The Savvy Entrepreneur

On the Get Clients Now! Yahoo Group last week, someone posed a question about how to make a “cold call” referral request:

“Could you share scripts you’ve used to approach potential referral sources?”

Every one gave great responses, but of course CJ came to the rescue with her reply:

“All you really need to get started is an opening line. Let’s suppose you are a business coach, and the potential referral partner is an accountant. Here’s what you might say in a phone call, voice mail message, or email: “It looks like your target market for accounting and tax preparation is small business owners, and that’s who I work with too. I’m a business coach, and most of my clients are local entrepreneurs. I’d like to get to know you better and see if we could help each other get more business. Could we set up a time to meet or talk on the phone?“

[...]

When you connect with a potential referral partner, ask enough questions about his or her business that you would feel comfortable referring someone, and know who an appropriate referral would be. Then describe who a good client for you would be, and conclude by saying, “If you run across someone who could use my services, would you be comfortable referring that person to me?“

How perfect is that? I’ll be using this script in the near future. If you like this script and use it, let us know how it works. Do you have a better script? How do you ask for referrals while keeping with the goal of building relationships?