How to increase referrals by building your partner network

A network of like-minded, complementary partners should be an integral part of your business development activity. I recently looked at how to increase the frequency and quality of client referrals with a more systematic approach. The same is true of your partner network. It’s no good waiting (and hoping) to be referred. You’ve got to take control and make things happen.

Here are some pointers to help you do just that.

First, build a prospect list

Let’s say as part of your business development plan you set a target to establish five, new strategic partnerships this year. To get to your favoured five, you might need to approach, speak to or test the water with ten or fifteen.

So, you need a partner prospect list. Just as you have one for prospective clients. (You do, right?).

Start by identifying the products or services (outside of your own) that your clients spend money on. Shortlist those that are a natural fit to your offering. For example, if you do digital marketing, a development agency partner would make sense.

Next, ask your clients about other agencies they work with and where they could facilitate an introduction (assuming they think they’re good).

Add to this list with some research. Look through directories and buyers guides, for example, The Drum Recommends, Campaign and regional resources, such as Prolific North. There’s also Google, of course. But be specific in what you’re looking for e.g. “web development retail London”.

As you scan the websites, content and social feeds of prospective partners look for…

Focus / specialisms – are they targeting the same industries / sectors / types of client?

Services – is there any crossover and therefore a potential conflict of interest?

Clients – are they working with brands on your target list?

Values – is there evidence that they share your outlook, thinking or way of doing business?

Size – are they independent or part of a network?

People – who is most likely to be responsible for partnerships? Do you have any shared connections on LinkedIn you can reference when getting in touch?

Marketing / PR – for example, are there any upcoming (virtual) events they are hosting or sponsoring? This might be a good chance to see what they’re all about.

For those that make the cut, follow the agency and key individuals on Twitter, LinkedIn and any other relevant networks. You could also sign up to their newsletter.

Make your approach

Like any relationship, there must be a mutual benefit. The prospective partner should feel from the outset that there is something in it for them. If your approach is focused only on what you want, you’re less likely to get a positive response.

If you were to send an email or LinkedIn message, it might read something like this:

Hi NAME,

From time to time our clients ask us if we know anyone good at SERVICE. In doing some research on their behalf, I came across your agency.

From your website, it looks like we are focused on working with similar clients. I also really like your ethos around SHARED THINKING / VALUE.

Let me know if you’re up for a chat to explore things further.

Cheers,

Ben

As always, keep your message short and sweet.

Or you could bypass email altogether and, dare I say, pick up the phone.

Qualify they’re a good fit

Just like a prospective client, you want to avoid jumping into bed with the wrong partner. Set up a call or meeting (remember those?) where you explore stuff like…

How did the agency get started? How have they grown and evolved since then?

How long have they focused or specialised in the audience / sectors / services detailed on their website?

What is their take on current trends and developments in these sectors / services?

Who are they working with right now? What are the key challenges these clients are facing? Which of these are they typically able to help with? Are there other challenges that come up in discussion that they are unable to address themselves?

Do they partner with any other agencies similar to yours?

How would they describe their culture?

What challenges do they face in terms of sales, marketing and PR? What have they got planned?

The expectation, of course, is that they will ask similar questions of you. If they don’t, it’s probably a red flag.

Nurture the relationship

Even if those early discussions go well, it is unlikely the new partner will simply start throwing leads your way. You’ll need to invest time in the relationship before you can expect to get anything back.

To get you started, here are thirteen ideas for staying front of mind…

1) Suggest that you present your background, service offering, approach and success stories to their wider team, especially those regularly speaking to clients, such as Account Managers.

2) Use this as a catalyst to set up regular knowledge-sharing sessions.

3) Ensure they are clear in who you are targeting. Share your ‘ideal client profile’.

4) Give them the confidence to talk about your agency and the value you bring by providing a messaging template (value proposition, elevator pitch, etc).

5) Share new case studies to bring your elevator pitch to life.

6) Keep them updated on your client wins, especially where there might be an opportunity to introduce them in the future.

7) Regularly share content reflecting your thinking / outlook / approach. Make it easy for the partner to share this content with their clients. For example, provide an email template overviewing the content (and why their clients should read it).

8) Invite them to an event or webinar you are attending / hosting.

9) Bring your teams together to explore joint marketing initiatives, such as research, content or events.

10) Help them look good. Share ideas and opportunities specific to one of their clients that they can incorporate into an upcoming review.

11) Make an introduction to another partner or someone that can help with their business, such as an advisor or consultant.

12) Congratulate them on their news, such as their latest award win.

13) And if you’re confident enough to do so, refer them to one of your clients. It’s the best way to get one back (so says the rule of reciprocity).

A bit of admin

Make sure there is a clear process in place for how introductions are made. For example, agree on the information that will be gathered by the other party. Will introductions be made over email? How quickly will you respond to that email?

You may also decide to formalise the agreement with some basic terms, including a kickback on any business you win as a direct result of the introduction (5-10% seems to be the norm). Alternatively, keep things fairly informal for the first few months to see how the relationship evolves. This has always been my preference.

At the very least, recognise, thank and reward those that refer you. If this doesn’t take the form of cold, hard cash, then send them a gift, take them out for (a socially distanced) lunch or buy them a ticket for an event. That sort of thing.

And just as you use your CRM to keep a track of your relationships with prospects and clients, do the same for partners. Create a category, label or tag for ‘partners’ so they can be easily filtered. Include background information. Keep contact details up to date. Set yourself a task or action to keep in touch at regular intervals.

And add a ‘partners’ option under ‘sources’ so you can track how many leads come from your partner network. By following the steps above you should soon start to see them increasing.

Now go.

Go on.

Make it happen.

Get proactive with client referrals

Like most agencies, I bet you already get your fair share of referrals; clients and partners recommending your agency to prospects who might benefit from your expertise.

Referrals are great. They’re a sign you’re doing a good job. And the sales cycle is often shorter, and the close rate higher, compared to leads from other sources.

But referrals are also a problem if your agency is too reliant on them. And without a systematic approach to increase the frequency and quality of those referrals, the problem is compounded. It means growth (or survival) is contingent on something you have virtually no control over. Instead, you are reliant on whatever happens to come through the front door.

For a lot of agencies, pipelines have been decimated in recent months. Projects have been put on hold or cancelled indefinitely. So now, more than ever, you’ve got to make things happen.

Start by taking a more proactive approach to client referrals. It looks something like this:

Start by setting yourself a target

Let’s say you have a new business objective of £500K for the year. From a standing start, it can feel pretty daunting.

To make that big number less frightening break it down into smaller targets and ultimately, actions. For example, to hit your big number, you estimate you’ll need 30 on-profile leads. From there, set targets by channel, say 15 leads from inbound, 5 from outbound and 10 via referrals.

You can then set yourself a goal of, say, 20 referral requests over the year (with a view that 50% will convert to an on-profile lead). That’s less than two requests a month.

See, feels better already, right?

Lay the foundations early to ask later

A lot of people I speak to say they feel uncomfortable asking a client for a referral.

A great tip I picked up from Anthony Iannarino is to lay the foundations to ask by introducing the idea of referrals early in the relationship. Not long after the client has signed on the dotted line, explain that referrals are your most successful form of lead generation. Talk about how much you are looking forward to workinhttps://thesalesblog.com/g together and your confidence in exceeding their expectations. And that when this happens, you hope they won’t mind you asking for a referral or two.

This works particularly well if the new client was referred to you of course.

Use feedback as a catalyst to ask

Focus your referral requests on those clients you know are in a good place. You might know this anecdotally. If not, consider a more formal method for gaining feedback. I know NPS (Net Promoter Score) gets mixed reviews. That’s a debate for another day. But as a means of facilitating a referral, I think it works particularly well.

If you are not familiar with NPS, it involves just two questions, along the lines of the following:

On a scale of 1 – 10, how likely is it that you would recommend our agency to your colleagues or peers?

Please can you provide a brief explanation of your score?

Those clients scoring you 6 or below are ‘Detractors’, 7 or 8 are ‘Passives’ and 9 or 10 are ‘Promoters’.

NPS tees up your ask perfectly (for those scoring you highly) because it directs attention towards referring you, something they may not have thought about without being prompted.

As an aside, I’d recommend speaking to all clients after receiving back your score. Whether it’s good bad or indifferent, it’s a great starting point to an open conversation on what is working / not working and how you can improve. From experience, this is far more effective than a multiple-choice, Survey Monkey questionnaire, for example.

Ask in the right way

So, your client gives you a 9. They explain their reasoning. They’re happy. You’re happy. Now it’s time to ask them for a referral (maybe even two. Hell, you only live once).

Firstly, explain why referrals are valuable. You might say something like:

“We are looking to grow by working with more great clients like you. Referrals have always been an effective way of doing this. I was wondering if you might be able to help.”

Notice the complement in there. It never hurts.

Next, be specific. It’s no good asking ‘do you know anyone that might be interested in what we do?’. That puts all the onus on your client to come up with a list of names. Which is no good anyway.

Instead, do your homework. Use LinkedIn to identify relevant prospects they are connected to. Seek to understand the nature of their relationship. Just like you, they’ll be connected with people they don’t know well or have never met so it’s mindful to check before you get too excited.

If you can’t be as specific as this, use your ‘ideal client profile’ to make it clear about the types of businesses and people you’re looking to work with.

Make a good first impression

After the introduction, don’t (I repeat DON’T!) send a long-winded email all about your agency and how brilliant you are.

Instead, do some research. Share something relevant and useful.

Explain that the first step is an exploratory chat.

Nothing will turn a prospect off more than being pitched to. And your client won’t appreciate it either. They’ve referred you in good faith. Don’t make them look bad.

Follow up with your client

After you’ve been introduced, and especially if you’ve had a conversation with the prospect, let your client know. And for goodness sake, say thank you. Knowing how much you appreciate their help will go a long way. And might mean they don’t need to be prompted to recommend you again in the future.

A final word on incentives

I’m often asked whether a client needs to be, in effect, paid to help. Whether that’s a kickback, a reduction in fees and so on.

No.

If you’re doing a good job, if the relationship is strong and if you ask in the right way, there should be no need. The client should want to help. If they don’t then it might suggest an underlying issue (meaning you’ve probably got a more pressing problem to fix).

By all means, buy them a bottle of their favourite tipple to say thank you but anything more than that shouldn’t be necessary.

Photo by Christian Stahl on Unsplash.