Word of Mouth: How to Ask For and Use Referrals to Grow Your Business

One of the best ways a distributor can attain new business is through referrals. Often, these come from a customer who was especially impressed by the way you handled a deal. Maybe you went the extra mile to complete a difficult promotional campaign, and the customer wanted to talk you up a bit to their peers.

Often, referrals come from within the same organization. For example, let’s say you’re working with a university. You might complete an order for X amount of pens and notebooks for the university to give to incoming students. If that went well, that division of the university might then tell the alumni association you did a great job, and they’d keep you in mind when they need an apparel order down the road, opening up additional avenues for business within one larger buyer.

Referrals can also come from people telling their peers and friends at different companies about the great job you did, and then you don’t have to do as much prospecting and cold-calling.

No matter how they come about, referrals make a huge difference in a distributor’s career. The only problem is that they might not know how to ask for them — or that they can ask for them at all. And if they do, they might not give their customer enough clues as to what they can do to be most effective.

After all, doesn’t everyone want to help one another out if they can?

Susan Woolf, principal at Silicon Valley Promos, Los Gatos, CA, says referrals have been the best avenue of getting new business, especially in the fast-paced environment of the Bay Area.

“In the last year or two, I got into a new client because I had worked with somebody who was there in a different role than what the people were looking for,” she says. “The marketing people were looking for something, she was in HR, and she referred me to them, and I’ve done a tremendous amount of business with them, and it’s been really positive. I never even would have heard of the client had it not been for the referral.”

This method of a referral comes from the client, but they can also come from your distributor peers, too.

“Another [referral] was a colleague getting out of the industry,” Woolf says. “He made introductions to some of his previous clients, and that has landed me not just with that one person, but others within the organization.”

What It Should Look Like

Whether you’re a distributor helping out a pal by offering a referral, or you’re asking a customer for a referral for additional business, you should know what a good referral looks like. It’s a little bit like helping a friend as a job application referral — you can’t co-sign their skills if you don’t know what skills they included on the resume, or what the job listing is.

A good referral bridges the gap between you and the potential new customer. If a client can make the introduction themselves, it adds a layer of credibility and removes the awkwardness of a cold email where you have to introduce yourself, what you do, and how you know this mutual friend.

Additionally, it doesn’t help when you can’t be specific about this past client. If you can provide their name, the job you did, and other details, it’s a much cleaner pitch to the prospect.

“The ideal referral is when somebody either allows you to use their name or actually makes the introduction,” Woolf says. “When they make the introduction for you, perhaps via email, it’s much stronger than just a blind referral where you can’t use their name or they say they’ll get their information to you, so that has made probably the biggest difference, when it’s a really firm, solid, ‘I recommend this person and here’s their information.’”

She says the key is to make it as focused as possible.

“My business tends to be more focused on sales and marketing,” she says. “Asking for somebody in that department, being as clear as possible with the person, it’s just like asking somebody for a job introduction or a job referral. You want to tell them, ‘This is who I want to talk to, this is the type of people that would be helpful for an introduction.’ There’s nothing worse than getting a blind request, whether it’s to give a referral or to receive one, because you don’t have any idea of how to focus on what type of person [is] going to help you, and that’s important to remember when asking.”

Get Over the Awkwardness

So, let’s say you’ve done a great job with a client and know that there’s another department within their business structure that would need a similar service. You feel like this client would help you out with a referral, but it could be a little uncomfortable straight-up asking, right?

It’s fine to feel that way. Natural, even! But Woolf says that it’s important to remember how you’d feel in that situation. If someone asked you to offer a referral, you’d probably want to help. Like so many other things in business, the first step is to ask, and get the
ball rolling.

Obviously, though, you should read the room and know the person well enough to decide whether or not it’s appropriate to ask.

“I think for me it depends on the client,” Woolf says. “How comfortable am I asking them for referrals within the organization? The ironic thing is that I think most people want to help other people, so if we put ourselves in that role, of course we’re going to help them, right? But it’s awkward to ask. That’s just my nature.”

Mind Your Manners

It should go without saying, but the final step of this procedure is to thank the person who gave you the referral. It’s almost as important as asking in the first place. It separates you as a caring human from the people who are just in it for a transaction.

“I’m in Silicon Valley, the land of high tech,” Woolf says. “So, any time somebody sends me an intro or referral, I will thank them immediately in a separate email. I don’t do referral gifts, I know some people do that, but it’s important to acknowledge that they took the extra step to think about you. And it’s a big vote of confidence, both in terms of them recommending you to somebody and also in the business work you do for them.”