Generating Business Referrals Without Asking: A Simple Five Step Plan to a Referral Explosion

by Stacey Brown Randall

Every business needs referrals from satisfied clients. A good referral can lead to a closed sale faster and easier than any other lead. But let’s face it. Asking for referrals can be awkward. And asking is often ineffective. That’s why Stacey Brown Randall developed a method of getting referrals – without asking. In her book Generating Business Referrals Without Asking , she shares her system for revolutionizing any business. Her structured approach reduces the hustle and increases productivity and profit. With Randall’s system, you can stop wasting time and money marketing to cold leads and stalking would-be clients on social media. And you can start doing what you love most – providing the excellent service that made you go into business in the first place. In Generating Business Referrals Without Asking , you’ll get Randall’s five steps to steady business growth, case studies from business professionals, and a step-by-step roadmap that even the busiest business owner can implement.

Genres: Business

162 pages, Paperback

Published October 16, 2018

About the author

Stacey Brown Randall is a member of the business failure club, a contrarian on how to generate referrals and a supporter of the entrepreneurial dream.

She is a three-time entrepreneur, author of Generating Business Referrals Without Asking, host of the Roadmap To Grow Your Business podcast and national speaker.

Stacey has taught her “no asking” referral generation strategy to hundreds and hundreds clients and audiences. Her clients include well-known corporations and franchises such as Bank of America, Liberty Mutual, Mass Mutual, International Minute Press, LearningRX and Real Living Real Estate but her focus is on small business owners and solopreneurs like Carroll Financial, O’Connor Insurance Associates, HM Properties, Milazzo Webb Law, Farris Cooke CPA, Carolina Business Coach, Slater Interiors, Rae Images, and hundreds more.

Stacey received her Master’s in Organizational Communication and is married with three kids, a 10-year-old son, 8-year-old daughter and she and her husband are raising their 11-year-old nephew. You can find her at www.StaceyBrownRandall.com.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is easy to read and the concept great but it is lacking information on the implementation. It seems more like a piece of content marketing to sell the author's services rather than a complete resource.

[Olivier Lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I think this could have been a blog post. The book repeat itself over and over. The value is about 20 pages. I think it's valuable, but it does not has to be a book.

[Shani Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stacey Brown Randall’s book differs from other business books because her perspective stems from that of kindness, integrity and authenticity. Her core values really spoke to me and shined in her tactics. For example, I love how she encourages hand-written thank you cards, a dying artform in this age of technological saturation. I’ve always been old fashioned myself and really believe in the impact of letter-writing and the exchanging of physical mementos. She reminds us to not go for the easy routes, but to always strive for those personal touches, to be memorable and meaningful to those we come across. She advises us to cultivate our relationships by being genuine and exhibiting kindness. It’s important to have good products and services, but it’s our attitude towards others that really comes through. I like how Randall tailors her business plans according to the needs of her clients, based on their priorities and personality types. For example, she devised a unique plan to suit a man who was very family oriented and didn’t want to take too much time out of his personal life to build work relationships. “Because what was most important to him was to head home after work and be a dad, spend time with his kids. It wasn’t that his referral sources weren’t important, it was just that being a dad was more important. So I would never create a plan for him that violated who he was at a person.” I think it’s very important to honor who someone is. Therefore, I admire Randall’s consideration towards this particular client and all the others that she works with.

In this book, I also gained a lot of good and creative ideas which I could definitely see myself implementing. For example, Randall shares: “I happen to like to entertain (my poor husband). So for my clients and my referral sources I host a backyard movie event each fall. The event is a client appreciation party, but I also invite my referral sources who are not my clients to attend to acknowledge what they mean to my business.” I thought that was a really fun way to blend personal and work life together in a meaningful and memorable way. Ideas like that definitely allow one to stay “top of mind,” as she often reminds us to be. Overall, I would really recommend this book. I’ve learned so much about how to obtain referrals “without asking.”

[Cheryl Malandrinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you work in a business driven by referrals, then you must read Generating Business Referrals Without Asking by Stacey Brown Randall.

In this informative and engaging resource, Randall pushes back against the traditional methodology of asking for referrals, replacing it with a system aimed at increasing profit and productivity. She explains why asking doesn't work, and why changing how you give and get referrals will change everything.

I loved this book when I first listened to it. Loved it even more the second time I listened. Keeping in mind that I work in a business that depends upon referrals, why Generating Business Referrals Without Asking resonated so well with me is that it validated my long-held feeling that there must be a better way than sitting down daily or weekly to call your client base and ask them who they knew needed your services. I hate it when it's done to me, so why would I do it to someone else? I felt heard by Randall. The author also clarified for me what a referral is, versus what I thought it was, which will allow me to give better referrals in the future.

Randall narrated this book, and her passion for the subject shines through as she shares the process she uses and trains others to use. There are also resources available to those who purchase her book, my favorite of which is the "What It Is Like To Work With You Assessment."

So glad I circled back around to gather my thoughts on this amazing business resource. I am looking forward to putting Randall's system into practice.

[Vilas Menon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average

Does not have much specifics especially if you have any experience in business and/or business literature. Could have been condensed to an ebook for the actual good content available. No real or good examples of touch points or outreach or a good structure. Felt like she was giving away basic information and most of the book (especially the second half) was just the author trying to upsell to other products. It’s a shame. I really wanted to learn. Guess if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[Brett Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I'd recommend reading it.

I think it was a little light on how to put it into practice, the author offer you a chance to join her program for $1,000 which I'm sure it were you start to build your referral system.

You could reread the last couple of chapters and make a checklist to implement the system, it just takes a little more effort.

The author has this section on a phrase to respond to the question 'how's business ' that we all seem to be asked.

The script she suggests is an absolute gold nugget.

[buyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book for folks who want to grow their business on a unique way of selling

I am an introvert and technology consultant. I was blown away by the simple concepts of leveraging relationship to increase referrals. This book has an implementation plan for those who want to get started. The memorable touchpoint makes it unique and fantastic read to increase sales. I will highly recommend this book for folks who are introverts, technology consultants who are thinking of alternate ways to generate sales. Looking forward to joining the program.

[Christopher Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing I like about this approach is that it is very relationally based and not a hard pressure referral by asking approach. That approach is a turn off to me and I imagine to so many others as well.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good tidbits but also felt like a bit of a sales pitch.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good nuggets but, as they say, this could’ve been an email.

[W. Whalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boost Your Business with This Book

Leads is the life-blood of new business an increasing your impact on the world around you. Stacey Brown Randall with her stories and straight forward how-to information gives you the plan to generate new business WITHOUT ASKING.

As Randall writes, “To increase your referral success, you need to be prepared to shift your thinking. And shifting our thinking can be hard. Once ur mind is firmly rooted in a belief it can be hard to change our opinions on a topic.” (Page xxiii)

This book is loaded with practical information and includes tools like cheat sheet downloads for the reader. I enjoyed reading GENERATING BUSINESS REFERRALS WITHOUT ASKING from cover to cover. Get this book because it can change your business.