A friend of mine went to a nice restaurant a few weeks ago in Grantham
(yes we do have nice places to eat in the sticks of the East Midlands). When I saw him a few days later, I couldnt shut him up, he was raving about how good the meal and service was. Now as you can tell by looking at my pic, I do like my food. So I asked what so so special about the food. Transpires the food was very very good, but not to the extent that it was the best meal he had ever had (which i thought was the case when I couldn't shut him up). What happened was the restaurant owner rang him (as he had booked) the day after to say, "How was your dinner last night?" Not to follow up to sell something, just to know. Just to ask. Just to set things right if they were wrong.
That got me thinking, how many times have you had an OK meal, but for something to say, told your friends or work colleagues, well it is was OK, and the waiter service was little slow. Also, because we all like a story of misery, us British, we all like to ramp it up slightly when it comes to telling a story of woe ‘Don’t go there, it’s
awful service.. blah blah” With a friend saying that, the chances of me visiting that perfectly good restaurant were very slim indeed (all because it was OK but they liked to have a moan)
So more thinking .... by the restaurant owner making that call, I will probably go to that restaurant now (because someone else, a friend, had said it it was good)
What if your accountant, who knows your telephone number, rang you up to
check if the VAT return went OK this quarter? What if the garage service department rang you a day after your service to check everything was OK? I think on both occasions you would think , my they care and remember them and even recommend them, even go as far to refer them to friends and family. So why not ring up your landlords to check that they received
their rent this month. You don’t need to do all of them every month, just 10 or
15.
If you really
want to generate those referrals, don't ask for a referral, ask if everything
was great. Offer to help. Do it in a gentle way, with no strings, no additional
extra’s like trying to sell rent insurance, no sales pitch. If you really and truly care, why
not ask? Not a form, not a online survey. Just one caring person, asking
another.
It’s not that hard, is it?