Referrals are the lifeblood of interior designers. But not only are they difficult to get, they can be awkward to ask for. On today’s episode, Darla and Natalie have Stacey Brown Randall, who literally wrote the book on Generating Business Referrals without Asking.

Stacey Brown Randall is a business coach who helps small businesses, entrepreneurs and sales professionals generate loads of referrals. And as she says, her backstory begins when she started her own small business and watched as it failed. After that, she began to think about how clients could lead her to other clients. And she eventually cracked the code, departing from the age-old advice that to get a referral, you have to ask.

What You’ll Hear On This Episode of Wingnut Social

[2:00] An Amish backstory

[6:15] A puppy backstory

[9:13] How Stacey got into referrals (and why she doesn’t like showers)

[13:05] When the light bulb went on about referrals

[15:08] How to get started with referrals

[20:48] The first step in generating referrals

[24:31] Turning a referral source into an actual referral

[30:30] The referral secret sauce

[41:02] How Stacey discovered who was making referrals

[45:50] Whut up, Wingnut?

Connect with Stacey Brown Randall

Stacey Brown Randall

Stacey on LinkedIn

Stacey on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned

Generating Business Referrals without Asking

Referral Ninja Quiz

Profit First

Wingnut Social’s services

Referrals are the Holy Grail

When Stacey looked back at her first business, she realized she didn’t get any referrals for from her clients. And when she started coaching businesses, she saw that most of her clients were actually coming from referrals. And so when she started looking into it, she saw that the standard advice is to ask for her referrals. Her response, quote: “Ew.” That’s not something she wanted to do. So she started looking at how to get referrals without asking, and pivoted her whole coaching business to doing just that.

Before you ask or get for a referral, you have to identify the client who is ready to do that because they had an amazing experience. Those people then become “referral sources,” and it’s your job to stay in touch with them and maintain that relationship, so when someone in their life says they need an interior designer, your referral source immediately recommends you.

How to get those referrals without asking

The number-one way Stacey suggests to get referrals without asking is to make sure your clients know they care about them. She uses an example of how she sent a potential referral a gift, with no logo, no branding, nothing that said: “YOU MUST REFER ME.” She just treated that client like a human she cared about, and that person then became a referral source for her.

Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social

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Darla’s Interior Design Website

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