Bridge of Hope
  • The Bridge of Comfort

Do you rely on certain key customers to help you make your quota month after month because it’s easier than going out and developing new clients? Do you rely on selling popular products or high-demand items in your product line to make your numbers because your company’s less popular but more profitable items are harder to sell? If you do, then you’ve got to burn that Bridge of Reliance. What you rely on today may not be there tomorrow.

Do you continually chase prospects who are always willing to talk with you, but never buy? “Drop in when you’re in the neighborhood.” “We’re always happy to hear from you.” Why continue to invest your time with someone who won’t help you reach your goals? If you’re hoping that one day they will do business with you, burn the Bridge of Hope. Go make something happen today, not someday.

Do you find yourself investing an excessive about of time on low-volume prospects because you’re comfortable with them? You know they should be buying more, but you don’t want to rock the boat and push them to buy more. Why? Because you don’t want to make yourself or them uncomfortable. If that’s you, burn that Bridge of Comfort. Get out of your rut—break through your comfort zone and do something great.

No matter which of these bridges you are falling back on, you need to burn them, because they are causing you to fall back. You aren’t making any progress toward success, you’re only maintaining the status quo.

 

McDonell Consulting and Development, Inc., an authorized licensee of Sandler Training, is a premier sales training, management development and consulting company. We are uniquely qualified to help all businesses, on local, regional and national levels, to identify and implement successful sales tactics from prospecting, to closing the sale & customer retention. We are able to develop innovative solutions for management that will improve team leadership and motivation, create accountability, resolve conflicts and foster a positive work environment. www.mcdonell.sandler.com

 

For more useful articles to make you more productive, check out Leslie Shreve’s great tips: http://productiveday.com/wdw/BridgestoBurn.html

 

Dear Friends,

I just posted my service Chinese & Asian Languages Translation Services on Thumbtack. Now my clients can learn more about my service and even book me without picking up the phone. I just created my profile there and got a Craigslist posting for free there, the free online services there are powerful and endless! Anyone else use this service? What’s your feedback?

I am loving it! And telling on my friends and fellow translators to promote away!

Dear Friends,

Check out these free webinars at ProZ.com in May…I will try to attend IF I can get up in time….see you there with cup of coffee!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Getting started in translation” – Learn how to become a professional translator and how to use ProZ.com to pursue translation as a career: http://www.proz.com/translator-training/course/4840

“Expanding your translation business” – Learn how to expand your translation business and how ProZ.com can help you: http://www.proz.com/translator-training/course/4841

Dear All,
My agency client is looking to hire again Japanese native speakers for
new legal review work in LA/SF/NYC. This onsite review project is
expected to start sometime in the first half of April and last about 6
months. The rate is $50/hour for full-time work, plus a possibility for
overtime. If you are willing to work the first few weeks full-time, the
client might consider part-time later on.

Legal Qualifications required:
To participate you need to read Japanese fluently and have at least 6
months experience in legal work or review experience – and have it on
your CV. If you live in commuting distance of any of the following
cities, my client will be happy to consider you:
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.

If you are available, pls email me your latest CV asap. This promises to
be a very lucrative assignment. If you know any colleagues who would be interested in this project,
please email their names and email addresses so I can contact them.
Thanks for your help again.

Regards,
Thomas

Thomas Shou
SinoTrans International
translate@…
650-856-0749
www.sinotransintl.com <http://www.sinotransintl.com>
“Translate your biz to Asia”

Techniques for Successful Selling Workshop – Saturday April 16

This workshop is aimed at Language Service Providers and linguists who deal with direct clients.

For established LSPs and linguists, capability is a given, so how do you build compatibility and confidence? How can you differentiate yourself or your organization and win a client’s business? How can you get clients to talk about what’s important to them? What questions should you be asking? To find out answers to these questions and more, click http://ncta.org/cde.cfm?event=347432 and sign up!

I will be out of town for this one, but if anyone goes, pls write a review and tell me how it went!