Types of Referrals
by Dominick Giambona
7/2/13
There are many different kinds of referrals. They vary in quality according to how much of a rapport or relationship a person (that wants to refer you) has cultivated with your new prospect. Here are a few good examples.
A) The simplest referral: “I Know _______. They do great work. I know you will like them”. This is the most common type of referral. You know someone and you leave a name and number, and you are on your way. You can feel fairly certain that they have established a good level of credibility with the prospective client. You can leverage your credibility depending on the rapport between the new client and the party that referred you.
B) A stronger referral: A meeting is arranged. They have taken it one step further, taking the responsibility of working out the details of getting you and the prospective client together to discuss business. This is a strong referral. For example, they picked up the cell phone and called you directly and may have even handed the phone over to your new prospect.
C) “Slam Dunk”: The sale is closed before you even contact the prospective client. This is networking at its best. This is indicative of a strong relationship between not only the person referring you to your future prospect, but also a strong relationship between you and the person referring you. They have expressed confidence in your abilities and trust you with their own customer. The customer will pick-up on this. They feel secure. From the customer’s point of view, that means a lot.
Every week, like a broken record, I say “Networking is about building relationships”. This is another example of how those relationships can impact your business. The weekly meeting is just the tip of the iceberg. It is critical, and necessary that you attend. But we only have a 30 or 40 seconds for each of us to talk of our businesses.
Being a Guest Speaker now and then, the ‘Coffee Breaks” or luncheon meeting or scheduling a “Face to Face” or “One on One” gives you time to explain you and your business at length.
That is why BTN offers each and every one a chance to be a guest speaker. I implore you, grab your 10 minutes of fame and start building your sales force, pick a spot on the schedule to be a Guest speaker. Believe me when I say, “Each of us want to hear about more about you and your business.”
That is a great start; to really get rolling you can start scheduling “coffee’s” to really get your message across.
BTN is the enabler. Its goal is to lift your business, to show you a better way to network, a proper way to network. Your business deserves that. All of our businesses do
The best nurturers make the best networkers, who incidentally, make the most slam dunks. Who wouldn’t like to see more “slam dunks?”
continue reading
