Would you like to get more referrals? Of course you would!
In “How to Grow Your Business through Finder’s Fees,” Carol’s recent post on LinkedIn, she shares her experience of what types of fees and structures can work well for businesses. Carol begins:
One of the biggest challenges that small-business owners face is finding new customers and clients. One of best ways to find new customers and clients is through your own network.
To accelerate the rate of receiving referrals, make referring valuable for your network.
Likewise, generating additional fees from the time that you have invested into your company, brand and network can be valuable, too.
Because of the amount of time and effort that it takes to gain new clients and customers, it has substantial value and I am gladly willing to pay a finder’s fee for referrals.
Here are a few things to keep in mind to make referrals and finder’s fees successful for your own business.
Is an opportunity finder-worthy?
Not every lead is worthy of a finder’s fee. If there isn’t a substantial pre-existing relationship with the lead (say you just met them a minute ago) or if the introduction is more of a lukewarm lead (one that the other person has to compete substantially for over lengthy periods of time), then asking for a fee may not be appropriate.
Also, if the person you are referring to or who gave you a particular lead is a contact that you trade leads with on a regular basis or someone who has brought business to you in the past, you may decide to forgo fees and instead, just engage in doing your best to send each other business on a go-forward basis.
Additionally, if it’s a relationship where they won’t accept a finder’s fee or it’s not appropriate, consider sending a small token of your appreciation when you receive payment from your new client or customer, such as a gift card, as a way to acknowledge and appreciate the referral.
You can read the rest of the post here.
