How to get referrals from other businesses

Start with who sees your customer first

Most referrals come from a business that meets your customer at the moment just before they need you, or just after you finish. A real estate agent sees a vendor a few weeks before the house needs painting. A builder sees the new owner the day before the final clean. A wedding venue talks to the couple months before they choose a florist.

Write down the last ten jobs you did and ask one question of each: who did this customer deal with in the month before they called me? The same few kinds of business will keep coming up. Those are your referral partners.

There is a second, smaller group worth noting: businesses that do the same thing as you but in a different patch or at a different size. A domestic cleaner who turns down offices and a commercial cleaner who turns down homes can send each other the work they would otherwise refuse.

Pick five partners, not fifty

Referrals come from a few businesses that know you well, not from a stack of business cards. Pick five to start, and judge each one on four things.

• Same customer, different job. They serve the people you want to serve and they do not compete with you.
• Their customers ask them. A property manager gets asked for a cleaner every week. A café owner almost never does.
• A similar standard. If they are slow, rude or cheap, their referrals will expect the same, and your name gets tied to theirs.
• They gain from looking good. A partner who wants their own customer to be happy will recommend whoever makes that happen, and that should be you.

Look at their website and reviews before you approach. You are about to ask them to trust you, so check you would trust them.

Make the first approach

Keep the first message short and specific. The other owner is busy and has been pitched before. Say what you do, which of their customers you could look after, and one thing that makes recommending you low risk. Ask for something small, like a ten minute call or a coffee, not a commitment.

Hi Sarah,

I run a small painting business in Ipswich, mostly interiors and pre-sale touch-ups. I noticed your office handles a lot of sales in Springfield and Redbank Plains.

When a vendor needs a quick repaint before the photos, I can usually quote within a day and finish within the week. I send the agent before and after photos when the job is done, so you know it went well.

Would a short call next week be worth it, to see if I'd be a useful name to have?

Thanks,

Dave

That works because it is about their problem (vendors who need a fast repaint), it gives a concrete promise (quote within a day), and it asks for very little. It does not offer a discount or a fee in the first line, which can read as desperate.

Email is a fine way to start. If you write to businesses you have not dealt with before, keep to the rules on commercial email: write to an address they publish for their business, make it relevant to their work, say who you are, and let them opt out. Our guide on whether cold emailing is legal in Australia covers the detail. A phone call or a visit works too, especially for businesses you already pass on the job.

Lower their risk before you offer them anything

A business that refers you is lending you its reputation. If you let their customer down, the customer blames them. So the most useful thing you can offer a partner is not money, it is safety. Tell them plainly how you will protect their name.

• Response time. Say how fast you will contact anyone they send, and keep to it.
• A report back. Let them know when you have quoted and when the job is done.
• Proof. Send your licence number, insurance certificate and a few references without being asked.
• A way out. If you cannot take a job, say so quickly and suggest someone who can, so their customer is never left waiting.

Then think about what you can send back. The strongest partnerships run both ways. A cleaner finishing an end-of-lease job is often asked by the tenant who could help with the move. A landscaper is often asked about fencing. Pass those names on, and tell the partner you did.

Referral fees: when to offer one, and what to check

Some partners will expect a fee or a thank-you, and some would be offended by one. Do not lead with money. Ask how they like to work once you have done a few jobs together.

If you do agree a fee, put it in a short email both of you keep: how much, for what (a lead, a quote, or a paid job), and when it is paid. A flat amount per paid job is the easiest to track.

Check one more thing. Some professions have to disclose referral payments to their own clients. In Queensland, real estate agents must tell buyers about any relationship or benefit they get from a business they recommend, using a set form, according to the REIQ. The Queensland Law Society says referral fees paid by solicitors must be disclosed clearly, not in fine print. If your partner is an agent, a lawyer, an accountant or a broker, ask them what they are allowed to accept before you offer anything. For more on what introductions tend to cost, see the cost of getting introduced.

Handle the first referral perfectly

The first job a partner sends you is a test, even if nobody calls it that. They will ask their customer how it went. Treat it as the most important job of the month.

1. Contact the customer the same day, ideally within the hour.
2. Tell the partner you have made contact. One line is enough.
3. Quote when you said you would, and copy the partner in or let them know it has gone out.
4. Do the job to your best standard and finish on time.
5. Thank the partner once the job is done. A short message naming the customer and the job shows you noticed.

If something goes wrong, tell the partner before their customer does. Owning a problem early keeps a partner far more often than a perfect job no one mentions.

Keep referrals coming

Partners forget you when you go quiet. You do not need a system, just a habit.

• Keep a simple sheet: partner, date of each referral, customer, quoted, won, value, thanked. Ten minutes a month shows you who is actually sending work.
• Check in every couple of months with something useful, not a reminder that you exist. A photo of a finished job for one of their customers is better than "just touching base".
• Send work back where you can, and say so.
• When a partner's staff change, introduce yourself to the new person. The relationship is usually with a person, not a business.

Wedding and event suppliers have their own rhythm, with venues and planners at the centre. Our guide to wedding supplier referrals goes through it.

When it is not working

If a partner has sent nothing after a few months, look at the fit before you look at the effort. Do their customers really ask them for what you do? Are you in the area they cover? Is your price far from what their customers expect? It is fine to let a partnership go quiet and put the time into another one.

If none of your partners are sending work, the list may be too short. Most owners stop at the three or four businesses they already know. Going through a suburb or two and approaching every agency, builder or property manager that fits takes time, and that is usually the part that slips when the work is busy. Curlew does that finding and first approach by email in your business name, if you would rather spend the time on the jobs. Either way, the method is the same: the right partners, a short honest approach, and a first referral done well.