5 Ways to Serve Your Clients to Build a Referral Based Business from Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni
Recently I was chatting with a consultant who mentioned that he rarely does any marketing. Then a week later, I was talking to a different consultant, and she said the same thing. They both told me that they have such great relationships with their clients that almost 100% of their business comes from referrals.
I had heard of this before, work just magically appearing at your doorstep from oodles of referrals, but honestly it seemed more like a myth than an actual possibility. Don’t get me wrong, referrals are an important part of my business, but to be able to cut marketing all together… that seemed too good to be true.
But then I read a book called Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni, and I realized that there is a real strategy to increasing your referrals, and it’s probably not what you think.
5 Ways to Serve Your Clients to Build a Referral Based Business
1. Listen First
As consultants or coaches, we have been brought on to be experts. And it might seem logical to demonstrate that expertise by jumping right in and telling the client what they need to do. But by doing this, you aren’t showing the client that you respect their expertise. The client knows more about their unique business and their place in their industry than you. And they know far more about their team and the culture they’ve built.
When you start a consulting project, you have a lot to learn before you can give good advice. You need to be humble enough to ask questions and truly listen, so you can learn about the client’s circumstances and expertise. Only by showing the client that you respect them and value their knowledge, can you build the trust and collaboration you’ll need to create a successful outcome.
2. Do Whatever is Needed
As a consultant you are in the service business, and that means doing whatever it takes to help your customer succeed—even when the task might feel out of character for your position. If you’re helping execute a conference, that might mean stepping up and grabbing some paper towel when a pot of coffee is spilled. If you’re coaching a client for a major presentation, it might mean helping them process a humiliating middle school talent show experience. When you expand your job role from ‘giving strategic advice’ to ‘doing what my client needs for success’, you show the client that their best interest is your top priority.
3. Get Comfortable with Being Wrong
Most everyone is uncomfortable being wrong, but for consultants it can seem downright detrimental to your status as an expert. But you’re just a human being; you don’t know everything. Make suggestions that could be shot down and ask questions that might seem obvious to everyone else in the room.
You can’t find the best solutions if you are unwilling to work with the client to sift through bad or mediocre possibilities. And once you find a great solution, no one will care about the ideas you proposed that were rejected.
4. Say the Hard Truth
Sometimes business owners build blind spots or simply refuse to see the truth staring them in the face. As the consultant, it’s your job to say the hard truth.
Maybe you have a client who is still selling a product that was wildly popular 10 years ago but has gone out of style. You need to help them face the reality that without change they will go out of business. Or perhaps they have family on staff that isn’t carrying their weight, and they’re dragging down the morale of their entire team. You need to be the person that makes the owner confront this difficult reality and then help them find ways to address it.
While some people may not take kindly to this type of honesty, if they’re unwilling to address the hard truths that are holding them back, it’s unlikely you can help them. And if you can’t help them, your presence is a waste of their time and yours, and it’s better that you part ways.
And for the clients who are willing to listen, you will be helping them make huge headway in their business success.
5. Address the Elephant
It’s not uncommon for teams to avoid interpersonal problems because they are uncomfortable with conflict. As a consultant, you are in great position to help them address that elephant in the room. You can provide an unbiased voice of mediation to help members of the team discuss their differences and find a resolution. Not only will this win you points with the owner of the organization, but the team will be grateful that you’ve lifted the ongoing stress created by that once looming elephant.
Wrap Up
By instituting all of these strategies, you will find great solutions for your clients while showing that you both respect them and genuinely care about their success. It is this type of working relationship that will lead to more raving fans and referrals.
Small Business Book Review: Getting Naked
If you are a coach or consultant, then Getting Naked is a great read. If you can look past the moments when the author seems to suggest that you need Jesus in your life to make good decisions (they are brief), the book has some great advice about how to build genuine, collaborative, respectful relationships with your clients. And those are the kind of relationships that will lead to enthusiastic referrals.
For coaches and consultants, I give Getting Naked a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
