How to Get More Referrals with a Share-worthy Client Experience 💃
If you’re a service-based business owner, WillowSpace is a fantastic CRM platform where you can start creating processes that your clients can’t help but rave about (and tell their friends - hello referrals)!
So how can you get more clients to refer your services to their communities? We’re going to outline what has worked best for us in our design studio over the past several years. Buckle up!
Assess your client’s hiring journey - how are they currently getting to know about you?
📬 Set up a top-notch experience for your leads (potential clients)
The number one way we get new work over at Function (our design studio) is by word-of-mouth. It’s that simple.
When looking at your client experiences, you want to start at the very beginning - when a person begins searching for your services.
💬 Example:
Let’s imagine you are a brand designer. The first thing you want to consider is how your clients are starting their hiring journey. Perhaps they are just starting a business and need a full brand identity. Or maybe they have a business up and running and need something more professional now.
Consider things like:
What are their major pain points at this stage?
Where are they searching for candidates or solutions?
How can you meet them where they are in their hiring journey?
📈 How to improve:
Use language on your marketing materials (website, social media, promo materials) that your ideal clients are using/understand.
Consider what keywords they’re searching for online and write content that support that. This stage, they may just be putting out feelers about the problem they’re having or the services they think they need to hire for.
Be sure to respond to leads and inquiries as soon as you can. This may even be a good spot to include an automated response. People are excited to hear back when they reach out! This first acknowledgment email is so important.
Assess your nurturing processes - how do leads feel once they’ve discovered your business?
🗣️ Make sure you have a solid nurturing process for potential clients & leads
Once a lead reaches out, the steps you take after are very, very important. The lead needs to know you are reliable and this is a part of their hiring journey to really streamline. Focus on providing a very easy flow of information and next steps for your potential clients.
💬 Example:
Let’s keep on the brand designer example. When a lead reaches out about hiring you to work on their brand, you want to make sure you can answer their questions easily and also provide them with the necessary details allowing them to take the next steps in working with you.
Consider things like:
Automating certain parts of this process but also keeping things very personal. Most people prefer to know you are paying attention to them instead of sending automated responses that feel impersonal.
Keep the necessary information on your website to engage ideal clients, and consider following up with a lookbook with more intricate details or processes. This helps keep leads engaged and not overwhelmed with too much information out of the gate.
📈 How to improve:
Follow up on a lead with a lookbook of more detail about your services, packages, processes, case studies…etc. to give potential clients more information about working with you and to proactively answer any of their questions (they may not even know they had)!
Make it easy for leads to book a consultation with you. Either place a booking platform right on your website or do some lead qualifying beforehand and follow up with a booking link once you know they are serious about working with you.
Follow up with leads more often than you think you should. People are busy in their own worlds. It’s not offensive to follow up with leads once or twice a week once they’ve contacted you for your services.
Send a customized proposal
📝 Take a bit of extra time to customize a project proposal
Once you’ve had a consultation with a lead or have enough details about their project, it’s time to send them a proposal. Again, there are times and places for automation (we love it in processes), but make sure your potential clients feel seen and understood with a customized project proposal.
Side note: check out this post about what to include in a project proposal.
💬 Example:
So you’ve had a consultation with a potential client and the project sounds like a dream. Now it’s time to seal the deal with a converting, beautiful project proposal (which WillowSpace can help you with, btw).
Consider things like:
Setting up a template to keep this task easier. Use the template to fill in personalized sections based on the lead’s project needs.
Backing up your claims and services with real results, case studies, or statistics with sources.
📈 How to improve:
Make it easy for leads to say yes (or no) with the click of a button!
Set deadlines for proposals to create a sense of urgency and keep your schedule on track.
Use WillowSpace to build custom, beautiful proposals or upload your own PDF and have leads easily accept or decline and provide a reason (invaluable insights).
Make a client’s project feel seamless
💼 Keep projects on track with clear processes
The sad reality is that even if a project is delayed because of client issues or procrastination, it can reflect poorly on the entire experience. It’s up to us service providers to do everything we can to ensure project progress and a positive client experience.
💬 Example:
Let’s say the brand design project is ready to kick-off. There are a number of steps now to get the client onboarded and working through their tasks on time (WillowSpace can help you with this too, btw).
Consider things like:
Setting up an onboarding sequence to work clients through a new client form (to gather contact information and details about their team), a digital contract, initial questionnaires, and deposit invoices.
Using templates to make things smoother and take less time.
Keeping clients up to date each week with a project check-in/project status report email.
📈 How to improve:
Set deadlines for every step, document, and task you assign to a client during their project.
Use a client portal so your clients can keep up with what you’re working on, outstanding documents or tasks, and schedule meetings with you.
Use WillowSpace to build custom forms, contracts, multi-currency invoices, and useful client portals.
Keep communication open, always
💌 Keep clients on your radar well after their project is complete
Once you finish service for a client, the doors of communication should stay wide open. It’s crucial for keeping the client engaged and active in your business so they can be reminded to refer your services whenever possible.
💬 Example:
Use your platforms as a brand designer, for example, to share client work well beyond the launch. Follow up with past clients regularly!
Consider things like:
Keeping clients up to date on your projects and following up with them often!
Offering client-only services or packages
📈 How to improve:
Send clients a card or launch gift when you wrap up a project.
Set up a follow-up schedule. We like to personally touch base with past clients at least once per month to see how things are going.
Add your clients to a separate newsletter list to keep in touch.
Follow clients on social media and feature them on yours.
Ask your clients for referrals directly - it never hurts to ask for help. If you want them to refer you, ask!
Main takeaways to up-level your client experience & get more referrals:
Here are our top things to focus on when it comes to wow-ing our clients:
👉 Follow up with Leads in a timely manner
👉🏿 Nurture potential clients
👉 Send a custom project proposal
👉🏽 Make it easy for clients to meet deadlines
👉🏾 Keep clients up to date at every step of the project
👉🏻 Keep projects on track and don’t miss deadlines
👉🏼 Wrap up projects with a celebration
👉🏾 Ask for referrals
WillowSpace can help you turn more leads into amazing, paying clients.
Build an unforgettable client experience using our platform to help organize your processes from start to finish. Once you start blowing clients away with your client experience, the referrals WILL roll in. It’s like marketing on autopilot and that is the most powerful marketing tool in your toolkit!
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