Business Networking ? Referral Roulette | Hassel Daniel

Are you playing Referral Roulette? Are you tired of trying to hit your referral target when most of the chambers in your marketing gun are empty, or might as well be?

The most important skill in seeking referrals is to be specific. If a marketing company says, ?I?m looking for any business that wants more referrals,? the target is huge! It overwhelms them because they can?t possible contact every business in town. Others fail to refer business to them because they offered nothing specific to focus on,. Basically, they are ignored.

Remember those pictures that you could stand and look at for hours and never make out any discernable shapes? As soon as someone told you ?look for the white house with the red roof in the bottom right corner of the picture,? you could then see it almost immediately. It?s the same with requests for referrals.

So let?s see how you can be more specific in identifying exactly who you would like an introduction to within your target market. Continuing with the marketing company example, let?s say your primary target market is Realtors in Houston. Well, that still doesn?t help very much because there are over 25,000 of them. You must narrow your list of possible contacts in some way-geographical location, number of years in business, etc. Narrow it down enough that you can make a list of the real estate agents that fit these more precise criteria. in the area and find out who the owner/broker is, by name. Now you are targeting specific people. You can say to someone, ?Do you know Mary Smith, the owner of XYZ Real Estate over on Main Street?? The chance that they will know Mary Smith, or know someone who knows her, or even will now be aware that you are looking for an introduction in case they happen to meet her, makes it more likely that you will be able to get that introduction.

Here are 3 exercises to help you be more specific in your referral requests:

1. Make a list of your top 10 clients and notice what they have in common. If 6 of your 10 clients are in the property and casualty insurance business, then go through the phone book and chamber directories and write down the name and contact information for every insurance agency in the geographic area you are targeting.
2. Make a list of other professions who also interact with your ideal client (if you are a chiropractor then your clients may also see a physical therapist, a massage therapist, a personal trainer, etc). You and the other professional could both benefit by creating a referral alliance.
3. Make a list of things others can look for or listen for to recognize that they should mention your product or service (example: when your running buddy tells you his hamstring is aching, make a referral to the sports massage therapist you know).

With these lists you can then ask for an introduction by the name of a person or at least by name of a company. Many people avoid doing this because it seems like too much work to create the list in the first place, and because they fear that if they are too specific they will leave out possibilities. What happens, though, is the existence of the list makes you more aware of who you are seeking. Making a specific request for introduction allows the other person to focus on one name or company, and then expand to a similar person or company they know.

Do the legwork and you will find your referral requests actually generating business. When is comes to referrals, to be terrific you must be specific.

Source: http://www.hasseldaniel.com/business-networking-referral-roulette/

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