Words I like: “The 4 referrability characteristics are (1) show up on time, (2) do what you say you will, (3) finish what you start, and (4) say please and thank you. If one or more is missing, you won’t get referred.” – Dan Sullivan
Most CEOs at the growth stage have built something impressive.
You have paying customers, a product that works, and real momentum.
Yet when we ask CEOs where their next ten customers are coming from, the answer is almost never referrals. That needs to change.
Referrals to future customers arrive pre-sold on your value, close faster, and stay longer.
The problem is not that your network is unwilling to refer you.
The problem is that you never ask for referrals.
Or when you do ask, you make it painfully hard for someone to follow through.
Malloy Industries has matched 150+ CEOs with relentlessly generous fractional executives in the past 6 years.
Do you know what 40% of them have in common?
The CEO was referred to us by someone they trusted.
Business moves at the speed of trust.
Scroll down for all of our best advice and specific language you can use to nurture your trusted relationships to scale your business.
The Two Mistakes That Kill Your Referral Pipeline
Mistake 1: You Never Ask
Entrepreneurs tend to assume that great work speaks for itself. It doesn’t.
Wanting to refer you and actually doing it are two different things. You have to create the opening and connection in their mind.
Mistake 2: You Make It Too Hard
When someone agrees to make an introduction, you can’t dump the work on them! It is super hard for someone else to figure out what to say about you, draft a message, and explain why the connection matters.
That is too much friction. An action that should take seconds ends up taking weeks…if it happens at all.
How to Get More Referrals Starting This Week
Do not wait until a project wraps to ask for a referral!
Ask for a referral whenever your customer is at the highest point of motivation and has just received clear value from you.
There are at least five natural moments to request a referral: immediately after purchase, during onboarding, at the midpoint of your engagement, during success check-ins, and at project completion.
At each stage, the customer’s enthusiasm is high for a different reason. Use it effectively.
That’s why we created The Referral Diamond™ to give you the exact sentence to say each time.
If you want more referrals like us, then print this out and make sure you can see it in every meeting.
Write A Forwardable Blurb They Can Copy And Past
This is where most CEOs fall short. Instead of hoping your contact will craft the perfect intro, hand them one.
A forwardable blurb is a short paragraph written from your champion’s perspective that they can copy/paste/forward.
Make it so simple that they can do it in < 2 minutes from their phone in between meetings.
Attach 1-2 marketing assets like a one-pager, a brief case study, or a short video, so the recipient has something tangible to review. The key is to make your champion look thoughtful and well-connected.
Here is the formula:
Subject: Intro to [Company Name]
[Friend’s Name],
Thank you for your help in making a new connection!
Below is a short blurb you can copy/paste/forward. Tweak it as you see fit.
With Gratitude,
[Your Name]
I want to connect you with my friend [Your Name hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile] from [Company Name hyperlink to your website].
[Company Name] helps [who you serve] solve [specific problem].
[One sentence of social proof or bonus value].
If you’re [dealing with 1-3 problems you solve], then I thought an intro could be helpful.
Would you like an intro to [Your Name]?
Million Dollar Consulting Referral Language From Alan Weiss
This is the exact script that Alan recommends you say in meetings:
“Referrals are the coinage of our realm.
Our business has been built on the foundation of enthusiastic word-of-mouth referrals to friends, colleagues, and clients who can benefit from our services.
Who do you know who could benefit from the value we provide?
If you would make the introduction, that would be greatly appreciated.
If not, may we simply use your name when we reach out via email?
If you prefer, we won’t mention you at all.”
Can We Clone You?
This is another stellar script to say to customers:
“You’re exactly the kind of person we love working with!
If we could clone you five times, we’d do it tomorrow to serve five more customers just like you.
Who do you know that’s as successful as you are and could benefit from working with us?”
These 3 short lines do a lot of heavy lifting:
- It makes them feel seen and valued
- It strokes their ego and status because you see them as successful
- It positions them as a helpful person who can help others benefit
Pro Tip: After you ask for the referral, you MUST be silent for 30+ seconds! Every second of awkward silence is earning you more money while the other person proactively flips through their mental rolodex of relationships, looking for matches with people who have problems you can solve.
Be A Purple Cow
Seth Godin teaches that to be “remarkable,” you must be “worthy of remarking,” aka “talking about.”
Malloy Industries matches CEOs with relentlessly generous fractional executives.
So we tape our business cards to fraction flashcards, and then we make a joke that we’re the only people at this event who are going to hand you a fraction flashcard.
It almost always gets a laugh, makes a memorable connection, and creates a link in their brain to Malloy Industries & fractions.
Which means they’re more likely to remember what we do and what problems we can solve when they hear someone in the future talk about that problem.
Pro Tip: How can you be more remarkable and memorable in the minds of your referral sources?
Systems Scale
Referrals don’t scale because you’re likable.
They scale because you’re systematic.
I just got back from a 3-day Genius Network event in Phoenix, AZ. The first thing they did at 9am on the 3rd day was give everyone a 3×5 card and ask us to write down the names and emails of 3 referrals who could benefit from joining.
It was clearly a referral system. And it worked. I gave them 3 names on the spot, and they opened a loop in my brain to keep thinking about who else I can refer to Genius Network.
My favorite part of the system was when they said, “Your referrals are our greatest compliment.”
Here’s what separates a one-off introduction from a repeatable growth engine = Intention
Pro Tip: Based on what you just read, what’s one action you can take immediately to be more intentional in asking for referrals to grow your business?
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways you can refer a CEO to Malloy Industries:
- Reply to this email to share the names and emails of any referral ideas. We’ll give your referrals the VIP treatment.
- Forward this email to a friend and cc: mike@malloyindustries.com and simply say, “Connecting you two because Malloy Industries could help you.” We’ll give your referrals the VIP treatment.
- Sign up for our referral program to earn $$$ and Hawaiian shirts. We’ll give your referrals the VIP treatment.