Archive for Referral Week
REFERRAL PROCESS – STEP 4 – Education
Posted by: | CommentsStep 4 – Referral Education System
Service, Product, Retail, Construction, Professional services, Employee, and Volunteer … it doesn’t matter. A referral system should include 7 basic steps that helps you identify and succeed in ways you never imagined. It is the basic understanding on how to apply the Referral Flood program to Your Business or Organization .
Step #4 – Most people when meeting with a potential referral source will not only increase the number but the quality of referrals if you educate them on:
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Who makes a great referral.
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What’s in it for them to provide a referral.
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How to refer you.
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The exact steps you plan to take with that referral.
If people don’t know who makes a great referral they will either never refer or pass you leads that are not qualified at all. I always likened it to buying a new car. You very seldom see one till after you buy it. Afterward, you see the car at every corner. If you tell people what opportunity it is, it may come knocking.
You need to provide an incentive to refer someone to you. Don’t just assume they are going to do it. But before you can construct an incentive, be sure to understand what may motivate them. Some people will be satisfied with recognition, others discounts on future purchase and others may want referrals from you.
Many times people will misunderstand not only who to refer but what to say when referring you. Defining who you are to your referral partner is extremely important. Not being a client they may not understand exactly what you do. So to communicate that, the description must be short and to the point.
It is also imperative that you tell people what you are going to do with the referral. They are not going to send their friends and family to someone that is going to relentlessly pursue them. Tell your partners the exact steps you will take and do them. It will go a long way in developing the trust you need.
Referral Process Explained – Step 3
Posted by: | CommentsStep 3 = Your Core Referral Message
Service, Product, Retail, Construction, Professional services, Employee, and Volunteer … it doesn’t matter. A referral system should include 7 basic steps that helps you identify and succeed in ways you never imagined. The principles are outlined in a 7-step process that we will communicate this week in leading up to Referral Week. It is the basic understanding on how to apply the Referral Flood program to Your Business or Organization.
Step #3 – Create and communicate your core referral message – your referrer must be able to easily explain the value you bring to anyone who they refer. “Business901 implements marketing systems.” Now, how do you go about defining your core referral message. Is it different than your typical core message?
Your Referral Message must be very concise to your Target Referral Market. If not the effectiveness of your message will be greatly reduced and may even be non-existent. You must develop a message that has the ability to be transferred effectively and rapidly cross the network, much like the game of telephone that played as a child. If your message has to repeated: Short, concise and to the point is important. Where a core marketing message may solicit a "How do you do that?" A core referral message should solicit: Can they do this or a What do they do? More about the answers later.
Looking at my Referral Venn diagram, look at the overlapping of circles. You must envision what core message you want to express to each particular group. The trade organizations you belong to may not have any interest or similarities to the message that you are sending to you vendors. Or it may be the exact message same message you send to each. Why would this matter? By organizing your referral clients according to core message you can start build a referral funnel for each perspective group and see what message and material will be similar to each one. Many companies will develop a referral program without integration and/or try sending the same message out to all. Customizing the program to each sector will make it work but by integrating the process, you will be able to manage it and develop it to its fullest extent.
Referral Process Explained – Step 2 of 7
Posted by: | CommentsStep 2 = Your Ideal Referral Client
Service, Product, Retail, Construction, Professional services, Employee, and Volunteer … it doesn’t matter. A referral system should include 7 basic steps that helps you identify and succeed in ways you never imagined. The principles are outlined in a 7-step process that we will communicate this week in leading up to Referral Week. It is the basic understanding on how to apply the Referral Flood program to Your Business or Organization .
Step #2 – Identify your ideal referral client – In order to receive high quality referrals you must be able to quickly communicate the exact type of person or business that has the ability to make great referrals. That is not hard, is it. Anyone that breathes and you have met. If you convey that message I can assure you will get exactly what you ask for, and you better be careful. But if you can identify exactly what makes an ideal referral client there will be the synergy needed to make a referral.
What is different about a Referral Client:
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It may not be your best customer or your best vendor. It is the person that knows "your ideal client" best.
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It always helps if the company or person that refers you is famous. I am not talking sports hero or anything but the better known may establish great credibility for yourself.
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They need to have a built in reason to motivate you. It is still about what’s in it for me.
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Is there a way that you can motivate them that requires little effort on your part to fulfill.
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They need to have the ability to repeat the process. Just because they know 1 person that might buy is not reason enough to build a system around.
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A natural connection point to your organization. If you have to work to have a dialog, both of you will not be active enough to make it work.
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You need to be important to them. There has to be a reason that they have your best interest at heart.
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Use social media to make contacts and follow-ups. It is a different animal, but it is an important to distinguish.
Ok, simply stated Ideal would mean: A Star with a wealth of contacts that would be willing to give them to you freely. That is ideal.
Referral Process Explained – Step 1
Posted by: | CommentsStep 1 = Target Referral Market
Service, Product, Retail, Construction, Professional services, Employees, and Volunteers … it doesn’t matter. A referral system should include 7 basic steps that will help you identify and succeed in ways you never imagined. The principles are outlined in a 7-step process that we will communicate this week in leading up to Referral Week. It is the basic understanding on how to apply the Referral Flood program to Your Business or Organization.
Step 1 = Create a referral target market(s) – you must first create a target list of companies and individuals who can be motivated to refer. This can be clients, volunteers or a network of related businesses. Most people think that everyone is already doing it or would be unwilling to do it. They just look at it as a black and white issue. But I will tell you one thing; very few things are black and white. Ask yourself, who would be willing to refer my company and why? Who is going to benefit? Example: Does a Home Stager make a Real Estate agents job easier? If you want to build a strong referral network and program, sit back and think about what is the motivation for this person or organization to refer us? What is in it for them? Don’t think about yourself.
But as you go through this list, don’t start with strangers. Strangers are not going to refer you unless there is a real incentive package included. The less you know the person, the greater the incentive you must make. The more the people know, like and trust you the easier it is to refer.
This is not rocket scientist type information but it is amazing how most of us forget about it and jump into a network group thinking that someone is going to refer you. They seldom do but remember the old adage to give before you get. So think about a few of these Target Markets and how they would benefit from referring you.
The reason I made a Venn diagram is to demonstrate your Core Referral Message that will be discussed in the next post and how to hit a home run with it.
