My sister loves genealogy. She\u2019s researched our family tree and knows the great grandparents back for generations: the grandfather who went to Russia to help build steel mills after World War I, the Civil War veteran who was shot in the hand and the grandmother who ran a bakery in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
I’m just grateful to my ancestors who\u2019ve brought me this far; I\u2019m also interested in my family tree of clients, where they come from and how I\u2019ve been able to bring them on as clients.<\/p>\n
Ask successful entrepreneurs how they\u2019ve grown their business and most will sum it up one word: referrals. Just like my family tree, I can trace all of my clients back to their sources. In my case, there are three main \u201cparents\u201d to my clients.<\/p>\n
The Importance of Referrals<\/strong><\/p>\n When I teach marketing to entrepreneurs, many of them are more concerned about the \u201cunknown\u201d clients, the ones they\u2019ve never met who they think are on their path to wealth and success. Truthfully, unless you are a hermit, you already have enough people in your \u201ccircle\u201d to build the clientele of your dreams. Referrals are low-cost, low-risk, warm leads, so how do you get them?<\/p>\n