Build your own Business Series - Have You?

At least once a week I hear a fitness pro say something like this:

"I've gotten great results for my clients. I don't understand why they don't send me referrals."

My response usually goes something like this:

"How many local businesses that you're a customer, client or patient of have you referred to in the past week?"

More often than not the answer is zero.

I want to help you understand something...those great results that your clients have received from working with you...that's what they paid you for.

Have you referred to your dentist lately?

When you got your teeth cleaned the last time, did he or she clean all of them - or just a few?

I'm hoping the answer is all, no matter how many teeth you have. (I do live in Kentucky, remember :))

So they did exactly what they were paid to do. You got 'great results.'

But you didn't refer. What's the problem?

The problem is that people don't refer for getting what they expect to get when they invest in something.

They refer when you give them far more than they expect. When you WOW them.

They refer when there is something completely different (and better) about what you do than what everyone else does.

The reason you probably haven't referred to your dentist lately isn't that they didn't do what they were supposed to do - it's that they didn't do anything that was so extraordinary that it stayed on top of your mind with all the other things that you have going on in your life.

So if you want referrals, here are two tips:

1. If you want referrals, give more than people expect for what they paid.
2. If you don't refer to others you probably should expect others to refer to you. Practice what you preach.

Pat Rigsby is a father, husband, entrepreneur, coach and author. He has built over a dozen businesses as a CEO and Co-Owner, with five becoming million dollar or multi-million dollar ventures.

www.patrigsby.com