If you're in the professional services industry, you know that your ability to generate referrals can make or break your business. Now, your intuition might tell you that most referrals come from past and current clients-but is that the whole story? My colleagues and I weren't quite so sure, so we set out to uncover what really generates referrals.

The Hinge Research Institute partnered with the National Association of Certified Valuators (NACVA) and the Exit Planning Exchange (XPX) to conduct an exhaustive online survey of almost 1,200 professional services referral makers.