I can tell you that the relative health and success of most businesses can be gauged by this simple factor – how many clients refer friends, neighbors and colleagues.

This may be hard for some to hear, but if you are not receiving lots of referrals, there may be something that needs fixing.

If you have any issues around asking for and expecting referrals, something may need fixing.

So here’s the deal, what’s your referral number? What percentage of your clients refer business? If you can quantify that number you’ve got a great starting place to build from. That one metric may just be the simple answer to all your marketing woes.

Create a baseline for that number and then ask yourself continuously what you can do to improve it.

Sometimes you need to fix your products or processes, other times you need to fix your message. Many times this number is too low because you have too many clients that aren’t right for your business and that you don’t serve well because they aren’t profitable. Unprofitable clients are hard to thrill.

Start asking clients that do refer, why. Start asking clients that don’t refer, why. Start asking everyone you do business with what you could do better and then fix it.

Your goal – a referral number of 100%. A girl’s gotta have a dream!