I don't think there's a business out there that doesn't want more clients or sales of some sort. In fact, finding your way through all of the marketing methods to find what works best for building your business can be tough. What works for one person may not work for another.
There is one solid business method that has been proven to work time after time and that is doing marketing through referrals. The reason this works so well is because you are tapping the connections of people that you've already done work for that have told you they are satisfied and pleased with your work. So it only makes sense that someone you have genuinely satisfied would share your talents with another business or potential customer that you could assist.
But gathering those referrals can be a little tricky depending on how you lead up to the conversation with your past or current clients. If you simply ask them, “who you know”, you could get leads from people that truly don't need your services.
However, if you ask someone who they know as a client or a vendor, or even a competitor that would benefit from your services, you will more than likely get a referral to someone that needs and wants your services.
Now, of course, most people wouldn't want their competitor to benefit from your service so that one's probably going to be eliminated pretty quickly. However, that's also going to open up the door to your customer to start thinking about any of their clients or vendors that would benefit from your services.
Asking for a referral can be simply done through email where it would be easy for your customer to do a simple email introduction. Or you can use social media connections where the two referrals can visit websites etc.
With that said, don't expect your customer to make the sale for you. It is still up to you to connect and converse with the potential new customer/client and open the doors for the conversations to make the sale.
Setting up a system for referrals is a great idea so that you're sure to ask each of your past and current clients at a certain point for a referral. Wouldn't it be great to have a business that's only run on referrals?
I think back to what Jeffrey Gitomer always says – “all things being equal people want to do business with their friends” and referrals is a great place to show your friendship. So, if you're asking for referrals from others, make sure you're giving referrals as well. We all know what goes around comes around but together we can develop our business in a solid, kind manner.