If you've been in business for more than five minutes, you already know that the best way for any self-employed professional to get clients is by referral. But the process of building sufficient word of mouth to produce the number of clients you need can seem daunting. You can count on some referrals from your existing clients and people who already know you, but that's a fairly limited number. How can you start getting business referrals from people outside your circle?

Actually, a better question is how to increase the size of your circle to include more people. In order to refer you business, people need to know, like, and trust you. They want to be sure that you will take good care of the clients they send you. For that, they'd like to be better acquainted than just hearing your name.

Imagine that you had a group of 100 people who were willing to refer clients to you.

One of my clients set about doing exactly this when he first launched his business. He identified a list of people in his city who were likely to be strong referral sources, and began methodically making their acquaintance. Within a few months, he had a steady stream of new clients. Better still, since all these clients were referrals, they were usually ready to do business when they first contacted him, and required little selling on her part.

To use this approach effectively, it's not just a matter of knowing enough people. You have to know the right people. Here's how to begin: