So our conversation today is secrets of the referral multiplier. Essentially what my goal for our time together is, it's to lay the foundation for getting more referrals. Now today, I'm focusing on how you can get more referrals from your existing clients, but you can use this with other people in your industry, so other lawyers.

You can use this with people who are just evangelists for you, and as a refresher, an evangelist is someone who's never used your services, but refers you all the time. So let's take the case of a personal injury attorney. If I knew someone who got injured, and I referred that person to a personal injury attorney, I would be an evangelist for them, because I haven't had the need for a personal injury attorney myself, but I refer them anyway.

So I know them, I like them, I trust them. Today, I'm gonna concentrate on clients, how to get more from your current clients, and then in the future, we can talk about, well, on Thursday, we'll be talking about how to use evangelists as well as current clients to get some additional referrals. So remember the logistics, use the chat feature.

You'll see down, if you pull your mouse all the way to the bottom, there should be a little chat. You can hit me up on the chat if you have a question, and what you can do is just say I have a question, and I'll unmute you, or you can type your question right into the chat. No problem, I'll answer it either way.

The presentation will be about 35, 45 minutes, and then we'll take questions for as long as you'd like. You can follow up with me directly using the email address, or at the community website, or you can always call me. I will always take your call, all right? So our goals for today.

First is to remove the mystery around referrals. So often, I hear from clients and from other folks who are professionals that you do great work, and you don't understand why more people won't refer you. Well, we're gonna fix that today.

The second thing is I wanna provide you with a system that you can use and that you can give to other people, if you have other people in your firm, that they can use to get referrals. The third thing is I'm going to share scripts with you, so you don't even have to worry about what to say. I'm gonna give you stuff you can say to people to get referrals.

I found that a lot of people, they bristle at scripts because they think that when I share scripts with them, I'm sharing a script because, I don't know, I think they're dumb. It's not that. I share scripts with you so that you don't have to even bother thinking about what to say.

Just internalize it and say this. Of course, you can put it in your own words. The fourth thing is I wanna help you start your research into getting more referrals.

You may think that research is incompatible with referrals because, I mean, how much research can you do when you don't know where your next referral is gonna come from? That's part of the problem. You don't know where your next referral is gonna come from, so I'm gonna help you with that. Then we're gonna focus on follow-up and delivering value so that you continue to get referrals after this is through.

These are our goals for today. Essentially, these are the five sections of the presentation that I'm sharing with you today. So why don't we get more referrals? My gosh, how many times have I heard this? We do great work.

We're the best. I've even heard numerous personal injury attorneys who have delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars to clients, and Steve actually said the other day, the client walks out of their office and they get hit by a bus, and a personal injury attorney comes along and they hire him instead of the guy whose office they just left, who's handed them a $30,000, $50,000 check. Well, the reason you don't get more referrals is because, number one, people don't know that you want referrals.

When I realized this, I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, but it is the God's honest truth. People don't know you want referrals. It's crazy.

So we gotta tell them, and I'm gonna show you how to tell them. People don't know who to refer to you. Even the most well-intentioned people, people who are your relatives, people who are your best clients, they're gonna send you crappy referrals because they don't know who to refer to you.

So we're gonna help you fix that today. People don't know how to refer you. How often do you hear, I gave your name to somebody? Well, that's of absolutely no use to me.

Sometimes people will say that because they want you to buy them a drink at a bar, but that is useless second only to, that's only second to, oh, I passed your name to so-and-so as a referral. Why don't you give him a call, which is basically an invitation to make a cold call to somebody, right? So we're gonna fix that problem today too, and then people don't know why they should refer you. And this is a big problem for me personally because people really don't know what I do unless I really explain it in detail to them.

But for those of you who are lawyers, we talked about this the other day too. Everybody thinks that your life is like law and order, right, that you go to court all day, you come back, you sit in the office and drink scotch and lament, and then you do it all over again the day after. Well, people need to know what the value proposition is.

They need to know what you provide, what value you provide. So I'm gonna help you with that. And then finally, people just forget.

They simply just forget about you, about what you did for them. You could save somebody from drowning and six months later they wouldn't remember who you were. It's just the way life is, so we're gonna solve that problem too.

So we're gonna be very ambitious in the next 30 minutes and solve these five problems. All right, step one is to let people know you want referrals, right? So here's the script, okay? And you can take this script and you can literally plaster it on the bottom of all of your emails. You could plaster it in every letter that you send.

Let's review it. Thank you for working with us. Our business grows because of the generosity of clients like you.

Please share our information. Oh, you're gonna wanna fix that typo. Please share our information with your friends, family, and associates.

We love referrals, okay? That script has to go on every piece of communication that you send out. And the reason is because people just don't know that you want referrals. I will tell you that whenever I have one of my clients go to someone, I can actually tell you a quick story.

So we mentioned BNI on a couple of these sessions. BNI is Business Network International. It's a networking group.

And I've done some training for them over the years. I was a member. And I would have people refer other people who do what I do.

And I would go to them and I would say, you know, I would be happy, particularly for speaking engagements. I would go to them and I would say, you know, I would have been happy to go speak to that group for free, but you didn't ask me. Instead, you asked so-and-so who does something similar to what I do, why'd you ask them and not me? And they'll say something along the lines of, I didn't know that you would want a referral like that.

I thought you preferred to get the speaking engagements yourself. And you hear that once. And when you hear that one time, you say to yourself, man, that person is really stupid.

But when you hear it the second time, you say to yourself, man, I am really stupid because I am not educating people enough that I love referrals. So you have to tell people that you want referrals. And this script is a way to do it.

Put it on the bottom of your emails. Send it out to, send it out and put it on the bottom of letters. Put it as a PS in letters that you send to people.

And I'm gonna show you the exact time and place to do that, like in your closing letter, for example. But if you don't tell people, then shame on you because they're just not gonna, they're not gonna think of it on their own. And even if they do think of it, they actually don't know that you want referrals.

All right, so the second phrase that I want you to start using is, hey, can I ask you for a favor? And when you ask for a favor, people will always say, sure, you can ask me for a favor, right? Will you share my information with? And then you give it, you give them the name of a specific person. Now we're gonna get into specifics in a few minutes. But share my information with someone is a great way to just prime the pump, to let people know that you accept referrals.

This is not a substitute for asking for a specific referral. This is how you initially start to train someone to refer you. One of the things that I like to do when I begin working with clients is we sit down and we'll go over the engagement agreement.

And all of you should have engagement agreements in your business. And I say to them, here's the investment that you're gonna make in my services. You're good with that, right? And they say yes.

And I will say to them, here's another area of expectation that I have and you should have of me. If you find my services valuable, I will ask you for a favor. And that favor is that you share my information with other people to whom you think I can provide value.

Would you do me that favor? You say this right up front. And the reason you say it right up front is because you want to get them conditioned that this is a way for them to provide you with compensation, it's an expectation. Just like paying you, if you're thrilled with the job I do, I want you to share my information with everybody you know to whom you think I can provide value.

So that's the phrase, can I ask you for a favor, would you share my information with so and so. Now, another place where I use that is if I'm meeting someone at a party and I know that they, for example, are the executive director of an association, I will say to them, it was great talking to you, can I ask you for a favor? And they'll say, of course. And I'll say, would you share your information with the committee that plans your meetings? I would love to come and do a presentation for them on this subject.

I think they would find it valuable. You know, 90% of the time they say sure and they forget about it. But that 10% of the time, it's worth it.

So, can I ask you for a favor? Very few people will ever say no. Sometimes people who are wise asses will say, well, it depends on what it is. Most people will say, sure, and then you say, share my information with so and so.

Not a substitute for asking for a specific referral, but it's very, very good for conditioning people that this is one of the ways that you do business with them. All right, when do you do this? I just touched on one of these times. At engagement, when people hire you, you tell them that you want referrals, okay? As I said, you're conditioning them.

It's part of what we do here. It's part of our compensation. At the midpoint of your work with them, all right, when you're delivering good news, whenever you deliver good news, that's the perfect time to ask for a referral.

So, what happens? Oh, we just survived the motion for summary judgment. So, the case is going to continue, and we got a really good shot now, and I think we're gonna get a settlement offer. Oh, that's fantastic, thanks for letting me know.

Oh, it's my pleasure. You know, we're gonna do everything we can to get the best from you. How do you think things are going so far? Well, they're going great, terrific.

Can I ask you for a favor? Sure, can you mention my name to so and so? I remember you telling me that you had lunch with him at the country club the other day. I'd love to meet him, right? At the midpoint, asking for a referral after you've delivered good news, always a good thing, always. At the closing or the end of the engagement, most of you, when you're finished working with your clients, will send out some type of closing letter.

It lets the client know that your representation of them for this matter has ended. In that closing letter, there should be something about a referral. My preference would be that you include a self-addressed stamped envelope so people can write down names and information and send it back to you.

On the community website, there is an example of this. And I will, when I send out the follow-up, I will send out a link to it. I think I can link to these things in the community website.

I'll send out a link to a really good closing letter that I've shared with my clients over the years. And there's two versions. One is a closing letter that just straight up asks for referrals.

And the other version has an actual survey form which asks about your level of service, the level of service you've provided. And then, in addition, it asks for referrals. If you don't wanna be that formal, and by the way, nobody feels put out by filling that out.

And people will send you the names of people you can talk to to get referrals. But if you don't wanna be that formal, the least you can do when the engagement is over, you send out the closing letter and then you call and follow up with the person and you say to the person, it was really great representing you. I'd like you to call me anytime you have any legal need.

I know a lot of people in other practice areas and I'm sure we can help you. As a reminder, we live and die by referrals. Referrals are the greatest thing in the world to us.

If you know anyone who we can help with and then you talk about the primary area where you help them, I would love for you to connect me with them. And that's just another way to mention that you live for referrals. And then the fourth time is during follow up, okay? All of you are familiar with my weekly email system.

Some of you are doing it. Some of you are starting to do it. Some of you are thinking about starting to do it.

And some of you I still have to convince to start to do it. But you all know about my email follow up system, my weekly email follow up system. Every one of those emails at the bottom should have a PS and the PS should include that phrase that I showed you at the beginning of our time together today to remind them that you live off of referrals.

In addition, you should do at least once every five or six weeks, you should do a story of how someone referred you a great case. Work that into your email newsletter. Why do you do that? Stories help people confirm in their mind that it's the right thing to do.

It provides validation for people. So always include a story at least once every five or six weeks in your email newsletters of how somebody referred you a great case or anytime you tell a client success story, tell how that client came to you, especially if that client came to you through referral. All right, step two, research.

In addition to telling people that you like referrals, telling people that you accept referrals, research is critical. So what do I mean by research? Well, let's take a look. You need to know who your best client is and you need to have a profile of your best client.

I wanna know who your best client is from a demographic point of view, all right? I wanna know where they're from. I wanna know what they do for a living. I wanna know how old they are.

And I wanna have, basically, I wanna have you build an avatar in your mind for who your best client is. Now, these aren't your only clients, but these are your best clients. And I also need psychographics.

How do they behave? What makes them your best client? Once you have that profile in your mind, you need to be able to describe that person to everyone. Why? Because I don't want you asking for referrals to any client. I want you asking for referrals for people who look like your best clients.

You'll still get crappy clients. Don't worry, they will find you. But your best client is who you should be asking for because if you don't shoot for the moon, you're never gonna reach the stars.

I mean, it's a hackneyed, cliched expression, but set the avatar up as your best client. Now, you need to know where your best clients come from, right? What do I mean by that? We've talked about this a little bit, but I wanna go into some really solid detail for you. Your best clients.

Now, if you're in a consumer practice area, I want you to think about your best referral sources. When I refer to the clients in this scenario, I want you to think about referral sources, right? So substitute evangelist or referral source for client, right? Where do we find your best clients? Well, the first thing I wanna know is I wanna know what groups or organizations that they belong to. Again, if you're in a consumer practice area, your referral sources, what groups or organizations do they belong to? What do they read? What publications do they read? What websites do they visit? What industry trade associations do they belong to? Where can we find these people? And there are a couple of reasons why we wanna know this information.

One, we wanna know it so we can go there and listen and watch them, gotta figure out how they behave so that we can then find ways to get in front of them. But also we can look for other people who are looking for ways to get in front of these people too and those people can refer us. So we wanna know where we can find them.

We wanna know what they read and we really want to be able to identify who they are and where we can get them. The next thing you need to do is you need to dig into your client's contacts or your evangelist's contacts. So what do I mean by that? You have conversations, you make small talk all the time with your clients.

You need to figure out where your clients go and who they come in contact with that could be good referrals for you, all right? The best way to figure out where your clients go and who their best contacts are that they can introduce you to is listen to them, all right? I work with a lot of people who are frustrated or annoyed when clients make small talk because they think they're wasting their time. That is gold. You're essentially mining for gold when people make small talk.

When they tell you about their role on the PTA, you ask what school and then you do some research on the school and you find out who's on the board at the school or who else volunteers at the school, you will find people who are great referrals for you. Dig into your client's contacts and listen to them when they speak and you're gonna find that they have a ton of people they could and should be introducing you to. Everybody good with that? Everybody okay with some of these things? I mean, your clients are gonna make small talk with you anyway.

Listening to them and probing them to find out organizations that they belong to, groups they're part of and who else is a member of that group is only going to help you when you look for referrals. All right, additional research. Create a memory jogger.

What's a memory jogger? Well, there's also an example of this on the community website, so I'll link to this as well. There's an example of it in my book, The 60 Second Sale, too. A memory jogger is a list of questions that will elicit responses from people that will help you get them to surface people they can refer you to.

So for example, when I meet somebody new, I always ask them, hey, what groups do you belong to? Where do you volunteer? What associations do you belong to? How do you spend your free time? Those are memory jogger type questions. You should have a list of those questions, and I've made a list for you, and I'm gonna share it with you. And you should have two or three of those at the ready, always, so that you can ask people where they go and what they do, because this is part of your research.

This is how you're gonna figure out who they can connect you to. I promise you, everybody you work with is a possible potential referral source. If you use a memory jogger, you'll figure out who they can connect you with.

Ask during ongoing conversation. Like I said, what groups do you belong to? How do you spend your free time? What do you do for fun? Where do you go on vacation? Do you belong to any groups or associations? Do you go to conventions? That type of thing. Ask them about their ideal client.

The biggest gift you can give to someone is helping them crystallize who their ideal client is. Because the minute you know who your ideal client is, you stop searching for crappy clients, and you start searching for ideal clients, you'll find out that you can really upgrade the level of people that you bring into your firm, that you bring into your practice. Looking for ideal clients for your clients is a fantastic gift.

It's amazing to me when I pass a referral to someone, and even when that referral doesn't close, even when the person doesn't end up hiring the person that I'm referring them to, I get a thank you note or I get a phone call and they say, look Dave, it didn't work out, but I gotta tell you, they're the exact person I wanna meet. In the last three years, nobody's ever connected me to someone who's as perfect. Now, why is that? Well, it's because I figured out who their ideal client was based on what they told me.

I'll tell you a quick story. We got a few minutes, so I'm gonna tell you a quick story. My financial advisor's a local guy here in Miami, and he came to me, believe it or not, through BNI.

And he's a good guy, he's a very, very good guy. And my wife and I were friendly with him, and we'd been to dinner with them a few times. And we're at a holiday cocktail party like three, four years ago.

And I'm at the party and it's at my wife's aunt's house, and a person that I had only met casually comes up to me and she says hi, she reintroduces herself. And I said, oh, I know who you are, how you doing? She sells medical devices. I said, how's the medical device business? And she says, well, I'm only working three days a week now.

The other two days, I spend helping my sister. And I said, oh, really, what does your sister do? She said, no, my sister was injured in a bad accident, and she needs constant care. We received a settlement as a result of the accident.

So between managing her care with the care providers and managing the investment, that takes up two days a week for me. And I said, wow, you really have a lot going on. I said, if there's ever anything I can do to help you, let me know.

And she said, you know what, there is. And that's why I came over here. I'm having trouble right now with the firm that manages my sister's money.

We think there's something going on with the fees that we didn't agree to. Do you know a good lawyer who can help us? So I said to her, yes, absolutely. I definitely know a good lawyer who can help you.

Let's talk a little bit about what you're looking to accomplish, and I'll connect you with a lawyer that I know. I said, and then after this happens, after you connect with a lawyer, you're not gonna wanna leave your money with these people. You're probably gonna wanna put your money someplace else, right? And she said, absolutely.

I'm definitely gonna wanna put my money someplace else. And I said, if you wanna meet somebody to help you with that, I'll introduce you to the person who manages my money. And she said, sure, that would be great.

So I introduced her to the lawyer. She hired them, and the lawyer rectified the situation. And sure enough, she needed to move her money.

And once she did get ready to move the money, she asked me for the referral, and I referred her to my financial advisor, not knowing how much the money was. And it turned out to be a referral of trust that was over $5 million, which was a very nice referral for this financial advisor. So I was happy to do it, and it came up just as an aside from a conversation that I was having at a cocktail party.

And because I knew that this person was going to be the ideal client for my financial advisor, I was able to think of him right away. All right, finding someone for them, the story illustrates that. All right, step three, give them a referral.

Now, and before I, hang on, before I reveal the rest of this slide, if you want people to refer you, you gotta go out of your way to at least try to refer them first. You have to try to refer them first. I never recommend going up to somebody cold and asking them for a referral without trying to refer them first.

Now, this applies more to evangelists than to clients, okay? Because your clients, you're already engaged in a relationship with them, so that's fine. But if you came up to me cold and I didn't know you, and you asked me to introduce you to someone because you wanted to sell them something, so for example, you knew that I worked with Dr. William Munoz here in Miami, and you knew that I could pick up the phone and call him, and you said to me, hey, Dave, listen, and we've never worked together, nothing, you said, hey, Dave, listen, I know you mentioned to me that you know William Munoz, he's a gastroenterologist, I sell medical devices to gastroenterologists, I would love a meeting with him, can you introduce me to him? Now, I don't know you from anybody, we just, we may have a casual relationship, we've never done business together, I don't know what your style is like. It's a hard thing for me to do, to go to someone who trusts me and introduce you to them and say, listen, you need to talk to this guy, he's got some medical devices for you.

It's a very tough thing to do. Now, if you had come to me and you had said to me, hey, Dave, listen, I got an opportunity for you to speak in front of a group that I run, here's the group, we don't have a budget to pay you, I know you usually get paid, would you speak to them for free, maybe you'll get some leads, I would say, sure, I would give it a shot, and then we could get to know each other during the process of preparing for that speech, I feel good about you, you've seen me in action, then you could come to me and say, and I would thank you and you could come to me and say, listen, I would love it if you connected me with Dr. Munoz, here's the reason why, and then you tell me, I feel great about referring you then because we've spent some time together, I know you a little bit. From a purely selfish standpoint, people are going to be more likely to refer you if you refer them first.

When it comes to evangelists, when it comes to people from whom you're seeking a referral, especially if you want a high profile referral, you need to do something for them first, it's just the way the world works. So the first thing you need to do is you need to ask the person if you can refer them. So first, ask them if you can refer them, both sides, hey Dave, can I refer you to my group for a speaking engagement? Don't just throw me in front of the group, have them approve me and say, my group has approved you to speak, what if I didn't want to speak to that group, right? So you ask the subject of the referral first and then you ask the person you're referring if that makes sense.

There's nothing worse, almost nothing worse than somebody coming to me and saying, I gave your name to so and so and so and so is gonna be a huge pain in the ass for me. I would much rather you not pass a referral that's gonna be a pain in the ass than pass the referral. So I want you to ask me first and I will do you the courtesy of asking you first before I connect you with somebody else.

So you ask both sides if you can refer. The second thing is you ask them how they want the referral. So I'm referring Steve Klitzner, I ask him, I say, Steve, listen, I wanna connect you with my friend Joe, he's over in Naples, he does a lot of tax planning work, he gets IRS controversy calls from time to time, he can't handle those calls, he doesn't do IRS controversy work.

I know you'd like to work in Miami, but I also know that you'll go to Naples and do the work, literally, not literally go to Naples, but on the phone to the revenue officers over there. Can I connect you with this guy in Naples? Steve will say yes, I'll say, how do you want me to do it? You want me to do it via email? You want me to get you on a phone call or we can do Zoom? Everybody knows how to use Zoom these days, right? Or would you prefer that we do it in person? I mean, if you're gonna wait 18 months, I'll get together for the two of you guys with lunch if you're vaccinated and we can all get together in person. I ask because different people have different preferences.

So you always ask how people want the referrals. The third thing is you contact the referral subject and lay the groundwork. So in the case of Steve and Joe from Naples, I would call Joe from Naples and I would say, hey, Joe, listen, I know you get a lot of IRS controversy work and you don't do it.

I have a really good client and a friend of mine in Miami who will do the IRS controversy work over in Naples. He gets a lot of calls for tax planning. He'll be happy to send you some cases.

He knows how to refer people. Can I connect you guys? Joe will say yes. Now, if Joe says no, I go back to Steve and I go, Joe doesn't wanna meet you and it's over.

But you're contacting both sides in advance. A lot of people skip this step. Please don't do that.

Then you make the referral. You do it however both the people agree, by email, by telephone, in person. And then you don't leave this step out.

You follow up with both. I call Steve. Hey, did you call Joe? Yeah, I called Joe.

What did Joe say? Joe said he's gonna refer me some work and he already sent me something. Oh, fantastic. Now remember, Steve, you told him you would send him tax planning work.

Of course, I definitely will. Hey, Joe, how's it going? You met with my friend Steve? Yeah, I met with him. Nice guy.

I already sent him something. Oh, that's fantastic, Joe. I really appreciate you doing that.

Steve's gonna take care of you. He's definitely gonna send you some work back and I'll check in with him from time to time to make sure he does. Now, why do I do that? Why do I follow up with both sides? Well, it's not just Steve and Joe's reputation on the line.

It's my reputation too. Joe trusted me because he was willing to send his work over to Steve. Steve trusts me because he's willing to meet with Joe.

And now they're both trusting me that this relationship is gonna be fruitful down the road and I'm following up with both of them. So now Steve knows, yeah, he's gotta send work back and Steve's a good guy. He's definitely gonna send work back.

But if he decided that he wasn't going to and I asked him about it, at least I would be a pain in the ass to him until he remembered to send work back. And then Joe knows that and Joe knows I'm gonna be on top of Steve. So what does that do? Joe appreciates my thoroughness and when Joe sends me a referral, he's gonna be as thorough.

Steve appreciates my thoroughness and when Steve sends me a referral, he's gonna be as thorough. Basically what I'm doing is I'm teaching these folks how to refer me by the way I refer them. That's a critical point and I don't want you to miss this.

I am teaching these people how to refer me by the way I refer them and you will be doing the same. My friends, if you pass half-hearted referrals, you will receive half-hearted referrals. If you pass thorough referrals and you follow up and you lay the groundwork in advance, people will do the same for you.

That is the golden rule of referrals. People will do, you do unto others as you wanna have done unto you. People will do to you what you do to them.

So teach people how to refer by the way you refer them. All right, step four, the gratitude script. You're gonna love this.

All right, you've just referred somebody and they call you with gratitude. They call you up. Dave, you're the greatest.

I just got a referral, a $5 million trust. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. It's the biggest referral I've ever received.

Thank you so much. What do I say? You're welcome. I know you do the same for me.

And then you stay quiet. What will happen is the person will fill the silence with, yeah, yeah, of course, absolutely. I definitely would do the same for you.

And then you can say something like, would you like to hear who I'd like to meet? And then they're gonna get out their pen and paper and they're gonna start taking notes and they are gonna wanna do whatever they can. They will move heaven and earth to help you. This script is the key to making that happen.

And it's hard to pull off, so you gotta start practicing. Tonight at dinner, when your spouse or one of your kids or somebody that you're hanging out with passes you the salt, you say, you're welcome. I know you'd do the same for me.

And then stay quiet and stare at them. This script is fantastic. It works every time.

As long as you use these words and then stay quiet, people will stammer and they will say, of course, I would love to help you. And then you can tell them who you wanna meet. Works like a charm.

Use this script. If you're not writing it down now, that's fine. Watch the replay, write it down.

All right, how to ask. I'm gonna fill all these in at once because it's important. So, you're welcome.

I know you'd do the same for me. Stay quiet. Of course, Dave, I definitely would do the same for you.

Terrific. Would you like to hear who I'd like to meet? Well, yeah. Now, I've done my research.

I know what organizations you belong to. I know what boards you sit on. I know who's a member of your country club.

You've told me three times about how you met this guy and that woman and the person who does this. So now, I'm going to ask for an introduction to somebody that I wanna meet. I'm gonna do it this way.

I wanna meet Joe Smith. He's the president of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. I know you know him because he's on the board of your kid's school.

And you told me a couple of times that you and he have had discussions about building a new tennis court. So, I think you can probably reach out to him if you feel comfortable. Pfizer is in the pharmaceutical industry.

I work with 15 different companies in the pharmaceutical industry. I don't work with Pfizer. The reason why I wanna meet him is because my company has a brand new system that is designed to help keep top level scientists in a competitive environment where they're constantly being recruited.

And I think Joe would wanna hear about this because his rate of attrition for his scientists is like 15%, which is 10% above the average. Look what I did there. I gave him the name, I gave him the title, I gave him the company, I gave him the industry, and I gave him the reason why I wanna meet him.

I gave him the value that I'm gonna provide to the person he knows. Now, what I've done is I've given him enough information to strike up a conversation with this person and potentially introduce me because he knows about the value that I'm gonna provide. And step five there, number five, the reason why, critically important, and most people leave that out.

So I want you to really focus on getting a good, compelling reason why you want this meeting, okay? That's critical. But the other parts are also important. Obviously you've given a specific name and you know he knows them or you know that person knows them because you've done your research.

You've given him the title. Why do you give him the title? Well, maybe he's not able to introduce you to Joe because the one time he tried to introduce somebody to Joe, Joe got all aggravated and he said never do that again. But you gave him the title of president or CEO and he knows two other people who are CEOs and those people might be able to benefit from that solution you just mentioned.

So maybe he can introduce you to the president of a different company. You also gave him the company name. Why? Well, you may know other people in the company who you think are easier introductions or more appropriate introductions.

So you can mention that to the person when you're talking to them or they can mention it to you because you've given them the company name. You've given them the industry. Why? This person may know other people in that industry.

So in addition to introducing you to Joe, they may also be able to introduce you to those other people or those other people may be more appropriate. All of this information is necessary when you're asking for a referral. The name, the title, the company, the industry and the reason why.

You have to find out all of this information before you ask for the referral. All right, the bonus step, the follow up. What I want you to do is when someone refers business to you you call the party who referred you and obviously you're gonna thank them but you're also gonna tell them if it worked out and how it worked out.

Always, always, always follow up with the referral source. Now, I need to caution you here. If it turns out that the referral was horrible and that person was a pain in the ass client, it was a total disaster, don't do that.

Don't share that with them. Simply call and thank them. Tell them, listen, it didn't work out.

The case turned out to be a little bit more challenging than we thought but I really appreciate you thinking about me. Don't complain to the person who referred you about the other person. If it was an inappropriate referral, number one, you probably shouldn't have taken it but if it was an inappropriate referral and you found out later on, you can correct them down the road.

When you're calling to make the thank you call, you never wanna complain. And I'll give you a quick, really, really quick story about this. Three months ago, four months ago, somebody reached out to me from one of the law firms I work with in New York City and they needed help with something.

And I didn't know the exact person to help them because the jurisdiction was in the Midwest and it was kind of a rural area and I didn't have a lawyer that I had personally worked with in that jurisdiction. However, I knew a lawyer in that practice area who belonged to a national organization. So I called him and I said, listen, we need somebody in this particular practice area in this jurisdiction.

Can you help us? And the gentleman said, sure, I'll do some research and I'll give you a couple of names. And he did and he called the person in advance and said, I wanna refer somebody to you. So basically, this is like a fourth party referral.

So I go back to my guy in New York and I said, here's what I've done. I went to somebody I know and he did the research, he called them and then I emailed this person to double check and make sure it was a good referral. And he said, yes, so I'm gonna connect you guys now.

And he said email was fine, so I connected them by email. Person followed up with me and they followed up with me by writing a very lengthy complaint email to me about how the other lawyer burned their client and it was terrible and I should have never referred them and that he was down on my whole system for referrals. So I appreciated the follow up.

He could have told me that it didn't work out, but candidly, I had invested like three hours in that process. I know my client who did the research invested like three hours in the process. I shared the feedback with my client in a gentle way.

And my client just wrote down that he would never refer that guy again, but he's not gonna call up and chew out the other attorney how he handled it. Honestly, I'm not gonna help the person who asked me for the referral in the future. I'm just gonna tell him I don't know anybody because it's too much risk for me in the future because this person is not somebody who's gonna, if it doesn't go well, they're not somebody who's gonna give me constructive feedback.

They're just gonna sit there and complain. So I want you to tell people what happened, tell them if and how it worked out within the context of thanking them, but don't lay your problems at their feet. They're doing you a favor by referring you.

If it doesn't work out, that's just the way life is. Don't kill the person, unless it's their fault, don't kill the person who connected you. The second is send some sort of a gift, okay? Somebody refers you and it's like $3,000 worth of business, $4,000 worth of business, it's fine.

Send them a law firm t-shirt from your firm with a handwritten thank you note, no problem. Or send them a collection of your law firm cups or something, that's fine. Somebody gives you a $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 case, a $100,000 case, send them a gift certificate to Ruth Chris.

Send them a nice gift certificate to her when people go into restaurants again or whatever. Right now you can send them a gift certificate to a supermarket maybe or to give them an Amazon gift. Amazon gift certificate is always good, right? As a thank you, with a handwritten thank you note.

And the reason you send them a gift is not as a bribe, it's not a kickback for doing it, it's reinforcing the positive thoughts. You're reinforcing the behavior. And something tangible like a mug from your office or a key chain or a t-shirt or a gift card is a great way to give them something that they can put their hands on and it's an expression of appreciation that's tangible.

That makes a difference and they will remember you and they are gonna be predisposed to refer you again. Not because you bribed them or gave them a kickback but because they're gonna feel, literally, tangibly feel that you expressed your appreciation. Add anyone who refers you business to your email list and on your email list, occasionally include a PS that says, we appreciate your referrals.

Our best clients come from people who refer us business, use the referral script that I've given you. Add people to your email list, follow up with them. Keep making introductions.

Your best referral sources, 10% of your, 20, let me rephrase, 80% of your referrals are gonna come from 10 to 20% of your referral sources. So your former clients, 20% of them are going to refer you 80% of your referral business. People who refer you, people who send you referrals, you gotta keep introducing them to new people.

Keep sending them stuff, keep sending them business, keep sending them referrals. Sometimes we're tempted to spread our work around and I agree with that to an extent but I want you to give the best referrals to your best referral sources because that rewards them and that will keep them making referrals to you. Then finally, have quarterly FaceTime with these folks.

Your best referral sources, all of us have half dozen people that send us a lot of business. Typically, I would say to you, find out where they like to go to dinner, take them to dinner. Find out where they like to go to lunch, take them to lunch.

I mean, once a year, I have a great referral source out on the West Coast. Once a year on a West Coast trip, I make sure that I see them in person. These days, that's gonna be tougher.

Do a Zoom call with them at least once a quarter. Spend time with them at least once a quarter connecting. I had a call yesterday afternoon with a gentleman who I worked with at Marriott literally 20 years, 20 plus years ago.

We touch base and we have for 20 something years, four times a year, every quarter. Either he reaches out to me, I reach out to him. He's referred me some good business over the years and now that he's retired from Marriott, I'm helping him break into consulting and I referred him a couple of consulting gigs just this past year.

That quarterly FaceTime is invaluable. It helps you catch up with what's going on and if your business has changed or that person's business has changed, you people touch base so you keep up to date with what's going on. Important and valuable.