[QUICK TIP] Landing Clients with a Solid Referral System

Hey friends, before we start the show, I want to invite you to check out my brand new free training all about how you can start your own freelance business from home. In this completely free one-hour training, I'm going to share with you exactly how I was able to leave my full-time teaching job and replace my income by freelancing and how you can do the same thing too. We're going to talk about how you can find skills that you already have and what services you can offer as well as what you need to actually get started today. So you can go check out my brand new free training.

It's my gift to you at aubreymalek.com forward slash free training. That's aubreymalek.com forward slash free training and we will link that up in the show notes for you. All right, now let's go ahead and dive on into the show. Welcome to the Freelance to CEO podcast.

I'm your host, Aubrey Malik, and I'm a former elementary teacher who launched my own freelancing business and now I want to share all my secrets with you. Each week, I will be sharing business strategy, systems, and technical tips that you can take into your business today so you can finally step into that CEO role you desire. Let's dive on into the show. In today's quick tip episode, we are going to be talking about building a solid referral system for your business.

Referrals are one of my favorite ways to find clients and for you to grow your business. And there are a couple of reasons why I really love referrals for your business. Why I think that this should be definitely a part of your marketing strategy that you're doing. Obviously, you're doing outward networking, right?

You are posting on social media, you're in Facebook groups, you're having conversations with people. But referrals are really great because, number one, if you are referred to a potential client from somebody else, that's going to be a little bit more vetted and trusted than somebody who is brand new to you and maybe symbols upon your social media page or your website. Referrals, you are actually getting kind of like a head start, right? You have one foot in the door if you are coming recommended for the service.

So it's definitely going to give you a leg up. A lot of times it makes it easier to gain that client, right? Because if somebody is recommending you and they're talking about your services to a potential client, like you already have that preconceived notion that potential clients are like, okay, wow, this person is really great that you come highly recommended. That's a number of times how I was able to get some of my teaching jobs early on, right?

It was about like who you know. And so anytime I was going to be interviewing for a job that I really liked, I would start tapping into my network, right? Like who are the teachers at the school that I already know? Who can I have put in a good word for me, right?

Who already knows my work? And so that's why referrals for freelancers is a really, really great way to gain clients. It's often an overlooked way, right? We think we always have to be doing that outward networking.

We always have to be kind of chasing these clients down when actually referrals are great because it's more so that they're coming to you, right? So how do we actually go about building a really great referral system? The first thing that you want to do is you want to make sure that your service that you offer is a really high quality service, right? You're getting your clients really great results that again, not going above and beyond where you have to feel like you have to give away free work to clients in order for them to refer you, but just making sure that whatever is in the proposal, whatever is agreed upon, you are holding up your end of that bargain too.

And it definitely doesn't hurt to do that extra step, to go the extra mile, to make that client feel very well taken care of. That's going to definitely work to your benefit. So the first thing again that I want you to do, you've probably heard me say this so many times, I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, but tap into your personal network, right? This is one of the first things that I usually tell my students to do when they are starting their business or even if they haven't done it in a while, right?

It doesn't have to be something that you only do at the beginning of your business, right? You can always do a refresh, but tap into your personal network. One of the best ways to do this is to post on your personal Facebook page and say, hey, I'm starting this business or hey, did you know that I started this business and this is what I do and here's what I offer, right? Because the people who are on your Facebook page likely know you, likely know your work ethic, likely know that you do a great job and are that much more willing to refer you to people or just give you just one more step ahead, right?

Or connect you with the right people. So definitely leveraging that personal network of people who know you in quote unquote real life. I always like to say that there's my real life people that I know and then there's my online people that I know, right? A lot of times the people that I know in the online space, I've never met them.

Like I've talked to them, maybe we've chatted on Zoom, but my real life people know me personally. They've seen me in the flesh, right? But personal network should not be overlooked. Definitely tapping into that.

And like I said, you might think, oh, I don't know anybody who's a business owner. I don't know anybody who would need this service. First of all, you don't know that because you never know where some connections may have led to, but also you don't know who the people that you know know, right? So I might not know any business owners in real life, but the people that I know might know some realtors, might know somebody in the online space, might know somebody who has a brick and mortar that they can connect me with, right?

You don't know the conversations that other people are having. And maybe just maybe somebody that you know, maybe an aunt, a friend, somebody from college was just talking to their business owner friend who said, oh my gosh, I'm so bogged down. I need some support. I need some help in my business.

And then if you are tapping into that personal network, you're going to be the one that's going to be able to refer. The next thing is to make sure that you are cultivating and building relationships within your community. So that's not just with potential clients, right? This is cultivating a community with people who are in the same strategy that you're in, right?

So in the freelancing space. So that could be people who offer similar services to you, who offer different services to you, who offer complimentary services to you, right? Using those relationships, building those relationships, sharing, hey, I offer Pinterest. Hey, you offer podcasts.

Let's be referral systems for each other, right? If we see anything that would be a really great fit for one another, let's go ahead and share that with them, right? So building that network. Also just sharing what you do, talking about building those relationships, because you never know.

Somebody might come to your online friend and say, hey, I need support in this. And maybe even though that person offers a similar service to you, maybe they're booked out. And because they know you and because you've built a relationship together, they can refer that potential client to you. So building relationships, cultivating those relationships with people who are in the industry with you, right?

Who are freelancers, who are growing their business. Another way to build your referral system is to let your current clients know, hey, I love referrals, right? Ask them for referrals. Have this be something that comes up.

If you have a client who is happy with your work, they can be a solid source for referrals for you. Trust me, the people that you are working with know a lot of people in the online space, right? Like I have many friends I've met online. I have many people that I'm connected with, people that I talk to on a consistent basis, people that I'm in masterminds with, people that I'm just in other communities with, that now because I built my relationship, like I can refer people.

So let your clients know, hey, I'm looking to fill a couple more spots on my client roster this month. If you know of anybody who might need this service that I offer to you, I would love a referral from them and say like, hey, I'm open for business, right? I would love a referral. I would love you to share my business with some of your friends.

And again, if you are providing that high quality work, if your clients are happy, they're going to be more than willing to do that for you. And even if they don't know anybody right now, that's definitely another really great time to ask for that testimonial because who knows, maybe somebody that your client that you're working with, maybe somebody that they're connected with comes across your website or comes across your social media and sees that testimonial. They're again going to have that added vote towards you because they're like, oh, I know Sally and Sally's got a really great business and I love everything that she's doing. So if she's working with you, then I want to work with you and I want to have that.

Like that's a really great way to build that referral basis as well. So definitely don't be afraid to ask for those referrals. And then just one last piece of advice I would give you is we, you know, we ask for referrals, we want people to refer people to us, but I think we have to remember to like also reciprocate that for other people too, right? So you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

So be a referral for other people. So if you know somebody who does really great work, if you're building your network, don't be afraid to recommend them, right? Like it always comes back tenfold, right? Karma is great.

So refer people to you in order to get that, that expected back for you, right? We, we do unto others, we do unto others is what we want and done to ourselves, right? That was, I don't know why that was so tricky for me to say, but be a referral too. Like refer people, refer clients, especially if you're talking with a client and maybe they are in need or maybe you notice a area, a weak point in their business.

Maybe it's not a service that you offer. You can, you know, say, Hey, I have a really great connection with Susie here and she would be a really great person to read on your website. I would love to connect you too, right? Build those connections, build those relationships.

It'll come back. It'll pay off tenfold for you. So those are my tips for building a solid referral system. I think just one thing to keep in the back of your mind is this is a really great way.

It's a lot easier way to find clients when you have those referrals coming in. Um, don't be afraid to, to ask for them, to let people know that you want them, build those relationships with people, build your network, grow, find a referral buddy that you can team up with to support and tap into your personal network and you will be well on your way to building a solid referral system for your business. I hope this helps. Thanks for tuning into another quick tip episode.

Thanks for tuning into another quick tip episode. I can't talk today, um, but thanks for tuning in and I will catch you in the next episode. Thank you for choosing to spend some time with me today. I appreciate you so much.

If you haven't yet, I would love it if you would give me a review on iTunes and share this episode in your Instagram stories and tag me. By sharing and reviewing, you can help spread the message so we can reach more entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their business to new heights. I will see you in the next episode.