I have always believed that the key way to grow a business is through referrals. I recently finished reading John Jantsch’s new book, The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself. (affiliate link, available Thursday May 13th) Strangely enough, before reading John’s book, I had no system for referrals. The book showed me how to form a strategy that drives customers and partners to market for you.

The highlights of what I learned from John were:

1. There are no real secrets in business; only truths you haven’t yet figured out how to apply.

2. People make referrals because they have to; it is a deeply satisfying way to connect to others. We refer to build our own form of social currency.

3. Your employees probably treat your customers about the same way that you treat your employees.

4. Referred customers will actually pay a premium for your product or service since risk is minimized.

5. The lifecycle of a customer: Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer

6. How to create a system of referral entry points.

7. Creating a systematic weekly social media and convergence action plan.

8. Which technology to use to nurture leads.

9. The book gives very specific referral strategies by business type. For example, what works in retail, service businesses, and for independent professionals. This covers over 50 different referral strategies for businesses from golf driving range to dentist. Your business is in here!

You can download a free chapter or listen to a podcast I did with John . Let me know what you think!