Every year for the last 5 years I have set a goal to walk the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. Every year that goal went unmet. This year, it is no longer an unaccomplished goal. Saturday May 8th I walked the 13.1 miles in the largest mini marathon, with 37,000 other people.

What made this year different than the other 4 years. Simple really, I implemented the same 5 strategies that I tell my Referrals for Life students to implement when building their referral system.

1. Support - I found a group of other people who wanted to achieve the same goal that I did. Having a team of people to support you and cheer you on makes a big difference in your energy, you motivation and your desire to achieve. When you are building your business by referral, you need a strong network that will support you in your endeavors. You cannot build a network of people who will refer you all alone, it is a person to person activity.

2. Education – I learned more about participating in a marathon. I learned about shoes and why they are important, how to eat right, what kind of clothing to wear in the different kinds of weather. As business owners it is important that we always seek out more education, allowing us to stay sharp and be able to grow our businesses and ourselves. No one is born knowing how to network or how to build a strong network. Get educated, learn the art of networking and the science of referrals. The more education you get the more successful you are. Learn more to earn more.

3. Accountability – Having a system of accountability was key to my training. When you add accountability to your learning you accomplish so much more. Accountability breeds success. If you and your network are not accountable to each other you will soon lose momentum. Hold each other accountable for greater results.

4. Training – Consistent use of the educational material breeds huge amounts of success. The training allows you to practice what you have learned until you are good at it. Having the ability to practice over and over again allows you to develop the networking and referral muscles. You do not want to practice on your referral or prospects.

5. Coaching - Above all else this is the one thing that set this year apart from all other years. Having a coach to guide, educate, support, and implement accountability made the biggest difference in may ability to complete the Mini Marathon. Having him tell me when my gait was wrong or if my tempo was off was invaluable and made the difference in my wanting to do the marathon and completing the marathon. Education without coaching is entertainment. Your Coach can tell you what you are doing wrong, how to do something differently or more effectively. If you are trying to build a business by referral you need to find yourself a qualified referral trainer – coach. You will be surprised by your results.

Creating a system that generates referrals for your business is like training for a marathon, it is simple, but it is not easy!

I regularly meet with prospects and help them understand how much business they are getting from their network and what is being left behind. It is very enlightening and they are always surprised by their results. Do you know your referral percentage? No? Don’t worry, most people don’t know. So, grab a pencil and a calculator and I will help you find your “Referral Percentage” here we go,

1. List 4 people in your network who have passed you the most business by referral this year. For instance Tom, Sue, Bill, Kim.

2. Now, for each person write the number of referrals they have passed you in the last 12 months. Tom=4, Sue=12, Bill=5 and Kim=8

3. Think about each of those people, how many people do you believe each of them know? On average, we each know about 250 people. So, Tom=300, Sue=500, Bill=800 and Kim=200

4. Next step, add all of the referrals you have received together, in our example it would be 29, and then add all of the network members together. In our example, it would be 1800.

5.Last step, you will need your calculator to complete the process, 29 divided by 1800 equals .016%

What is your percentage? Are you surprised? Did you have 4 referral sources? Many of my clients are shocked and frustrated when they do this exercise. It is possible to increase this number. The very first time I did this it was .010 and I was shocked.

Here is the real question, what are you going to do to change this percentage? What steps can you take to develop a higher referral percentage? Hint: Stop adding people to your network, instead start digging deeper into your network and develop stronger strategic relationship! Start with the 4 people you listed here and if you did not have four then work on the ones you have. When you are sure that you have increased that relationship, then move on to create a new one, until your have your “Four”.

If you would like a system for generating a consistently higher percentage take a look at The Referral Institute for help.

If you are not growing you are dying! Part of growing is the act of learning something new, consistently.   So, let me ask you, what are you learning that is new right now?

I am an avid seeker of knowledge, I hated school and wasted a scholarship, but I love to learn.  It is my goal to learn something new all the time, this year it is Spanish.

I have decided to learn Spanish,  so I am hosting Spanish Classes in my Referral Institute training center.   I invited several hundred people to join me in learning Spanish.  I figure there is this whole population of people whom I cannot network with effectively and that means I am losing business to people who can connect with them.  I thought other business people would feel the same way, but that has not been the case.  Of the 600 people I invited to participate, only 10 showed up to learn.

What a pity, what an opportunity loss.  It is so vital that we find new markets, new networks, new connectors and influencers and new ways of doing business.  Still no one was interested in this opportunity to expand their knowledge and their businesses.

Those same people who spent so much time telling me they could not afford the time, or the money are the very same people who will tell me six months from now, that they don’t have any business, or business is slow.

If you are going to stay in business, you need to learn something new, like Social Networking, Web 2.0, Spanish, how to get in front of more prospects or how to close more deals.  Because those who are learning will out perform you and your customers might become theirs.

Unfortunately,  many business people spend more time telling me what they can’t do instead of finding ways to figure out what they can do.

Now is not the time to pull back on investing in yourself, your company and your staff.  Now more than ever it is important to learn something new!  Money and time invested in yourself and your team is always money well spent.

For years many of the Chambers of Commerce have considered BNI their competitor and in Indiana many people believed that Rainmakers and BNI were competitors, yesterday with Rave reviews from vendors, attendees, and speakers alike that myth has been busted.

Yesterday, Feb 5th, 2009 was the very First Int’l Networking Week Event in Indianapolis.  BNI, Rainmakers, Rainmaker University and Referral Institute went together to plan this event and attract other networking organizations to Collaborate with us.

The team of Lorraine Ball, Tony Sandlin, Hazel Walker and Nikki Lewallen whipped this event together like pros recruiting other organizations and getting people in the door. This team put the event together in less than six weeks bring groups together from all over the state.

International Networking Week proves that GIVERS GAIN works not only  individually but with organizations as well.  We had representatives from Confluence, Rainmakers, The Lawrence Chamber, The Bloomington Chamber, Toastmaster, Business Ownership Initiative, BPE and many more.  When organizations compete less and collaborate more the MEMBERS WIN!!!!

Next year the  event will double in size and in the years to come it will continue to grow and collaborate with even more organizations until it becomes the best Networking Event in the State of Indiana.

So I am at a Referral Institute/BNI Conference here in Wisconsin,  listening to Coach G’s Program.  He said something that really struck me and caused me to take a look at my activities in the last few months.  He talked about getting out of our comfort zone.  And I thought wow, I have really been in my comfort zone lately. 

How many of you are Networking in your Comfort Zone?  You go to the same meetings, you meet the same people, you collect the same cards, use the same elevator speech, and ask for the same business in the same way.  You are in your comfort zone, not stretching, not growing.

To grow professionally and  to grow your network more effectively you must get uncomfortable. Do those things that make you stretch.

Go to an associations meeting, a training or a networking event that you have never attended before. Learn something new.  Meet new people, meet people who might know something that you do not know, spend money on a training program and meet others who are learning the same thing as you are.  I am amazed how often our students in Referral Institute strike up relationships that turn to great business relationship because they are in the 12 week program and learn together.

Get uncomfortable!  If you are not uncomfortable you are not growing, if you are not growing your are dying.

By “professional reputation”, I mean how people view you as a professional both in the meeting room and outside the office. Your integrity, respect, intelligence, and impact on those around you. When you network through LinkedIn, how can professional networking relate to all these areas?

Networking creates visibility for you, people know who you are and have a face to put with a name.  Quality networking can indeed enhance your reputation and create credibility for you.  Poor networking can create a different reputation.  People who drink to much, people who pitch and pressure others about their product or service and people who show up in person with a very poor professional image, create a whole different reputation, not the one they may have wanted. 

There is a person on Linkedin who consistently puts stupid, trying to be funny,  answers to peoples questions, he thinks he is cute, many others think very differently, so he has a reputation, it just may not be the one he wants. 

Online or in person, it is very important to mind your manners, behave professionally, don’t be a know it all, participate, answer questions intelligently, follow up with people, become known as someone who does what they say and always Give before asking to Get.  You will be well respected, thought of as someone who is intelligent and connected.  You will be someone that others want to be linked to. 

My friend Scott Allen wrote a book called “The Virtual Handshake“  it is a great resource for people who want to network online.  Dr Ivan Misner founder of BNI and the Referral Institue has written many great books on Networking and how to build credibility with your network. 

What is the difference between a contact, a referral source, and a referral partner?  Do you know?  What is not knowing costing you?

There is a clear distinction between the three and most of the people out there networking today are working with contacts and referral sources, few have referral partners.  What would you business look like today if you had 5 people completely trained to send you level 14 referrals and up? It is possible.

Dan, Craig, Lloyd, and Aaron started out as contacts in each others database, then they became referral sources and happily began working with one each other.  Craig decided to take it up a notch, he convinced each of the others to attended a Referral Institute Program where they were trained to be referral partners for each other.  What is the big difference, referral partners are trained to generate pro-active referrals for their partners.  The Referral Institute, taught them to be partners and took them up a level.  Today, they work for each other in a pro-active manner!

There is a great deal of pride in the size of a man’s, er, uhm well, you know, their network or at least the number of people in their database.  But, isn’t there an old saying about it’s not about how big it is but more about how…….um, well how well you know the people in your network?

Quality not quantity, visibility networking over credibility networking.  When you work in your network, building relationships, following up with people finding ways that you can help them and connect them you are building a stronger, more credible network.

Recently, I wanted to meet a certain person who’s name will not be mentioned.  I began to ask my network, who had this person in their network and could they connect me.  Keep in mind, for me a connection is either a face to face introduction or a conference phone call where all three parties are on the call.  More than half my network had his name and number in their network, but only 2 people were able to pick up the phone and arrange a meeting and introduction and both of those people were willing to make that happen for me.    Only 2 people really knew the person I was looking for………so what good were the others?  What value is there in having a name and phone number in your network if you have not done anything to turn it into a relationship.

Take time to develop your network, not just grow your network.  Take the time to build Credibility, in so doing, it will lead to Profitability!

I had taken the time to build strong relationships with the 2 people who were willing to connect me, they were in my highly credible network and I was in theirs, so they did not hesitate to make the connection for me.   By the way, the 2 people who were able to connect me, theirs were not the biggest.

 Do you remember the old country western song about the guy going from place to place lookin for love? “I was lookin’ for love in all the wrong places, lookin’ for love in too many places.”

Frankly, this should be the theme song for many of the business professionals running from networking event to networking event. Unfortunately, it is a poor way to find love and an even worse way to find good referral partners.

 Many business people spend their time attending one networking event after another, looking for leads, prospects and connections. Collecting cards, adding names to their Rolodex, their mailing list and their email list. They repeat this activity over and over again because it’s the best plan they have.

 Before you go to your next networking event, make a plan. Here are a few things you may want to think about before you head out the door:

• Set 3 Goals you want to achieve at this networking event?

• Who is your target market and will they be at this event?

• Who are your best referral sources and how will attending this event help them?

• What is your follow up system after the event?

• What activities will you use to build trust with your network?

• What activities will you use to give to your network?

Instead of looking for new people to build referral relationships with, take a look at who you already network with. Maybe your time would be better spent digging deeper into your existing network and building stronger relationships instead of adding additional people to your network.

Love takes time, so does building a strong network of people who will refer business to you regularly. Before you walk out the door to do more networking make a plan, you may find that the love your lookin for is already in your network.