Networking - The Secret To Getting Referrals
I went to a breakfast meeting when I first started my business, and met a photographer who recommended me to an accountant who needed help with his newsletter. I wrote and designed newsletters for the accountant for a couple of years until the partnership broke up. He then recommended me to a telecoms company. I produced newsletters for them for nearly five years, until they downsized. Six months later, they recommended me to another telecoms company. A year later, the new owners of the business ordered a newsletter. The original accountant has also come back for more work. All because I went to one breakfast meeting, on one occasion!
That was lucky - you don't often get a referral the first time you meet someone. It's unlikely that someone who's just met you would say: "Ooh, good, you're just what I'm looking for, let me give you the money in my pocket or pass your details to my valued contacts".
More often, it takes time to build up the relationship, to generate the understanding in what you offer and what you're looking for, to develop the trust that you deliver what you promise, and to grow the goodwill that makes people like you and want to help you. Not everyone is ever understood, trusted AND liked to the same level.
The secret of getting referrals is to:
- Be friendly and nice so people like you
- Do a good job so clients recommend you
- Always turn up when you say you will so people trust that you won't let them (or their contacts) down
- Present yourself professionally so your confidence in yourself increases other people's confidence in you
- Make a contribution to the group (whether it's by giving referrals, or joining the committee, or being the life-and-soul of every party) - as with anything, the more you put in, the more you get out
- Be memorable to impress people you meet, especially any influencers who are extremely well connected
- Communicate clearly so people know the kind of referrals you're looking for and how you can help
- Have a unique marketing message to stand out from your competitors (such as a catchy slogan summarising your USP)
To give referrals, you have to learn the trick of keeping your contacts in the front of your mind all the time, so that whenever a conversation arises where it's appropriate to recommend them, you can make the introduction on their behalf. You need to change your mindset from 'me, me, me' and recognise that you are part of a team, a group, a network. Eventually, your networking colleagues become friends, and of course we all refer our friends as easily as our friends would refer us.
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