How Can I Get More Customer Referrals for My Small Business?

Your happiest customers may love you and still never refer anyone to you. Annoying? Yes. Mysterious? Not really. Most customers aren’t walking around thinking about who they can send your way. They may not remember exactly who you help, know what to say, or even realize you want referrals. In this episode, Shawna breaks down why referrals don’t just magically happen and how to make them much more likely. She shares the referral system she uses in her own business, when to make the ask, how to make referring you ridiculously easy, and a few things that can make the whole thing feel icky fast.

If you're struggling with:

😬 Getting referrals consistently

😬 Asking customers without feeling awkward

😬 Staying top of mind after the sale

😬 Figuring out what to say when you make the ask

😬 Helping people understand exactly who your best customer is

You'll learn:

💡 Why happy customers still don't refer you

💡 How to make your ideal customer easy to remember

💡 When customers are most likely to say yes to a referral request

💡 How to remove the friction from referring you

💡 Why "Who do you know who...?" is such a useful phrase

💡 How to build referrals into your regular follow-up instead of hoping somebody remembers you six months from now

Shawna shares examples including:

🎤 Her three-person speaker referral pod

🎤 A realtor example that shows why specificity matters

🎤 The referral ask she forgot to make after a fantastic speaking engagement

🎤 The simple ways she stays in touch with past clients and referral partners

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for small business owners who get some business through word of mouth but don't have an actual referral process. It's especially useful if customers seem happy, you know people like your work, and yet referrals still arrive randomly instead of consistently. Final Takeaway Referrals work much better when you stop treating them like nice surprises and start treating them like part of your customer process. Stay memorable, make it clear who you want to meet, ask when the customer is happiest, and make the introduction easy. You don't need an elaborate referral program with points, prizes and a dashboard that looks like NASA mission control. You need a simple process you'll actually use.

Episode page + full transcript: https://www.thebuyerinsider.com/podcast/episode-26

Connect With Shawna

🔗 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@ShawnaSuckow

🔗 Visit: https://www.thebuyerinsider.com

🔗 Newsletter: https://www.thebuyerinsider.com/newsletter

🔗 Free Small Business Marketing Resources: https://www.thebuyerinsider.com/vault

If this episode gave you one referral idea you can actually use, like the video and subscribe to Underestimated for more practical advice for growing a small business without burning yourself out.

And if you'd like more free small business marketing resources without spending three hours wandering around Google, Shawna's Vault is at www.thebuyerinsider.com/vault.

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