Lesson #1
REQUESTING CLIENT REFERRALS
Personal client referrals are one of the leading ways for obtaining new clients. I highly recommend reaching out to your clients with what I call the ‘Win-Win-Win’ method for requesting that they refer your services to their friends and family. The key elements for this method are that:
You give your client a CHUNKY referral reward for recommending your services. Maybe for the first package of sessions that their referral friend purchases, consider giving your current client up to 30% of this package purchase as a thank you! Or even better, think of a personalized way to thank your current client. Something that would get them EXCITED to refer more clients to you. A chunky gift certificate to the hottest new restaurant in town or maybe a nice gift card to their favorite athletic wear store. The more personalized, the better!
You give their friend (your new client) a discount on your services for their first package. This discount price will make it much easier for your current client to convince their friend to give your services a try.
Therefore your current client WINS with the referral reward, your new client WINS with the discount, and you WIN with a new client.
Take advantage of creating your own referral coupon, as well as emailing your current clients using the email template below. Adjust your template to present the referral reward that you decide to go with (i.e. Restaurant Gift Card, etc).
SAMPLE REFERRAL REQUEST EMAIL
Hi Current Client Name,
Great job this week with your new program. Hang in there with the new lunges and try not to let them frustrate you as they will eventually become more comfortable. (ADJUST THIS WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL MESSAGE ABOUT YOUR CURRENT CLIENT.)
I am writing you to you to please ask a favor. The personal connection that I have with my clients is one of the things I enjoy most about my work as a trainer. Because of this, I have found that the best way for me to find new clients that match my training style and personality, is through personal referrals from my current clients. So, I have designed a ‘Refer a Friend’ program with you guys in mind, as it rewards my current clients for their extra help in building my business, while also offering a discount to the friend or family member that you refer in to my practice.
I currently have my Monday, Wednesday, Friday 7-8a training time slot open (ALWAYS LIST AN EXACT TIME SLOT THAT YOU HAVE AVAILABLE), so I am reaching out to see if you know of a family member, friend or co-worker that is having trouble achieving their health and fitness goals and would be ready to take on the challenge of working with me as their trainer. If you do know of someone and they purchase a package with me, I am offering you $200 cash as a ‘Thank You’ for your help in passing the offer below along to them.
For the friend that you refer, I will also take an additional $100 off of their initial assessment session fee .
So your friend or family member gets a $100 discount and you receive a $200 cash ‘Thank You’!
If you do know of someone that you feel would be interested and a good fit for my practice, you can:
Forward them this LINK to my New Client Intake Form
Be sure to have them mention YOUR NAME in the ‘How did you hear about me’ question, so that you get credit for the referral.
Once again, I greatly appreciate your consideration, time and help with this referral 'match making'. In the end, I am hoping that the process can be a Win-Win-Win for all three of us.
Let me know if I can answer any questions about the program.
Billy
EXERCISE
Create your own Referral Request offer and invitation to send out to your current clients.
Send this Referral Request out to your current clients, then decide on a plan for inviting all future clients down the road to do the same (i.e. Send Referral Request after 30 days of working with a client).
