As a Spiritual Entrepreneur, coach, healer, or holistic practitioner, you need referrals to help your business thrive. The problem is, many heart-centered businesses come to look at referrals as another part of doing business, when in fact they should be a major focal point!
Think for a moment about the type of service you provide. Let’s say you had a full schedule with a full client base, and someone called you wanting to set up an appointment. Is there a person in your industry who you trust and to whom you refer clients? If so, the reason likely is that you know what happens to the client after the referral. If you’ve referred someone before and never heard anything back, you probably wondered what happened and if it worked out. That suspense may be great for watching a weekly mystery show, but it’s terrible in your business! Knowing what happened after a referral is made is important in helping you decide whether you will refer to someone again or not.
From the perspective of the person who receives the referral, how you handle referrals matters. While sending a fruit basket may seem polite, it also puts the money aspect of the referral front and center. It’s as if you are saying, “Thanks for the referral. I appreciate the extra cash.” The message that you want to convey instead is that you are happy for the referral because it helped you to be a positive force in someone’s life. By extension, the person who made the referral has made a difference in someone’s life.
When you are with a referred client, try to keep in mind that the client relationship in this case involves three people – you, the person receiving services, and the person making the referral. Keeping everyone in mind will remind you that the referring party trusted you to help the client. Call the person who referred the client every three months or so and let him or her know how things are going. While you don’t want to give a detailed update, you do want to let the referrer know that the act of referring the client has changed the client’s life for the better.
A conversation like this one is an example of how such a call would go. “Do you remember Jill Barnes? You referred her to me back in May. I wanted to call again and thank you for the referral. Jill has been able to find some retail shops that want to carry her statues. I just wanted to let you know that it’s going well thanks to your referral.” Make the referral process about how you and the referring party made the client’s life better, and you will be more successful at getting repeat referrals, which will help grow your business.
Eva Gregory is a mentor to spiritual entrepreneurs, coaches and holistic practitioners, Law of Attraction expert, speaker and author. Her passion is teaching spiritual entrepreneurs how to tap into their own inner guidance and merge it with the practical steps to create healthy sustainable businesses from a place of purpose, passion and prosperity. Get your FREE REPORT: “Massive Success For Spiritual Entrepreneurs” here. Learn more about how Eva can help you at www.EvaGregory.com
