4 Ways to Get More Referrals in 2014

Look at that! 2014 is almost here (or already here, depending on when you read this), and if you’re like me, you want to make the next year better than the last. Maybe work out a bit more, maybe quit smoking, or maybe see the doctor more regularly. While those are all great things to do, let’s talk about something else: your referrals. How were your referrals in 2013? Good? Bad? Well, in any case, you should want to either improve the number and quality of referrals or keep the momentum going.

So let’s take a look at a few ways you can do that.

Inbox Zero (or Inbox Few)

Your inbox might be the biggest source of referral business, if you think about it, considering how often we send emails. And I’ve found that the best way to stay on top of my network is to keep my inbox tightly managed. I know that inbox zero might not be a possibility for everyone, so maintaining inbox few (as I’d like to call it) works just as well. It works in a few ways: fewer things get lost in your inbox and you’ll find that you’re better at replying to email, thus making your more efficient.

Alexandra wrote a fantastic post a few months ago on six hacks on how to get to inbox zero with great tips to get you started.

Templates

One of our popular Contactually features lies in our message templates, which are meant to save you time and make follow ups easy. So how will templates increase the number of referrals you get in 2014?

Think of it like this:

• The follow ups you send can be quickly and easily personalized.


• You’ll save a ton of time messaging those in your network thus allowing you to send more and, in return, you’ll generate more referrals just by keeping in touch.

Happy template sending! And if you need inspiration, go to your account and check out the templates library.

Deliver value

If you talk to anyone in a referral based business, delivering value is in the top few ways they drive more referrals. So how would you deliver value? The vest way I can think of delivering value is by sharing an article, but the problem was finding the article. Of course, you can have a handful of sources you can use and go that way. But if you want to diversify what you find (as well as personalize), I find that Alltop is an incredible source for finding articles. All I have to do is search for a topic and you’ll get back a list of top articles from various sources. Easy enough, right?

Don’t be afraid to cut and run

Change is good! And if your bucket set isn’t working for you, change it. One thing I’ve recently done is delete a few of my buckets and rebucket my important contacts. I realized that my bucket set didn’t work for me, and rebucketing my contacts was the only way to make sure I was staying on top of my network.

However, this doesn’t just apply to Contactually. If something doesn’t work, try something else!

Do you have anything you’d like to try in 2014 for more referrals? Let us know in comments below! And if you’re looking for more, here’s how to own your network in seven days.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/strategy/4-ways-get-referrals-2014-0725208?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4-ways-get-referrals-2014