For my first three weeks at Surge Polaris, my ask at breakfast was "any small business that needs a better website." Thirteen people heard it three times. That's 39 chances, and nobody sent me anyone.
That wasn't their fault. Everyone in that room knew a business with a bad website, and that was the problem. When the answer is everyone, the listener has to pick one, and a person holding a fork at 7 a.m. isn't going to do that work for you.
Before I built websites, I designed newspaper pages for eleven years. A front page gets one lead story, and its headline has a subject and a verb: something happened to somebody. "Any small business that needs a better website" has neither. It's a section label, like "Sports." Nobody reads a section label and thinks of their brother-in-law.
Why "anyone who needs X" fails
- People don't file their friends by category. Nobody keeps a mental list of business owners who need a CPA. They remember that their neighbor spent the whole cookout complaining about his tax bill.
- Everyone needs X eventually, so nobody needs it this week. Without a moment attached, there's no reason to make the introduction now instead of never.
- Prospects don't use your words. Nobody says "I'm in the market for HVAC services." They say "the guy said the heat exchanger is cracked and it's fourteen grand." If your ask doesn't sound like the prospect talking, the listener won't recognize the prospect when they hear one.
- It hands the listener a job. They have to turn your category into a person. Most won't, and the ones who try usually guess wrong.
The formula
What fixed mine was a one-to-one with Keisha Monroe in late November. She asked what happened right before my last three clients called me. I didn't have to think about it. Each of them had searched their own trade and town on a phone, found a competitor on the first screen, and couldn't find themselves at all.
That's a story, and people remember stories. It gave me four parts:
- Who. One kind of person you can picture: a role plus a detail. "A contractor or clinic" is a category. "A contractor whose website was built by a nephew in 2017" is a person.
- The trigger. What just happened to them, in the past tense. This is the part your listener will actually hear in conversation.
- Where. The towns or neighborhoods you serve, or the place your listener will run into this person: a job site, the school pickup line, their own client files.
- What to say. One sentence the listener can say to that person, so the handoff doesn't depend on them explaining your business.
Pick one lead story. If you serve three kinds of client with three different triggers, put one on your profile and rotate the others through your weekly ask. A front page with three lead stories doesn't have a lead story.
My new line: "A contractor or clinic whose website was built by a nephew in 2017 and doesn't show up when you search their service plus their town." And the sentence to say: "Search your trade and your town on your phone right now. If you're not on the first screen, call Jess. They'll tell you why in about ten minutes."
Nine days later, Hamza Warsame sent me a dental office in Worthington whose site still announced its holiday hours from 2019. Hamza does their IT. He'd heard my ask at breakfast, searched "dentist Worthington" in their parking lot that afternoon, and they weren't on the first screen. They signed in January.
Before and after
Here are four more from Polaris. The before versions are the generic asks every trade starts with. The after versions are what these members now have on their Surge profiles, plus a line to say out loud.
Roofing: Kate Brennan
- Before: "Anyone who needs a new roof."
- After: "A homeowner in Dublin or Powell who just got a hail estimate from a door-knocker and doesn't trust it."
- Say this: "Don't sign anything yet. Kate will put a drone up and show you photos of your own roof, and if the damage isn't there, she'll tell you."
The trigger is the knock on the door. After a storm, everyone in Powell knows somebody who got one.
Tax: Daniel Cho
- Before: "Business owners who need a good accountant."
- After: "An S-corp owner whose current CPA only calls in March and who has never seen a mid-year tax projection."
- Say this: "Has your CPA ever called you in August? Daniel does that for every client, so April isn't a surprise."
It's April as I write this. Somebody you'll have coffee with this week just learned they owe a five-figure balance, and they'll complain about it out loud. The complaint is the trigger, and the coffee is the where.
Heating and cooling: Luis Ortega
- Before: "Anyone with heating or cooling problems."
- After: "A homeowner with a furnace older than 15 years who was just told they need a whole new system and wants a second opinion before signing."
- Say this: "Call Luis before you sign. If a $300 repair buys you five more years, he'll tell you that first."
The before version describes most of Lewis Center. The after version describes one person at a kitchen table, holding a quote they don't trust.
HR and payroll: Courtney Fields
- Before: "Companies that need help with HR."
- After: "A company that just passed 25 employees and still handles HR out of the owner's inbox, especially one that just went through a messy firing."
- Say this: "Courtney ran HR for 400 people at a manufacturer. Talk to her before the next one."
"A messy firing" carries most of that line. Owners tell that story to anyone who will listen, sometimes for months.
The template
Fill in the brackets. If a bracket stays empty, that's the part you don't know yet, and it's a good question for your next one-to-one.
I'm looking for [one kind of person + one detail you could picture]
who just [what happened to them, past tense]
in [town, neighborhood, or where you'd run into them].
If you meet them, say: "[one sentence they'd want to hear]."
Then squeeze the first three lines into one sentence for your profile, and keep the fourth for when you're asking in person.
The test: can you name one person right now?
This is the only test I trust. Read your statement to someone and ask, "Can you name one person right now?" Then stop talking and count.
If they name someone within about ten seconds, you're done. If they say "let me think about it," the statement failed. Nobody thinks about it later.
With my old line, the answer was always some version of "I'll keep an eye out." With the new one, Greg Hollister named his tile setter and a countertop shop in Northland before I finished my coffee. Greg doesn't say much at breakfast, so I took that as a strong review.
Run your statement through this before you post it:
IDEAL-REFERRAL CHECKLIST
[ ] No "anyone," "everyone" or "any business"
[ ] One kind of person, described so you can picture them
[ ] A trigger in the past tense: something just happened
[ ] A place: a town, a district, or where the listener will meet them
[ ] At least one hard detail: a year, an age, a dollar amount
[ ] Words the prospect would actually say
[ ] One sentence the listener can repeat to them
[ ] Short enough to say in one breath
[ ] Someone named a real person in under ten seconds
Open your Surge profile tonight and rewrite the ideal-referral line with the template. At breakfast, read it to the person next to you and ask the question. If they can't name anyone, keep rewriting until they can.
