Teaching your team to ask for referrals is a high leveraged promotion activity. However, many businesses leave referrals to chance because team members feel uncomfortable asking or don't know when and how to ask for referrals.

A structured training approach can make asking for referrals a natural part of the customer experience.

Follow these 5 steps to train your team how and when to ask for referrals. You'll want to update the training with more specific context for your business but this guide should give you a good overview to get started.

Before teaching how to ask for referrals, your team needs to understand why referrals matter and what role they play in bringing in referred customers.

Share key points like:

If you plan on offering compensation for team members, highlight these during your buy-in conversations.

Timing the referral ask is key as it removes any awkwardness and you’ve earned the right to ask for a referral. The “ask” should happen after rapport is built, trust is established, and the customer is happy with your product or service.

Train your team to recognize ideal moments to ask for referrals:

The key is catching customers when they’re happiest and feeling gratitude towards your team and company.

Asking for referrals must feel natural. If you time it correctly, the ask is easy and fits into the conversation flow.

Provide your team with scripts and templates so they feel confident and can practice making the ask.

When asking for referrals, your team should:

Even with the perfect ask, customers will still have questions or might not be ready to give a referral. Prepare your team to address common objections with helpful, non-pushy responses:

Develop accessible materials that help your team understand the program and promote it effectively:

Here are a few example scenarios and scripts to use for inspiration when building out your training playbook. Think of these scripts as openers to the referral conversation. They should help introduce the referral program but your team will need to handle any objections based on how the customer responds.

Situation: Completed project or implementation successfully.

Script:

"Thank you for selecting us for [product/service]. Many of our best customers come from introductions following successful projects like this one. If you know anyone looking for [specific value proposition/product/service], we have a referral program that gives anyone your refer [referral reward] and you’d get [member reward].

Here’s the QR code if you’d like to join."

Situation: Customer expresses satisfaction with your product/service.

Script:

"I'm so glad to hear you're happy with [specific benefit they mentioned]. We built our business on helping people like you, and many of our best clients come from introductions. Do you know anyone that might need [specific value proposition/product/service]?

We have a referral program that gives anyone your refer [referral reward] and you’d get [member reward]."

Situation: Scheduled account review or check-in call.

Script:

"As we wrap up, I wanted to mention our referral program. As a long time customer, you probably know others who could use our [product/service]. We offer [referral reward] to anyone your refer and as a thank you, you get [member reward] when they become a customer.

Is there anyone who comes to mind that you think would be a good fit?"

Situation: Successfully resolved a customer issue.

Script:

"I'm happy we were able to solve this for you. We pride ourselves on our service and support. If you know anyone else who needs [product/service], we'd love an introduction. We even have a referral program that gives anyone you refer [referral reward] and you’ll get [member reward] for each new customer who signs up."

Subject: A quick thank you and question

Body:

Hi [Name],

I wanted to personally thank you for being a valued customer with us.

Many of our new customers come from introductions from people just like you. If you know anyone who might benefit from [value proposition/product/services], we'd love to be introduced. Anyone you refer will get [referral reward] and you’ll get [member reward] when they become a customer through our referral program.

Click here to start sharing:

[ button / link to referral program ]

Best,

[Your name]

Here are some common objections when asking for referrals. Whatever the objection, follow these steps when responding:

Always try to get people to join the referral program (even if not ready) as the built-in reminder emails will help the program stay top-of-mind so they remember to refer.
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1) Validate their response and prevent them from feeling pressured.

"That's completely understandable."

2) Broaden their thinking by suggesting different perspectives.

"Sometimes it helps to think beyond immediate needs. For example, many of our customers find us valuable when they're [describe the trigger event]. Do you know anyone going through something like that?"

"Often our customers find it helpful when I mention specific types of businesses we work with, like [industry examples]. Does that bring anyone to mind?"

3) Plant a seed for future referrals.

"No problem at all. If someone does come to mind in the future, you can always access our referral program through [simple access method]."

"No problem at all. You can always join our referral program and refer someone later if anyone comes to mind. Here's how ... "

1) Acknowledge their concern.

"I completely respect that. Protecting people's privacy is important."

"I completely respect that. Just to clarify, we never cold-call or pursue people aggressively. We only reach out with a single, courteous message, and only follow up if they express interest."

2) Offer alternatives + 3) Plant the seed.

"Would you be more comfortable making the introduction directly instead? That way you control the process and they only reach out to us if they're interested.

Here's how you can join our referral program ..."

1) Show appreciation for their thoughtfulness.

"I appreciate you giving it some thought. There's absolutely no rush. Our referral program is ongoing."

2) Broaden their thinking by suggesting different perspectives.

"When you're thinking about it, the people who typically benefit most from our [product/service] are those who [describe ideal profile]."

3) Plant a seed for future referrals.

"If someone does come to mind in the future, you can always access our referral program through [simple access method]."

"If you're interested, you can join our referral program and refer someone later if anyone comes to mind. Here's how ... "

In this case, get them to join the referral program right away.

"That's a great question. Our referral program comes with prewritten messages so you can share directly or change the wording as you see fit.

Here's how to join ..."