My practice is entirely referral-based.  PowerCore is a major part of that but referrals from past and present clients are just as important and the people I am able to talk to are a mix of family, friends and business acquaintances of the referral source.  Because I get multiple referrals from each, the pattern is more hub-and-spoke but a new clients can also be traced back multiple generations.  In other words, I benefit from single-source and generational referrals. 

One of my favorite muligeneration powercore referrals actually came from a visitor..... about 17 years ago !  It was a massage therapist that visited the team that I followed up with and went to lunch. She learned about our specialty treatments and took immediate interest for her clients and friends. Those referals turned into multigenerations of other familes and friends from that.  To this day I still get referrals from that one connection many years ago.  She didn't join PC because she didn't like mornings.... and I'm fine with that : )  

Getting to know a family when helping them locate a new home and create some pretty strong bonds between an agent and the client. I've had one family that I've gotten to know through their engagement and wedding and subsequent birth of two children. I help them sell their separate homes and come together when they married. I helped them find the next home for their first child, and then an upgrade when they had their second child. I have known the family now for 18 years and we have completed five transactions sales and purchases together.

At times, we have managed multiple transactions together at the same time and then their needs changed 4 to 6 years subsequently.

Well, the business has been stellar, and I'm very grateful for it, and has been incredibly gratifying to watch this family grow and help them create wonderful homes together during the time I've known them.

We remain good friends, and I attend all the family events.

One of my favorite referrals that lead to generation referrals originated with Michael Smith who introduced me to a friend of his named Sarah who was running a private school. We worked with them for years and eventually one employee left and recommended us to her new employer, an installer and maintainer of athletic fields, for whom we have performed IT services for for more than 5 years. The owner of that company then referred us to their accountant. So far, that was a one off assistance for a printer issue, but a great feeling to reach that third generation.

I was introduced to a 2nd generation lead through a social interaction that turned into being the largest client in my 14 years of business. We did business within about 2 weeks of meeting. The 2nd generation referral insured over 50 investment properties with me and has introduced me to 3rd generation referrals on a regular basis that have led to 4th and beyond generations.

My tax client BM came to me in February 1999. 

I recommended her to invest in a house. She is a music teacher and told me that the neighbors complain. Told her that our daughter is a musician too.

She recommended 2 persons at that time. Over  20  years it has grown to 10 generations and several of the legs have grown too.

It is so crucial to ask for referrals when a client is pleased with you.  

When I worked at the tax place I always won prize for referrals, on year I had over 50.

In many cases the professional - client relatioinship has grown to frienship.

Be bold and ask for them,  it is better that they decide not to do it than for me to not offer it.

A small remuneration, like discount on tax preparation is always appreciated, even if only $ 25.

The absolute best compliment, is a referral. A referral that travels generations, that is probably one of the best assurances of the value I bring to my clients. 

My most recent generational referral started in November of last year. I help a retiring couple, they referred me to their children. One of the children referred me to his best friend. His best friend referred me to his parents. 3 generations in 3 months has not, so far been the norm, so this was indeed a great first. 

These connections were family and friends of the initial client and will result in repeated revenue for my business through additional investment funds. Because I will continue to give excellent service, I also anticipate continued referrals. 

I had a client where we completed his kitchen first.

He then referred me to his brother in law and we did his kitchen too.

Then he asked us to return to complete a new primary bathroom for him in his unfinished attic area.

Then his cousin called us to do his back porch.

In this case, they were related and it lead to wonderful work.

With each referral to family members, it becomes easier to close the sale.

A pest Member started doing business with us, after a couple of services we received notice that his brother was purchasing our team members home, after visiting with him we impressed him to the point he shared our services with the mother. She was impressed with our team and referred another family member two homes away!

we then received notice from the original customers father in law we now do 3 other members of that family.

we at Turin Pest Control aren't perfect by any stretch of the word, we have missed the mark before. It's our commitment to alway make thing right.

My best story of a referral growing into many generations is one with a former member.  I was able to do work on her website for her which led me to an introduction to her husband.  Since her husband a Managed Service Provider it turned out he was a gateopener for me.  So since then I have done work for him and he has sent me clients.  Once of those clients has actually referred to me as well.  So the tree is still growing!

The value of growing just one branch of a tree can turn into multiple new customers over time.  This is the power of referral marketing!  I treat every referral opportunity as if it were a grand slam because you never know what will transpire, even if you are not able to help the original referral. 

It all started with a cup of coffee....

One of my very first clients was a Power Core member that I asked to coffee when I was a newbie in the group.  We talked at length about his business and mine.   A couple of weeks later he called saying "I want to go on a cruise!".  So, I helped him enjoy his first cruise ever.  He enjoyed it so much he decided to take along another couple on his next voyage.  Then the friend decided to refer me to her Dad for a cruise!  Well, he didn't want to go alone, so he and his wife invited one of his friends and his wife!  

I have multiple stories of multi generational referrals...mostly starting with a cup of coffee! 

My daughter lived through our financial struggles and saw how we came out on the other side...debt free and equipped to help others that had the same struggle.  After she married, she and her new husband asked me to coach them to get their budget in order and establish a debt-elimination plan (she was debt free but her new husband brought debt into their relationship).  After a few sessions they were on track and about a year later they called us to come out onto our front porch where we were able to witness their debt-free scream from our front yard.

At this point all of our business has come from referrals. I had a previous client working at another company refer me to a new client. That client was pleased with our work, and referred me to two additional clients. Now the original referrer was able to get me into their company. The generations of leads are very important, and appreciated.

My referral story starts with a couple that came to me to purchase a second home in Florida.  They had lots of questions and we spoke almost daily while they were under contract and leading up to closing day.  They appreciated so much the time and energy I gave them that they then used me to purcahse a new primary residence a year later.  They also referred me to their family and I helped the grandfather and sister of my original client with their finacing needs. So what started as one transaction led to a total of 4 transactions within 24 months.

Referrals are a heavy part of my business and as such, many people rely on the heart felt stories and experiences of others in their closeknit circles to build trust. 

The approach I take in my business is directly following the submission of an application after explaining next steps, we say "We are so excited to have been able to get you started today and as your trusted agent, we know you just can't wait to share this information with someone, we'd like to buy them a coffee on us to go over the same information we just went over with you. Who would that be?" 

These connections are almost always close family members such as parents or siblings. 

Building these types of relationships help me to build networks of people to associate with to cultivate and build my community. The value overtime is mostly relational and casual building lastly bonds as opposed to merely prospects and clients. I treat the family referrals as family as well. Also, as a caveat, my company gives a discount called "Generational" as well allowing the immediate family share discounts just for doing business with us together.  

My most profitable multigenerational referral came from Andrew Clark. He not only introduced me to Powercore, but he also made the introductions to a now mutual acquaintence who introduced me to one of my largest fleet clients. And they have gone on to refer me to other fleet and personal clients since.

The whole chain only took a few months to develop, but I can honestly say that meeting Andrew sparked a huge portion of my businesses growth.

Sometimes the best referrals are made from people who you didn't even do business with. 

I remember a year ago helping out a lady with making the best informed decision on her health insurance plan.  And although we did not do business together, she was incredibly appreciative of the fact that I was just there to help advise her.  

Fast forward a year later, she referred me to several of her clients.  These are the best type of relationships to me because it tells me that she trusts that I would have her clients' best interests at heart.  

Even moreso, her clients have also started sending me referrals as well!  

Within my company and the work that I do, referal business can be a decent portion of my business. I would not say that it is a majority of my business, but the referrals that are recieved have a different emotional feel to them. The idea of being able to treat an individual/company so well that they share my information with someone and put trust in me is an awesome feeling. The referral program I use, allows me to take care and share benfits to the client who did the referring, and show the ones referred what we are able to accomplish for their businesses needs. Depending on the length of time I have worked with the client, will determine the different generational levels of the referrals recieved. 

I recently met a client that I provided service to five times. Every time that I visited her office there were little hurdles that we had to overcome. Each time that I went to her office, I prepared myself. She appreciated me going to see her at very unexpected times. It just so happens that her neighbor needed a notary and she told her neighbor about me. I went to see her neighbor and after getting her neighbor's documents notarized her neighbor recommended me (about a week later) to her brother-in-law. Both the neighbor and brother-in-law told me why they choose to work with me. It was based off what what the first client said about me. When a client calls for a notary it is my goal to provide excellent service to everyone.  

A few years ago I had a client, Mr. Apple, referred to me by one of my realtor partners. A few months after my client purchased a home I received a call from Mr. Apple's sister who was looking to purchase a home. About a year after that they referred their brother to me. Up to this point I have helped four different Apple's, all brothers and sisters, purchase a home. I am currently working with the fifth Apple to purchase a home for him and his mother to live in. After speaking with the mother of the Apple siblings, I finally asked her how many Apple siblings there are and pleasantly suprised to hear that she has 9 children and hoping to help them all purchase their own homes.

I used to make it a practice to ask clients in general to refer their family members to me but now I am going to start asking more detail and get to know how many family members they have and whether they have any plans to purchase a home down the road so I can get them to think more specific rather than in general.

Getting referred by a client, current or past, is always a blessing, Especially when it comes to Personal Care. This connection was a social one; We first got the call to care for James' Mom, which we did for three years; During that time, his friend Tommy made a post on Facebook looking for a company to help care for Mom, James saw the post and referred us to his friend  Tommy. We offered services to his Mom for almost two years. Tommy then referred his neighbor, who needed assistance at home post-surgery, and his friend John, requiring care for his parents, who, after living in their home for fifty-five years, decided to age in place.

I had a 3rd generation lead come from a friend of mine I met at Avis Car Rental. My friend is the owner of the Avis location who would talk to me in front of customers and staff about investing and how we could work together. His employee Eric at the time was listening and wanted more information. Eric and I connected and had several conversations after that and years later we still keep in touch. About 3yrs later he was talking to another friend of his and she was interested in funding her business. Which worked out because business funding is a service that we just added, so 3 years prior I wouldn't have been able to assist her.  The benefit of building and maintaining relationships is you gain friends along the way who advocate on your behalf, when talking to other people they know.