Step 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.