Near 100% of our clients come through recommendations and referrals.

This thread is about how we made it happen - some of it was planned and some was not - but i feel it can be replicated. So read on...

1/

WHY do people recommend anything?

We are social animals. Helping someone w/ problem by suggesting a solution helps us earn social brownie points .

2/

WHEN do people recommend?

When we feel doing so will make this person come back and thank us for helping him find a way to solve his problem. +=

3/

This requires 3 things to happen in someone's head:→

1. High level of confidence abt problem-solution mapping =
2. High level of confidence abt quality of solution=
3. High recall of ur offering →→

Good news: you can engineer this in people's head!

4/

But to drive in lots of referrals and recommendations, you need to make these 3 things happen for a LOT of people.

I call it "an army of referrers"!

5/

Here are things that helped us at @DeckRooster build our army of referrers:

1. Super Niche business focus
2. High quality offering
3. Helping everyone we interact with

Let me expand a bit on each one...

6/

Super Niche

We do just Investor & sales decks. Doing LESS did wonders for us.

a. No confusion abt prob-soln mapping=
b. Perception of being high quality
c. Allows you to truly become better. You think 24x7 abt 1 thing. Ur competition abt 10.
d. High recall

7/

High quality offering

If you are building something but do not care about putting everything you have got, then you can't expect others to care enough to talk about it. It's that simple.

You have to WANT to be the best and then BE the best.

8/

Helping everyone we interact with

Referring takes effort.

But when you give someone more than you take from them, they feel obliged to return the favor & help you.

If you have given too much, they will actively look for ways to give some back to you.
(contd...)

9/

But we work with just 2-3 founders a month. That's only 20-30 potential referrers a year. That is slow!

Not enough to build an army!
(contd...)

10/

But we interact w/ another 15-20 founders each month - leads & prospects. w/ some we do "sales call" & to some we offer "deck review"

In both cases, we ensure they find a LOT OF VALUE in the conversation - with nothing in return.

That's 150-200 referrers a year!

11/

To summarize:

Through our work and conversations, we give people more than we take and make them experience the quality we offer...

While being super niche helps us solidify the image of being the best and ensures high recall and clarity about problem-solution mapping.

12/

So when someone in a whatsapp group or twitter asks for help with investor deck or sales deck - our "army" is not confused if @DeckRooster has the best solution for their problem.

13/13

fin.