Let’s say the business is doing well. Revenue is solid, but when you look at where every deal came from, it’s the same story. Someone knew someone. A partner made an introduction. A former colleague recommended you.
Referrals are a great channel. The close rate is high, the trust is built in, and the cost of acquisition is basically zero. The tricky thing is that referrals don’t scale predictably, and they stop when the people referring you get busy with other things.
If you want to build an inbound channel alongside referrals, here’s how I’d approach it.
Start by writing down what you already know
You’ve been having sales conversations for a while. You know what questions prospects ask. You know what problems they describe. You know what makes someone a good fit and what makes someone a bad fit.
Write all of that down. Skip the polish. Just brain dump it. Every question you’ve answered on a call, every objection you’ve handled, every “here’s what I wish someone had told me” moment. That list is the start of a content library.
Pick the format that matches your strengths
Not everyone should write blog posts. If you’re a strong writer, a blog works. If you’re better on camera, do short videos. If you’re a good conversationalist, start a podcast or do interview-style content with your clients or peers.
The format matters less than the consistency. Pick something you can actually sustain every week or two without it feeling like a second job.
Your referral partners are content gold
The people already sending you business are some of your best content sources. Each referral partner is a potential testimonial, interview, case study, or proof point. Ask them to do a short Q&A about the problem they referred you for. Feature them on your blog. Record a 15-minute conversation about how you worked together.
This does two things at once: it strengthens the relationship with the partner (everyone likes being featured), and it creates credible, specific content that resonates with the exact audience they’d refer to you. Your referral network and your inbound engine feed each other.
Focus on the questions, not the keywords (at first)
SEO matters and you should learn the basics. But when you’re starting from zero inbound presence, the most important thing is to create genuinely useful content that answers real questions your buyers have.
If you write a thorough, honest answer to “how do I know if my CRM is set up correctly,” and that’s a question your buyers actually have, the search traffic will come. Maybe not immediately, but the content compounds over time.
Make your website do some work
Most B2B companies that rely on referrals have a website that’s basically a brochure. It says who you are and what you do, but it doesn’t give anyone a reason to come back.
Add a resources section. Put your content there. Make it easy to find and easy to browse by topic. If someone lands on your site from a Google search and reads something useful, they should be able to immediately understand what you do and how to reach you.
Build an email list from day one
When someone reads your content and finds it useful, give them a way to hear from you again. A simple email signup with a clear promise (“useful stuff about B2B marketing and revenue ops, every few weeks, no spam”) is enough.
Your email list is the one channel you fully control. Social platforms change their algorithms. Google changes its rankings. But your email list is yours.
Set expectations with yourself
Inbound takes time. If you start publishing today, you probably won’t see meaningful traffic for 3 to 6 months. That’s normal. The companies that succeed at inbound are the ones that publish consistently for a year before they start evaluating whether it’s “working.”
In the meantime, your referral channel keeps running. You’re not replacing it. You’re building a second engine alongside it.
The goal is not to go viral
The goal is to be findable and credible. When a potential buyer hears about you from a referral and then googles your name, they should find a website with real, useful content that makes them think “this person knows what they’re talking about.” That’s inbound working for you even before it generates its own leads.
If this is the kind of problem you're working through, I'm happy to talk it over. No pitch, no pressure.
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