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How to Generate Referrals in an Email Signature - Steve Cannon

Steve's original message was: "This is from someone I knew a few years back. Ran into at a coffee shop and had come as a visitor about 6 months ago. Although there were some things about this mass communication that didn’t resonate with me, by the end of her Top Ten list I was quite enrolled in what she was doing. Then in her tag line (even though she made it light hearted with the Dora Reference) I read the request for referrals. At best it is redundant since I was already starting to think of some referrals and at worst nullifying the credibility and goodwill already built up. On one hand I don’t hold it against her since I’m still in the examination phase of this discussion, and on the other wondering if I would have noticed it beyond the subliminal if it hadn’t been in the inquiry."

I replied to Steve with a link to my article Why Asking for a Referral Ruins the Relationship, and suggested we discuss the possibilities here. Steve answered: I really get what you said about a picture that resonates of my ideal client. I guess the question is how to get that into one small phrase that would be used on a sig line. Soyini joined the conversation, "This is an interesting topic for conversation.  I’ve been given the exact opposite advice by a couple mentors, one of whom has built a 40 person law practice. Both of them specifically told me to start asking for referrals.  And, I have to admit that I did start getting more activity after making the request directly.  I actually think it can work both ways.  It’s probably all in how the request is made –if there’s an air of attachment, begging, or desperation on the request, I totally agree that it won’t work.   I agree that the offer of a discount or referral fee sounds needy, and I’ve never felt comfortable doing that.  Interesting… very interesting…"

Here's the concept we're working with:
1: Asking for the sale {"I want your business"} works. (Sales happen between two people.)
Asking for a referral {"Who do you know who should be doing business with me?} doesn't. (Referrals happen among three people.)
2: Describing WHO our best client is (by name, title or relationship) and
HOW they can be recognized, with resonance, generates referrals.
3:The key is resonance. (The opposite of resonance is dissonance.) It has to jibe, jive, make sense. Resonance stimulates a little smile of recognition; a head bop with the words "oh yeah that's the way it is."

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Last night I was at a PowerPint with Mark Fricks, a business coach. We were talking about who is not our client, and Mark replied: "Do-it-yourselfers are not my clients. They'll work with me for two months, and I'll have a hard time collecting." So Mark could have a signature file that reads "My clients are business owners who understand the concept of highest and best use. They hire employees to handle tasks they don't enjoy,  and they focus on their own areas of strength because they have real growth goals for their business." This doesn't sound like a request. Readers will self-select, and also immediately think of their brother-in-law who fits this profile.

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Now we need a sentence that tells what the client wants. They do not WANT a business coach . . . they WANT the result of a business coach.  Which is {waiting, thinking, pondering}

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