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Greetings!
Welcome to the premier email newsletter for referral-minded independent sales professionals who want the Big Picture.
*To guarantee that the most exceptional and motivated sales professionals and sales managers are not missing out on the excellent ideas from this ezine consistently, be a resource and please forward this on and recommend that they sign up on my website: www.thereferralauthority.com
Date: December 3, 2007
Word count: 1735
Reading time: 4-5 minutes
Benefits of Taking Action: Now you have no excuse for not getting the easiest referrals
In this issue:
1. 7 Steps to Getting Started With a Potential Referral Partner
2. What's your plan for getting more referrals in 2008?
3. Seminars for You and Your Company to Get More Referrals.
7 Steps to Getting Started With a Potential Referral Partner.
How many referrals do you get from other business professionals (for your business or recruits to your company)?
How many coffees/lunches/beers do you have each week with these potential centers of influence?
Most sales professionals have a tough time getting referrals from other centers of influence yet they are the easiest referrals to get and one of the best habits you can develop to succeed long term. (How can we keep forgetting? We're in the helping people business; it's all about relationships!)
So why do so few sales people have these relationships? I have identified four main reasons:
1. They don't know how
2. They don't get out enough (where a coffee becomes a logical extension of getting to know someone better)
3. It's clearly not a quick fix; it takes time, effort and there are no guarantees. This puts off a lot of people because it does not promise speedy results as they are always scrambling for new business.
4. As humans we are innately wired to focus on our own needs 95% of the time. I asked an insurance agent friend of mine recently why he was the only agent in his office to have referral partners. He explained; "My first question used to be 'what's in it for me?' 'How can he help me?' I wasn't thinking long term; I was only thinking about myself. I really needed a mindset shift. I had to trust you (as my referral coach) that it would be worth my while. And Tim (a former agent in his office) had had great success getting referrals from other professionals and he had worked with you so I knew it was possible and he spoke really highly of you. I had no idea back then how great it could be." You probably weren't counting but Adam gave me five reasons before he was ready to do something.
Focusing on our own needs first is our initial mistake and a serious problem because for success in this area you usually have to give first and keep giving. For most of us this DEMANDS a mindset shift!! And when you work on commission, that's damn hard! It takes serious self-discipline and a leap of faith.
So don't feel badly that you haven't mastered it YET. You can if you persist and follow these initial steps. Understand that these are the first steps to get the ball rolling. Full mastery means creating your own Referral Radar, an easy-to-follow system that I wrote about most recently in my July 27, 2007 e-zine (email me if you missed it). It's not a quick fix.
And by the way, many of these steps work great with business prospects too.
The 7 Steps to Getting Started With a Potential Referral Partner
1. Identify the people you think have the best potential to be referral partners.
Maybe these people already like you a lot, or have referred you business before or done business with you. Maybe you are not on their radar right now but they know a lot of people who you could help in your business. If you are looking for someone in a specific profession and do not know of anyone yourself, ask your current contact sphere (including your clients) for their suggestions. Or get out and network where you might find them! For financial and insurance professionals seeking a good CPA or attorney, your best bet is to ask trusted clients if they can recommend someone and get them to introduce you. Seeking a team approach to best help that client will send the right message to the CPA or attorney. For more info on the keys here, request my 7/27/07 ezine.
2. Call or email them requesting a coffee meeting.
Take your pick:
"We should have coffee some time." "Do you have anything open the week of the 10th or the 17th?"
"I'd like to get together for coffee (lunch) some time. Some of my clients have a need for your services so I'd like to learn more about your business and see if there might be a good fit."
"I think there are some ways we might be able to help each other out in our businesses. Would you be up for a coffee or a beer some time before the holidays?"
The keys here? Never sound needy. Know you're worth meeting. Give lots of breathing room for meeting options. Never use these lines as a technique. If you can't mean what you say, go back to the question: how can I most add value to this person?
AT THE MEETING:
3. Add Value right at the start.
Bring something along that adds value before you even get started talking business, such as an e-zine article you've printed off. The topic must be of value to them. Perhaps pick up the tab for their eggnog latte (do not tell them this ahead of time. Also avoid "let me buy you lunch". It sends the message you want to sell something, that they are doing YOU a favor and gets people asking themselves: "Okay, now I owe them something, what do they want from me?" Save that for a mentor meeting).
For many ideas on this, read my 10/22/07 e-zine (email me if you missed it).
4. Find some common ground to connect on.
There are two pivotal reasons for this:
a) We like to do business with people we know, like and trust. This could be a hobby, kids, a cause, or a favorite team - a favorite anything! It might also include discussing all the good qualities of the person who introduced the two of you.
b) Sometimes you need a non-business area of common ground to connect others. In fact, it's easier when you do. One of my clients invited two CPAs to a wine-tasting event because he knew other affluent business owners would be there for them to meet. I know in the past I have invited others to a political fundraiser that I also thought would be a good networking opportunity; I just made sure first that they truly supported the candidate. Yesterday I was having coffee with a manager and our mutual background of being from England gave me the idea of introducing him to another Englishman (who has a 40th birthday coming up) who works for a company this manager wants to make business connections with. So now I'm organizing a birthday bash! It's a tough life!
5. TAKE CHARGE! Ask them questions for the first half of the meeting. FOCUS ON THEIR NEEDS!
This is a strategy based on the principles from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. You need to show a sincere interest in others first before they are likely to care much about you. If you don't believe me, try it both ways a few times and find out for yourself! You will be surprised.
Most of this conversation should be a sincere interest in their business. Why? Because there is no shortage of nice people out there but no quality center of influence has the time to just chat during business hours. They won't meet you again no matter how much you may agree on why the Packers lost to the Cowboys or England to Croatia.
If it looks like they want to take charge and ask you a series of questions at the start, give a little bit of ground and then after something brief say; "I'd love to get to that, but I am really curious how you (and then ask them a question)?"
What should you ask them?
a) Sales expert Bob Burg has 10 great questions that he recommends for networking events that also work very well for first coffee meetings. See his book Endless Referrals or email me for a list of the questions. They are open-ended questions that get the other person talking about their favorite topic (themselves) such as: "How did you get started in your business?" and "What do you like best about what you do?"
b) The best question to ask is "What kind of business are you looking for?"
Your job is then to think hard about who you know and how you might be able to help this person.
Knowledge of events and business building ideas are helpful too.
c) Depending on the quality of the connection, most likely you are going to need to ask: "What exactly should I say to this person (that you want to meet) to see if s/he would be interested in meeting you?"
This is warming up the referral. This may not be a question you get to in a first meeting. It depends if the trust is there for you to put your integrity on the line that fast. You never want to make a bad referral.
But you must have this information sooner or later.
6. Be specific when it's your turn to answer their questions.
Most people are going to reciprocate your questions after you have modeled them effectively.
If they like you, this is going to be the most important part of the meeting. So, when you respond, make sure that the other person can immediately think of individuals as you describe your ideal client.
Otherwise you're being too vague. Re-read my 8/27/07 e-zine on getting specific or request it.
7. Follow up after the meeting by doing something that helps the other person.
This is so important because now you're walking your talk. Anyone can sound good during a coffee meeting and say the right things. The emails and calls you make on the other person's behalf afterwards or the information you send them that adds value to them - that is where your credibility develops. At a minimum a thank you email or card goes a long way.
To expect results after one meeting is unrealistic but the more you walk your talk, the sooner you will be quickly surprised by that other person wanting to help you. Beyond this, you need the Referral Radar system to determine better if this person will make a good fit as a referral partner and so you can build the relationship.
Action Plan
Call or email 2-3 potential referral partners and schedule that first coffee and follow the above steps to start getting the easiest referrals in 2008!
Be a resource. Who else do you think might get value from reading this? Please forward this on.
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