In this article I want to briefly review a classic referral marketing technique: the topical referral mail-out. For most Professionals there are several times of the year when your Prospects are naturally thinking about doing things in your industry. For example, in financial planning it is often at the start of the year when people have New Year's resolutions on their mind and decide that this year they will finally get their finances sorted.

It is during these periods when Prospects are naturally talking to their friends about these topical/timely issues which they would like to solve and wondering how to go about doing that. Many referrals happen during these conversations so it's critical that all Professionals are proactive in updating their Clients about who to refer to them during these particular periods of the year.

One easy way to do this is via a quick referral mail out. This is one of those rare times we would recommend approaching Clients en masse about referrals (instead of 1:1 in a discussion). The gist is to send a simple one-page letter to Clients as follows:

• Start the letter by describing why this is a critical time for people to be thinking about your industry. Give examples of why this is an important time of year for decisions in your industry (e.g. deductions ahead of FY year end, closing deadline for a tax break or legislative issue, deadline for access to a Government grant, New Year’s resolutions etc…).
• Next make a statement that because of this, your Clients may hear their friends and colleagues talking about these matters and give examples of the context of those discussions. For example at lunch, at golf, at barbecues, at board meetings. List one or two locations which are likely locations for this discussion, to help paint the picture for Clients.
• Then list 4-5 phrases a Client may hear a friend or colleague mention at these locations which indicates that these people should be talking with you to solve these topical problems. Make sure your phrases use realistic language which a friend or colleague would actually say to your Client. This means avoiding too much technical jargon or simply listing your services. Use phrases that someone would actually say out loud in a discussion. This is very important because when your Clients hear the same phrase it triggers the memory in them of your letter and prompts them to make the referral.
• End the letter by outlining your capacity for new business and how a Client could go about putting you and their friends in touch, if they hear those statements from their friends.

That's it. This letter should not be more than one page. The letter is merely prompting Clients to be on the lookout around this time and location and to be listing for certain key phrases. It doesn't need to be complicated. In fact the simpler you can make the letter, the better.

It's also a letter you could use as a cover letter to a normal attachment that you might be sending to a Client anyway (like a statement or summary of information). Like all things regarding Client referrals, you shouldn’t rely on this letter alone. Nothing beats having face-to-face conversations with your Clients about referral.  But a little letter like this will help reinforce those conversations and might just help close the loop on a few referrals that otherwise slip by…