When Clients Ask For Discounts

How many of your window cleaning customers ask for discounts? Here's Jurgen Appelo talking about affordability & vendors. Why are clients entitled to ask this question?

When Clients Ask for Discounts, Ask Them ... Why? (By JURGEN APPELO, Writer, Speaker, Entrepreneur, CEO of Happy Melly). I bought several new vests recently. One was from G-Star, another from Banana Republic. They were not cheap, but not unreasonably expensive, either. I paid the price the shop asked from me. What I did not do was haggle over the price with the vendor.

As a professional public speaker, I have fees, as well, which are listed publicly on my website. I am not cheap, but I'm also not unreasonably expensive. And I always try to be transparent in my pricing. That means that I prefer not to waste my time on price negotiations. Sometimes, though, potential clients contact me and say, "We'd love to hire you as a speaker. But can we get a discount?" I've found a great way to deal with these discount requests: I ask my customers, "Why?"

My usual reply also includes something alone the lines of, "Is there a specific reason you believe you are entitled to a discount?" Without my directly saying yes or no, I've thus bounced the question back to the customer(s), forcing them to consider what they're asking and to give them a chance to point out something that could be of value to me.

Sometimes, clients tell me they cannot afford my standard fee, so they're hoping to get me at half my regular price. Sometimes, they even ask me to do my work for free. "It will be a great opportunity to present your book!" they say. But this always baffles me. I have never considered asking G-Star or Banana Republic to sell me a vest at half the price, or to just give it away for free: "It will be a great opportunity to show off your t-shirts!"

If I found such vendors too expensive, I wouldn't have shopped with them at all. Instead, I would have checked out H&M or Zara. So, faced with the discount question, my next move is to tell such clients that I will happily refer them to other speakers.

Sometimes, clients are so big or famous and consider themselves so important, that the magnitude of their arrogance itself seems to qualify them for a discount. They say (or at least obviously think): "You will be able to add our name to your list of clients!"

Fortunately, my own arrogance is quite flexible and, when needed, strong enough to match that of the client: "Indeed, I will! And you can tell everyone that I visited your company, after you paid what everyone else pays!"

Sometimes, clients just love haggling, assuming there are always margins that can be squeezed. My problem with this attitude is that such clients assume that I am intentionally overpaid and that, with some negotiation, it should be possible to talk the fee down to the "proper" price. In other words, they assume I have a lack of integrity (i.e., I'm asking too much.)

Another possibility is that they assume that I so desperately need the sale that I'm willing to be underpaid, which (to me) seems like a lack of integrity on the side of the client. They might say, "You probably have a special price for friends," to which I might reply, "I have many friends and my fee is what they pay. I assume you want me to treat all my friends equally and fairly?"

And, last but not least, after I ask them, "Why?", the clients sometimes tell me, "Oh, never mind. We were just wondering." Then they proceed to pay my regular fee. I have no objections to that at all.

Notice that I don't say "no" to people who ask me for a discount. I merely ask them "Why?" because it's quite possible that they have a very good reason! It all comes down to customizing the value exchange.

It happens that some clients, for example, offer me a speaking opportunity right before or after an event that I have already booked in the same city. Having two or three events back-to-back in the same area saves me a lot of travel time and travel expenses. Obviously, that would be worth a #NoTravel discount.

It also happens sometimes that a client invites me for the third or fourth time. Obviously, I value repeat customers who develop a preference for a long-term relationship with me, which is worth a #RepeatBusiness discount.

There are some clients who order large quantities of my books. Despite the fact that authors like me earn very little per book in terms of royalties, I still appreciate that my message is distributed into the hands of many people. And so that scenario is worth a #BookOrders discount.

There is also value for me in being able to pick a topic of my own choosing and to experiment with unconventional ideas and formats in my presentations. Customers who give me the freedom to do whatever I want are entitled to an #Experimentation discount.

And then there is my much-beloved discount to discourage bureaucracy, which reduces my fee when clients don't ask me for contracts, tax records, travel receipts, bank statements, procurement forms, visa forms, birth certificates, etc. This #NoBureaucracy discount is basically a reward for good behavior.

There is something else important to realize here: All the good reasons for offering discounts that I listed above can (and should) be translated to clear, unambiguous pricing rules. After all, if you want to be seen as fair, transparent and honest, you have no other option than to apply the same rules (and discounts) to all your clients. And, yes, the rules are additive, and thus the discounts, cumulative.

When I introduce a new discount rule (sometimes because a client inspired me with a new good reason), I also decide on the start date of the new rule, as if I've just passed a new law. All customers invoiced on or after that date will be entitled to the same discount. They don't even have to remind me.

Today, I sent one of my clients an invoice with a #NoTravel discount. The client didn't ask for it. He didn't even know about it. But he earned it because he committed to adapt his own schedule to an existing conference I was attending so that I didn't have to make an extra trip.

It makes me feel good to offer a surprise discount to those who don't request one for no good reason. To make myself feel even better, I plan to be wearing one of my lovely new not-too-expensive vests.

How I Sell Without Using Discounts: People discount because they get desperate and they want to make some quick money. You’re training your customers not to purchase new things from you when they first come out, but to wait for a discount.  

Why Do Clients Buy Services From FM Companies?

The power of why

Why do clients buy services from Facility Management companies? (By Martyn Freeman)  Recently I attended one of those inspirational days that happens all too rarely. I wasn’t at a TED convention, a CBI event, or even the Davos Forum, but our own sales and marketing conference, to which we invited some very influential external speakers.

Peter Docker, formerly an RAF Group Captain, captivated the entire audience talking about the ‘Power of Why’. He described the ‘magic circle’ model, which illustrates how we approach business tasks from the outside in, looking firstly at ‘What are we going to do?’ followed by ‘How will we do it?’, but rarely starting with ‘Why are we doing this?’

He showed how inspirational leaders like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Anita Roddick challenge established thinking by not taking that approach, but by starting at the inner core of ‘why’. As he showed, by thinking about the motivations and perceptions that drive decisions, you soon realise that rather than keep repeating the same path, a totally new approach can yield the kind of success those people have created both for themselves, their customers and employees.

The ‘what’ part of business thinking is the comfort zone, and if you stay there, all you will achieve is incremental improvement at best, or a perpetual Groundhog Day at worst.

I could easily see how this so effectively reflects the Facilities industry, where too much of our time focuses on measurable minutiae. We specify how often spaces must be cleaned, what chemicals will be used, which qualifications staff must have to operate equipment, together with a million and one other elements that make up both an ITT and the final contract.

Conversely, too few people in the industry focus on the second, inner, part of the magic circle – the ‘How?’ These are the people that come up with innovative answers such as automation, zero waste management, Direct audits, chemical-free cleaning and other developments that are set to radically improve the working lives of those who both maintain and use the workplace.

Then we come to the innermost part of the circle - ‘Why’. As Peter pointed out, inspirational leaders have a vision at the centre of their lives that continually addresses the ‘Why?’ Richard Branson has challenged thinking in the music, travel and cosmetics industries, and one day no doubt will carry people to a space hotel, by staring from the premise of ‘Why do people do things?’ and working out how to find a better way.

After all, he didn’t invent airline travel, or any of the other products that carry the Virgin brand, but, as Peter explained, the massive Virgin difference is its culture. Branson’s motivation is to make people enjoy the experience of dealing with Virgin more than any competitor, which he achieves through a combination of product quality and service and sharing the vision among all who work for him.

I have to confess that although we’ve not thought about it so analytically, this new approach to thinking is exactly what we’ve been seeing from clients over the last few Mitie debates. When we started this programme three years ago the talk focused on the details of service delivery, KPIs and SLAs. At our last dinner we spent a whole evening not discussing what we do, or indeed the how, but the why of FM. We heard from Property directors more concerned about the way people enjoy the experience of coming to work in the buildings they run than negotiating lease terms.

People are talking about the challenges of humanizing services, and indeed our own research reflects a deep dissatisfaction among the workforce with the way buildings support productivity, so it is incumbent on us all to start examining more closely the ‘why’ behind the things we do in FM.

The presentations at our conference, combined with what we’re hearing from our clients all point to a very volatile, uncertain, changing and ambiguous future. I have a feeling as we look towards it, that starting with the question of ‘why do we do this?’, rather than ‘How and what have we done before?’ will give us a much firmer footing on which to build successful and sustainable progress.

If you’d like to know more about the power of ‘Why’ and how to apply it to your work, check out Peter Docker’s site here.

 

A Little Safety Advice For Service Clients

Crime Tracker: How To Handle Unexpected Guests On Your Doorstep - (SPOKANE, Wash.) - Door to door solicitors seem to pop up at your front door as the weather gets warmer.  Even though most of them are honest business people, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office reminds us to take precautions when answering the door for people we don't know.

The best piece of advice if you are expecting someone: know who's coming.  For example, if you schedule a window washer to come to your home, ask what vehicle they're driving and the name of the person providing the service.  That way, you'll know who and what to expect when you get that knock on your door.

The Sheriff's Office also recommends a locking screen door.  The door provides a barrier between you and the person on your doorstep.  It allows for a conversation but provides a layer of protection.  The Sheriff's Office also says to keep the door closed.  It says there's nothing wrong with asking the person to leave a business card on your step and telling them you'll look at it when you have a chance. 

The next tip: make yourself known.  The Sheriff's Office says not to hide.  Don't make it look like you aren't home.  It says thieves looking to break-in don't want you to be there.  If you yell through the door and let them know you're home but too busy to answer the door, the Sheriff's Office says they'll typically move on.  The same goes for children who are home alone. 

Finally and most importantly, trust your instinct.  It's more important to be safe than to be polite.  If someone is pushy and insists on coming into your home, keep the door shut and call Crime Check at 456-2233.

How secure is your home? Read these tips and tricks to find out how to step up your security measures and keep your home safe. Locking your front door isn’t enough to keep your home, possessions, or your family safe. Follow these tips and tricks from ADT security to ensure that your home is safer than Fort Knox.

Assess your weak points
Stand outside your property and inspect it as if you have been locked out. Are there any weak spots in your security? If you can get inside without keys, so could someone else!

Start from the outside in
Security starts at the border of the home. This may include a locked automatic gate for vehicle entry, an electronic release on the small locked front gate, an intercom, lights to illuminate the gate area and a wall or fence with electric fencing. Also all shrubs that can hide intruders should be removed or cut back.

Shed some light
Light is a burglar's biggest enemy. Installing exterior lights outside your home that are activated by movement will light your garden and deter unwelcome visitors. Perimeter floodlights can be used when you are home alone or away and can be time activated if you are on holiday. Beams can also be installed in the garden to act as an early warning system.

Cover your entrances
Next tackle the front door. If burglars can get to it, it is easier to get your belongings out! Install the best locks possible. A deadlock provides good security but a mortised deadlock is even more difficult for the burglar to overcome. Guard against exposed door hinges, as the hinge pin can be easily broken. A 180-degree peephole is another essential and the front door area should also be clearly lit at night. Fit security gates over all exterior doors including the upstairs balcony.

Install burglar bars
Relatively few burglaries involve breaking large glass windows as this takes too long, is too noisy and there is a risk of injury. However, a burglar will break a smaller window to tamper with the window catch. Consider installing keylocks on your widows and install burglar bars.

Get a good security system
The above hints plus a modern security system linked to a reputable armed response service should encourage burglars to move on to a less secure home. A good security system should include alarm sensors on doors and windows to detect intruders and panic buttons in the home to summon help from the armed response company in case of an emergency.

19 ways to think like a burglar and prevent theft: Thinking like a criminal and anticipating their moves is your best chance of avoiding theft and burglary, law enforcement says. Davis County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Susan Poulson said people can prevent a lot of theft by thinking ahead of a criminal and taking care of neighbors. "We just recently had a case that was solved in one of our contract cities that a burglar was going house-to-house taking whatever was left unlocked or open. We had a resident who was observant and called it in." Poulson said. " He was able to give us a description of the suspect, what he was taking and where he was going." Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, interviewed more than a hundred burglars for his book "Burglars on the Job." The patterns he found included what Poulson suggested, as well as some others.

Below are 19 things a burglar thinks according to Wright.

Familiarity
I've been in your house: I'm the carpet cleaner, the painter, the delivery person, the landscaper.
I used your bathroom. And I unlatched the back window while I was there.
I'm polite. I always knock before entering. If you answer, I'll ask for directions or offer to do something around the house.
I won't look like a crook when you see me. I'll look like I have a job to do instead.
I've looked in your windows. I know what electronics you have and where you keep your jewelry.
I'm your Facebook friend. And I saw your posts about vacation.

Scoping the site
Toys in the yard tell me you might have gaming systems inside.
You've opened the window to air out your house. That's my invitation inside.
Your garage door is open. That's an advertisement of the things you own to me.
Can see your alarm panel and whether or not its set from the window? Consider having it installed where I can't see it from outside.
Newspapers piled up in the driveway, fliers on your door: both are welcome signs to me.
Your driveway has an awful lot of snow on it. Consider getting a neighbor to walk through it or hire someone to keep it plowed if you're not home.

Keeping me out
The sound and flicker of a TV deter me better than any alarm system.
If your neighbor keeps looking at me when I'm in your yard, I'll leave.
Loud, barking dogs blow my cover and keep me away.
An armed alarm, complete with motion detectors above the kitchen sink window and on the second floor make me nervous.

Once I'm inside ...
I check your sock drawers. I'll check the medicine cabinet and bedside tables, too.
If your safe isn't bolted down, I'll take it with me and crack it later.
I don't go into kids' rooms.

The list may seem over-cautious, but Poulson said thieves will look anywhere for clues and have no problem striking anywhere. "Unfortunately, that's the day and age that we're in. But, you just need to make sure that you keep yourself and your belongings safe," she said. "It's too bad, but that's the way it is." Also see "Burglary via obituary a growing problem."

ResponsiBid - A Window Cleaning Bidding Program

ResponsiBid is a system built specifically for window cleaners who are trying to apply the principles of the E-Myth to their business to benefit their customers and themselves throughout the bidding process. You wouldn’t believe how unbelievably easy it is to get your website working hard for you.  With ResponsiBid, you have 3 easy steps to turn your website into a window cleaning bidding (and booking) machine. Click the pictures to enlarge. make sure you watch the video above. The whole program is customizable.

You don't send your window cleaners out without squeegees; don't send your website out without ResponsiBid. Check out why your company is losing money every day out without ResponsiBid!

• Forces somebody who is genuinely interested in your services and anxious for a price to give you their contact information. 
• Causes the website visitor who is genuinely anxious for services you offer to think a little harder about what they’re asking for (essentially to invest a little of their time into the process — but not as much time is waiting around the house for you to come by).
• Gives a competitive bid that the prospect can see is obviously well thought out. They know that you won’t get there and start changing your mind on the price… they know it’s good because they counted or entered in accurate information.
• Allows this to all be done at the exact moment that the customer is MOST interested in your services!
• Most importantly, after the customer gets this far through the process they are able to take action immediately! They can move on with their life, confident that their window cleaning problems are under control.

This iPad the 32GB (for massive storage) 3G + WiFi (for total mobility) model - like all the others, can sync with Google calendar.  I have used this in my business and I love being able to have a totally readable, adjustable, synced calendar of everything I’ve got going on in my life and for my crews. Like your smart phone, you can look at the schedule, but unlike your phone, you can read what’s going on.

Package Options: Window Cleaning Businesses are all different. There is a pricing option for everyone. Keep in mind that there is no functional difference between any of these packages when it comes to how it will work on your site. The goal here is to provide everyone with an option that makes sense for them. Curt guarantees that no matter which option you choose, it will translate to the cheapest employee you have ever hired– and this one will never get tired.

Window Cleaner Saves Client From Thieves

Window cleaner chases off armed smash-and-grab raiders in Bushey Heath, Watford, UK: A 63-year-old window cleaner is being hailed a “hero” after he chased off armed raiders carrying out a smash-and-grab at a Bushey jeweller's on Monday. Men brandishing sledgehammers smashed the front window of The Jewellery Workshop, in High Road, at about 10.45am in front of dozens of witnesses. Pictured Above: David Guest with shop manager Stacey Simmonds who described him as a "hero."

David Guest was cleaning the windows at the Hob Salon, next door, when he heard “a loud bang” before going out to confront three young men attempting the raid. Mr Guest “shouted at them” and “squared up” to the culprits, who twice threatened him with their hammers. He said: “At first I thought it was someone beating up the jeweller and he is a friend of mine. I was just so angry that they had the cheek and the nerve to think they could get away with it. “One of them came at me with the sledgehammer but when I didn't move he started to panic. I stepped forward to grab him and he lost his bottle.”

The burglars ran off empty-handed as Mr Guest, a window cleaner in Bushey Heath for 40 years, tried to cut off their escape down a nearby alley, forcing them to jump the fence. “I am not the sort of person to stand there and watch and I didn't think, I just charged in there. I would have done anything to stop them but on reflection it was quite stupid.” Mr Guest, who is divorced, described the offenders as Asian men in their late teens or early 20s, one of whom was about six feet tall and another about five and a half feet tall.

Shop manager Stacey Simmonds described Mr Guest as a “hero” for intervening and said she and the other member of staff were “terrified”. The 27-year-old said: “We were really shaken up by it - afterwards, my colleague was crying. There's not a lot you can do, it's just fortunate no one was hurt.”

It is the third time the shop has been targeted in recent years and staff say police were at the scene within about five minutes. Sales assistant Danielle Greenberg, 34, added: “I just saw my life go before my eyes - neither of us could sleep last night.” Hob Salon assistant manager Adam Cole pulled an elderly customer back into the shop as she tried to leave and saw Mr Guest run out to tackle the thieves. He said: “He was a real hero. It all happened so quickly and it was so surreal that they were there in broad daylight. A couple of the older customers were pretty shaken by the whole thing.”

Police say investigations are ongoing, though no arrests have been made. The smashed glass was repaired on Tuesday morning and Mr Guest added: “The annoying thing was that I'd washed that window just seconds before and I turn around and someone's trying to put a hammer through it.”

Exponential Growth For Window Cleaners

Grow your business exponentially in three key steps: Most people grow their business incrementally by merely growing their client base, but one way for you to give your business an exponential growth spurt is by focusing on increasing the number of times these clients avail of your service, as well as increasing the amount of services your client gets from you. Doing so will increase your revenue and income by as much as 100 to 200 percent, or even more.

Here’s an example of how this strategy works: say you have 100 clients that use your service once per year for a fixed price of P200. The equation for your current business would be something like this:

100 transactions
x
P200
=
P20,000

If you increase your number of clients, the size and the frequency of their purchase by 10%, your equation is now:

110 transactions
x
220
x
1.1
=
P26,620

That’s already a 33 per cent growth for your annual net revenue—and that’s just from increasing each area by 10 per cent. The idea is quite simple—you’ll only be focusing on growing each aspect of your business (that is already there in the first place) and the combined effect can be hundreds of percent growth for you. You can do this with so little effort, time or expense because this plan has already done much of the work. Eventually you will be able to find other ways to grow your business and add more “multiplier effects,” but just to get you started, here are three strategies that will go a long way:

Form Strategic Alliances. A strategic alliance is a formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue common goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations. Potential partners may provide strategic alliance with resources such as products, distribution channels, manufacturing capability, project funding, knowledge, expertise, capital equipment, or intellectual property.

A window-cleaning business, for example, can partner with companies whose clients are interested in clean windows, i.e. strike a deal with a window-installing business by leaving registration forms for a free window cleaning at your partner’s retail store, a win-win situation in that it gets potential new clients plus the names of the people who would be interested in its services, the window-installing company gets to keep track of the people who visited their store, and someone gets their windows cleaned for free. Another strategic alliance is an event planner tying up with a production agency. If someone can afford hiring an event planner, that potential client would also probably want audio-visual works running to keep the guests entertained. The event planner could work out an agreement with the production house to promote the latter’s services in exchange for a referral fee. If a planner does one event per week and half of its clients for the year chose to have audio-visual presentations, that would be extra money in the planner’s account for almost no effort.

Whatever your business is, just remember that the key in forming strategic alliances is synergy. The collaboration is ideal when the amount of benefits accumulated in the partnership is greater than those from individual efforts. Evaluate your current alliances and see if the benefits far outweigh the costs of doing business with them.

Establish Referral Programs. Maximizing referrals can greatly increase your sales and keep unnecessary spending to a minimum. Word of mouth is the strongest form of marketing; a good referral program can get your client base actively talking about your business, which ultimately increases your clientele.

Online businesses, in particular, practice and benefit much from referral programs. In fact, this is how most of today’s successful niche bloggers earn their income. With the speedy growth of the Internet, a number of companies now include online marketing in their budgets. Note that online marketing does not necessarily mean online advertising. Advertising on the Internet is not really as lucrative, what with clients wary of clicking on online banners due to the spread of spam and viruses, but partnering with a well-known blogger or even a well-known celebrity who owns a blog can increase client growth. Establishing ties with online sites with high visitor traffic can serve to increase your business. Most of these online sites create testimonials praising the quality of a product or service, and have established a network of loyal visitors that could mean potential clients for you, too.

Client testimonials are also a good way to get new clients. Every time you finish a service for your existing clients, collect testimonials and compile them. The next time you pitch your service to potential customers, show them the testimonials of satisfied clients—this could be a very powerful differentiator between you and your competitors.

Client Reactivation. Since past clients are already familiar with your level of service, they are much easier to claim back as clients than if you were to try and get new ones. If you offer a service that is not done by most people on a frequent basis, it is likely that many of your past clients do not have your contact details on hand. You can send out letters to past clients to reactivate them and get more work.

Using reactivation letters brings back 20 to 30 percent of past clients on the average. In some industries, it is not uncommon to have a reactivation rate greater than 50 percent.

Existing clients have already overcome their misapprehensions of doing business with you. They have already developed a level of trust in you and your business. The key here is to never let a customer or client forget you. It doesn’t take much too keep happy customers coming back to you again and again. When they do, the profit margin is substantially higher than when you drag out a new client from a list of cold suspects. Repeat clients are also effective sources of referrals as they help advertise your business through word-of-mouth marketing.

Increase the value of past clients’ average transactions to you by sending them reactivation letters, packaging complimentary products and services together, offering them something new, client appreciation seminars, or maybe even offering irresistible promotional discounts. These are just a few simple ideas to get you started. There are, of course, many other ways to reactivate clients. The key is to maintain regular contact, continue adding value to them through a good relationship, and to continue giving them reasons to come back.

Window Cleaning Referrals

Keep Your Client in the Loop After You Get the Referral:
Congratulations, you’ve just received several referrals from one of your clients. Great job! But hold on, you’re work has just started. No, I’m not talking about contacting and selling the referred prospect, I’m talking about keeping your client in the loop.

One of the primary reasons clients are hesitant to give referrals is that they are afraid of being embarrassed in front of a friend, relative, acquaintance or co-worker by you not performing as you should. So, when they do give a referral, they have a vested interest in what’s going on between you and the prospect. Not in the sense of whether or not the prospect purchases, but in how the prospect perceives you and the value being referred by the client.

When a client gives you a referral, you learn a number of things:
The client will give referrals. Obviously, you just received one or more.
How well the client understands what you do. The quality of the referral will let you know how well your client understands what you do and who is a good referral for you. The better the referral, the more the client understands. The poorer the referral, the more work you must do to educate them for future referrals (and future sales to them for that matter).
How much they trust you. Generally, the stronger the trust relationship between the client and the referred prospect, the more the client trusts you.
They have more referrals to give. Seldom will a client give you all of the referrals they can make at one time. If a client gives referrals, you can almost bet they have more to give—if you keep earning them.

How do you get those additional referrals?
Additional referrals are earned, just as the original referrals were earned. You earn those additional referrals by:
Giving your client the assurance that you’re trustworthy with referrals. You must show through your actions that their trust in giving you a referral was well placed by making sure that the referred prospect has an exceptional experience with you.
By keeping your client fully informed of everything that is occurring with the referred prospect.
By continuing to deliver superior service to your client.

Does the above mean that you must perform perfectly with the referred prospect? What if there was an honest mistake or miscommunication? What if something out of your control happened during the course of the sale? Will these incidents destroy any possibility of acquiring additional referrals?

No, not at all.

The keys to gaining additional referrals from a client are to treat the referred prospect exactly in the same manner you treated the client and to keep your client informed of what is transpiring between yourself and the referred prospect.

Your client gave you referrals because they understood that giving referrals was in their own best interests and because you earned them through the service, you gave them. You must now demonstrate that same level of service for the referral they have given you. They expect—actually demand—you perform at the same level—or higher—for those they refer to as you did for them. That level of service you gave them was what demonstrated to them that they could trust with a referral. Anything short of that and they will reevaluate whether you should be trusted with additional referrals.

That having been said, clients understand that mistakes, miscommunications, and problems arise in business. A single issue during the course of the sale to a referred prospect, even a major issue, will not sever your ability to gain additional referrals from you client if you address and resolve the issue in an exceptional manner.

Clients don’t expect perfection, they expect exceptional service—both for themselves and for those they refer you to. How well or poorly you handle the issues will be a major factor in determining your future refer-ability.

Keeping your client informed of the progress of the sale with the referred prospect reassures them that you’re doing your job—and that all is well. It is also your source of informing them if there have been problems and how they were resolved.

It is critical that you let your client know of issues involved with sales to prospects they have referred you to before the prospect has a chance to relate the incident. You can relate the circumstances and the resolution in the most favorable light—the prospect may not. This doesn’t mean that you can lie or gloss over it, just that you can give the background and the full resolution without the emotional involvement the prospect will have. Of course, if you’ve done an exceptional job of resolving the issue, the tale told by the prospect should also be impressive. However, you always want problems to be related to your client by you—you don’t want to get a phone call from the client asking what happened.

Keeping your client informed doesn’t mean bombarding them with emails, phone calls, and notes. A simple “thank you for the referral” card immediately after receiving the referral and the occasional call or email will suffice. The object is to keep them in the loop and to reassure them that their referral was well made for both you and the prospect. Even better than the occasional call or email is to explicitly ask the client how and how often they would like to be informed of the progress.

Clients are interested in what’s going on with the referrals they make. They want to know the prospect is being taken care of in the manner the client expected, and they enjoy knowing that they have provided you with a quality referral. More importantly, they want to know that they haven’t embarrassed themselves in front of an acquaintance.

Simple actions will earn those additional referrals your clients have—you just have to earn them.