During November 2009, over 150 participants at the Davidson Recruitment 2^nd Professional Services Forum “Winning Business By Referral” were invited to complete a survey created by Vue Consulting.

The Forum itself had focused on how Professional Services advisers could learn more about this critical business development area from various referral experts.  The panel included Chris Noble (Partner, Deloitte), Andrew Cheetham (Partner, Cooper Grace Ward) and David King (Managing Director, Vue Consulting).

The survey focused on Client and Business Referrals – the act of an existing client or third-party business referring new clients to your business.  It was designed to provide industry benchmarks and to uncover why many Service Professionals struggle with referral success.

Responses were received from 96 participants and Vue Consulting has examined the results in its White Paper - "Winning Business by Referral - A survey of Professional Services Advisers".  Particularly relevant for Accounting and Legal professionals, this paper summarises the survey results and propose some practical action Service Professionals could undertake as a result.

To download the survey, please complete the form on the right and you will be emailed the complete survey results and analysis.

A summary of key results...

1. Most Service Professionals have a significantly lower reliance on referrals than would be expected. Participants of this survey feel that, on average, 46% of their business is sourced from referrals.
2. Most professionals need to DOUBLE their referral generation abilities to reach their ideal referral targets. Over 50% of participants need to double their current referrals to reach their ideal of 78% referral driven.
3. The major impediment to obtaining more referrals is an ad hoc or inconsistent approach to referrals. Two-thirds of participants nominated this issue as impeding both Client and Business referrals.
4. Legal Professionals felt their personal attitude (rejection, desperation) was a major hurdle to obtaining more referrals. Accounting Professionals felt a lack of any process or tools was the major hurdle.
5. The opportunity for cross-referrals is the major consideration approaching another business for referrals.  69% nominated cross-referrals, while 38% nominated the opportunity for co-operation beyond referrals.