Why don’t we ask for more referrals? Most people agree that it’s one of the best ways to grow revenue, but nearly everyone I ask admits that they don’t ask for referrals enough.

After years of helping clients through this issue, here is why I believe this happens: we fear imposing upon our customers by asking to them to help us. We don’t want to impose. We don’t want to intrude. We don’t want take our customers’ time. We fear rejection.

This is our issue, not our customers’, and we must get over it as quickly as possible. One of the best ways I know how to do this is to have a referral process, which goes beyond a simple request:  Systematically notify new customers that you will soon be asking them for a referral. When the time comes, simply do it. This “referral scheduling” holds you accountable as much as the customer. (My consulting coach, Alan Weiss, planted this seed with me years ago.)

Bold action is one of the keys of the corporate growth, and a two-step referral system facilitates the former to ensure the latter.

This piece ran in my Evangelist Marketing Minute short-form newsletter, which you can receive every Monday morning for free by signing up here.