Referral Marketing_updated May18

>> Ever wonder how some people get referrals from doctors and other practitioners? In this lecture, we're going to talk about just that, how you can foster relationships with potential referral partners to build your business. There are so many ways you can promote your business. And we've talked about a lot of them, including social media, blogging, online marketing, and networking. However, the hands-down best way to build your business is by word of mouth. What does it mean to build a business by word of mouth? It means that people know, like, and trust you enough to share your name as a resource with their friends and acquaintances. For instance, if a friend of yours was talking to one of their friends and that friend mentioned that they were experiencing some health issues, your friend might say, "You know, you should talk to my friend Michael. He's an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and I bet he could help you with your health problems." That's word of mouth marketing. In addition to your friends and family sending you word of mouth referrals, you can intentionally create referrals with other practitioners and professionals in the health and wellness industry. These are called referral partnerships. Some examples of people who might build referral partnerships with you are doctors, chiropractors, therapists, personal trainers, yoga teachers, yoga studios, spas, gyms. To get started building referral partnerships, you can do a few things. Search for potential referral partners in your area. And really, the possibilities for potential partnerships are endless. Reach out and connect with those people. As part of this module, we've included a referral partner pitch template to make reaching out and connecting with these potential referral partners simple. Another one, communicate the value of your services. I'll say it again because it's worth repeating, whenever you're talking to someone about your work, focus on what's in it for them. Even the most generous people are wired to first think of what's in it for them. So make sure you address that question when reaching out to a potential referral partner, what can you offer their clients that they can't provide. For instance, doctors don't often have a lot of time to educate their patients on preventative health measures, even if they'd like to. As an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, you could partner with a doctor to help keep their patients healthy, what value will you add to their business and their clients. This could be anything from sending them new clients to helping their clients experience better results, which makes the practitioner you're pitching to look better to their clients. For example, if you focus on weight loss as a Health Coach, you might partner with a personal trainer to work with their weight-loss clients. While the trainer works out with the client, you can help the client with diet, lifestyle, and mindset changes. This will improve their weight loss and overall experience, making the trainer look much more successful. Follow up. After you've reached out to a potential referral partner, make sure to follow up with them and schedule a time to connect one-to-one. Referral partnerships are about much more than sending each other referrals. They are about building relationships. After all, we only refer to people we know, like, and trust, right? Another way to build referral partnerships is through what we call a referral wheel. A referral wheel is a group of people who all serve the same client base and who all refer to one another. For example, if the ideal client is a bride-to-be, a referral wheel might consist of a personal trainer, weight-loss coach, hairdresser, a florist, wedding planner, makeup artist, photographer, videographer, baker, basically anyone who plays a role in planning, organizing, and executing a wedding. Referral wheels are great because every time a member of the referral wheel signs on a new client, they can refer that client to all the other members of the referral wheel. That new client may not sign up for work with everyone, but because they've placed their trust in that one member, they're more likely to invest in the services of the other members in the group. Referral wheels are also great at sending you ideal clients because every member of the referral wheel is working with the same kind of client. For example, each member was working with brides-to-be, so they would all refer new brides to one another. We've included in this module a handout to help you put together your own referral wheel of like-minded practitioners. So check that out to get started to building your referral network. The last topic I want to address related to referral marketing is partnering with people who are well-known in your industry. Take a moment to think of some people who are well-known in your field. You might be thinking of a big name like Dr. Oz, or Dr. Mark Hyman, or maybe it's someone who's a little less well-known but who still has an audience much larger than your own. Imagine what it would be like to talk to that person about your business. Could you imagine asking them to promote your work? Reaching out to industry rockstars can seem really intimidating, but it's not as hard as you might think. Those rockstars were once in your shoes, and they're still people, just like you, just like me. So reaching out to them to promote your work isn't totally out of the question. The best way to approach these industry giants is to start building a relationship with them. You can do this using the following steps, comment on their blogs, share their posts on social media, write them an email to thank them for their contribution to your field and compliment them on their work, attend an event you know they'll be at and compliment or thank them in person. Over time, they will start to recognize your name and associate it with positive things. In this way, you're building your reputation as well as a relationship with this person. So when you eventually reach out to them about promoting one of your blogs or your website, they're more likely to say yes. To recap, we've talked about what referral marketing is and how to get started building your referral networking. We've talked about tips for connecting with potential referral partners, and we've shared tips for connecting with well-known leaders in your industry. This week, take some time to think about who you could ask to refer clients to your business. Then set aside some time to reach out to those people, build relationships, and ask for referrals. See you in the next module.