Leverage Gratitude to Create New Leads

Here's a simple way to leverage gratitude at the end of the year to create new opportunities for your business at the beginning of next year. 

Naturally, as the year comes to a close, you're going to be thinking about gratitude. You're going to want to spend some time and show your appreciation to your best customers and clients. You're gonna want to think about where you've come over the past year, and you're definitely going to want to think about where you're going in the future. 

I'm going to give you five questions to ask during these conversations that are going to deepen those relationships. You're going to learn some things you need to do a little bit more of, you're probably going to learn some things that you can do less of. But most importantly, you're gonna get the specific language that you need to use in order to find more customers like them. 

Who doesn't want to replicate their best customers? 

The first question is, “Why did you choose to do business with us the first time?” 

I'm going to caution you here that they're going to give you a very surface-level answer. They're gonna say something about “the great experience” or about how good of a product or solution you have. They’ll want to be complimentary, but they're not going to be that specific. So question number two is, 

“Can you please be more specific?” 

You want to ask this question because you need to get vulnerable with them so they can get vulnerable with you. The specificity of their answers matters here. So that second question might go something like this.

“I appreciate that answer. Let me give me a little more context for the question. I really appreciate the relationship that we've built in a short time (or maybe over a long time), and I'd really like to replicate that with other clients. So it's really valuable to me if you could be more specific about why you chose us because it'll help me understand that I'm on the right track, it'll help me understand how to build more relationships like this one.” 

When you break down your own walls, when you get vulnerable yourself, you will create the space for them to get vulnerable with you. That's really, really important. After you ask that clarifying question, you'll get a much better, more detailed, more usable, and more beneficial answer. 

The third question I want you to ask is, 

“Why do you continue to do business with us?” 

Many of your clients ordered once, and then they continue to order. The reasons that they continue to order are often different than the reasons they ordered from you the very first time. So again, we're getting more vital information here. You're going to learn some things, and you're probably going to learn that your assumptions are incorrect. This is exactly why we have these conversations. 

Question number four is, wait for it… 

“Do you know anybody who might appreciate this kind of value?” 

Right now, you're asking for referrals, but because you've created the environment for this conversation, it is a much more welcome question. 

Remember, these are your best customers. These are the ones that are most likely to want to see you succeed. They don't know how to help you until you ask, and this is the best way for them to help you. 

There's no shame in it. Be bold, and be willing to ask for those referrals. 

Finally, the fifth question (and you can ask this or not, depending on how frisky you're feeling)...

“Would you mind introducing me to those people?”

That's the best way to get a referral. Look, you're not looking for a lead list. You're not looking for some names and numbers to call so that you can drop a name. These are your best clients, you want to make more just like them. If they trust you enough to make the referral, they trust you enough to make the introduction. 

If you can ask these five questions of five of your best customers, you're looking at 5, 10, maybe 12, or 13 solid referrals and opportunities that can get your year started off on the right foot. It can probably make your year in some instances if you're willing to ask. 

But I want to go back to what I mentioned at the beginning. These are questions and a conversation that will deepen your relationship. You're not just taking from this conversation. This is not a contrived way to go or beat around the bush and then ask for a referral later. 

This is an examination of your relationship. What do we have here? What's great, where are we moving forward? These kinds of relationships get better when you have tough conversations like this. 

They shouldn't be that tough. But getting vulnerable is something that many people aren’t very good at. And when you can do those things together, that's where the bonds really strengthened. 

These are five simple questions. Are you brave enough to ask them? You should be, and I’m challenging you to do just that.

Let me know how it goes.