Referrals are wedding business gold. It’s business that comes to you, without having to do a lot of marketing or advertising, and typically the clients that come to you via referrals are fantastic. The problem is that referrals are so human and relationship based so it can be hard to figure out what exactly you need to do and how often in order to get more of them.

I’ve done some research on what’s working to get more referrals and if you’re not getting as many referrals as you’d like, it’s probably down to at least one of these reasons.

You’re approaching it with the wrong mindset

Have you ever received an email from someone who you’ve never met that says something along the lines of “I do this service and I think your clients would love it. Could you refer me to them?”. I know I have, and my reaction is usually something like this.

This person doesn’t know me and I don’t know them. Most of the time it becomes evident that they don’t really know who I work with either because they’re not paying attention. And they expect me to put the trust I’ve built with my clients, podcast listeners, and blog readers on the line for them? I don’t think so. That ask is SO out of proportion with the relationship and trust this person has built with me.

Inside my course on getting more referrals, I show wedding professionals exactly how to reach out to other people. The most important part of that is that it’s not about you. This person you’re emailing out of the blue does not care about you so leading with that isn’t going to work.

So how do you ask someone to refer you? I’ve got exact scripts for that inside my new referral course inside The Wedding Business Collective.

You’re not building relationships

You don’t refer clients to people you don’t know, like, and trust, and why would you? You put your ass on the line when you make a recommendation and if that client has a bad experience, they’re going to look down on you for sending them into that bad experience. This is why you don’t lead with “Refer me!”. You have to build relationships with wedding vendors if you want them to refer you confidently and regularly.

I teach my clients to reach start building these relationships online using The Spotlight Technique and then actually reach out to meet that person in real life or have a Skype date with them. But of course it doesn’t just end with that meeting. You have to stay top of mind with this person because relationships aren’t build based on a single meeting.

That can be difficult, especially if you don’t know what to say, how to reach out, or how to keep up with this with a solid keep in touch strategy. Join us inside The Wedding Business Collective and you can steal my system for relationship building that generates referrals and it’ll take you all of 5-10 minutes per day.

You don’t have a strategy

Do you have a strategy for getting more referrals? Do you know exactly what steps you need to take with each vendor you know, vendor you want to know, and previous client so that they’re more likely to send you referrals? It can be confusing and daunting, I get it. But I promise you, there is a much simpler way to build your network, foster those relationships, and get more referrals.

When you don’t have a strategy for getting referrals, or for marketing on the whole, you’re going to feel like you’re just throwing random things at the wall haphazardly, only to find that none of it sticks. The good news is you don’t have to do that. You can take a proven strategy for getting more referrals and put it to work for your in your business. Learn that strategy and how to work it in just 5-10 minutes per day inside The Wedding Business Collective. Start your free 10 day trial here!

When you get busy, it gets forgotten about

This is a symptom of not having a strategy and a system to make it work. The best strategy in the world isn’t going to work if you don’t make the time to implement it. When you set up a simple system to manage something, you make it easy for yourself to take action, and that means you are less likely to shove it to the side when you get busy. After all, everyone has a spare 5-10 minutes they can put to use on getting more referrals.

I see a lot of wedding professionals neglect their systems and that results in them not marketing consistently. Then, when the well of leads runs dry, they panic and try everything at once, which never works. Instead of putting yourself in that position, streamline and systematize your strategy so that it’s quick and easy to implement. You could even hand it over to a team member or a VA if it’s systematized and documented!

If you want more referrals from vendors and clients alike, join us inside The Wedding Business Collective. You’ll find a brand new course that shows you exactly how to use my proven referral-generating strategy and how to put it to work for you in just 5-10 minutes per day. If 1 additional booking is worth 5-10 minutes of work each day, this is a no brainer for you.

Not many things in business are easy and this is your opportunity to make getting referrals something that is easy and simple. Click here to start your 10 day trial and see for yourself!