Networking, one of the most popular activities in the business world.  It is written about, talked about, videos are done, trainings are held, books are written, and blogs blogs blogs all about networking.  Most of them say the same things over and over, leaving you with “Tips” and “Sure Fire Way” to network better. If you are networking as a way to grow your business, then you really want to create a strategy for developing referrals and business from you networking activities.

There are steps to creating a referral strategy for your business, and it starts with creating the foundation. Understanding why you are in business and what drives you to do what you do is key to having a business you love. When there is passion in what you do it comes through and people are attracted to you, they want to be around you and they are happy to refer business to you.

The Second step of the referral process is the smallest of all the steps, because it is the easiest of the five steps and one that most people are comfortable doing. That step is Knowledge. If your referral partners or power team members are going to pass you referrals they need to have knowledge of you, your business and how you do business. Who are your ideal clients and how do you help them.

Passing on the knowledge of your business is a pretty common practice. Go to most any networking event and you will hear everyone talking about their business. How they do it, where they do it and who they do it for. If you are going to get good referrals you have to follow each step in order.

When you give a bunch of information to someone you have not taken the time to build trust or credibility with it becomes wasted effort. They have a lot of information but they are not likely to pass you referrals. They will give you leads and information but they are not going to pass you the quality referrals you are looking for.  Passing knowledge of your to others creates word of mouth and/or visibility in the market place but is not the sources of referrals.

Take time on step one, build trust. Once you have done that, it is time to teach your referral partners and power teams members about your business.

It’s almost that time of year again, the grass is greening, the temperature is climbing and my golf clubs are calling. I have cleaned up my clubs, got all the new balls I will need for the first game and bought my new shoes. I am ready to go.

Every year thousands of people hit the golf courses for fun and business. There more networking done on the golf course as there is during chamber meetings.. When done right it is a great place to build strong referral relationships with your networking friends. After all, you have an extended amount of time with one to four people.

There are a few rules that you might want to be aware of when you hit the course with your referral sources.

1. Leave your cell phone in the car.

2. Use your time building relationships; don’t try to strong arm a deal.

3. Know the rules and etiquette of the game.

4. Don’t over indulge in the booze, this will not build credibility with your referral sources.

5. Don’t lose your temper on the course.

6. No cheating on the scorecard, remember you are trying to build trust.

7. Off colored language, whining or making excuses on the course are not in your best interest.

8. Avoid religious or political conversations.

9. Arrive early to get organized and practice.

10. Dress appropriately in attire that will take you from the links to the clubhouse. Denims, sleeveless shirts and short shorts are not acceptable

Plan strategically who you are playing with; have your best referral source bring someone you really want to meet, and you bring that person your referral source really wants to build a strong relationship

Most of all, enjoy the day.

Networking is a person to person activity, we meet, we talk and we share pleasantries with one another. When we meet and start the process of building a business relationship we are looking for people who energize us, people we want to be around. Now and then we meet people we wish we did not have to spend time with. They have a negative attitude and readily spread it around.

Wally Amos, founder of Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company, wrote a book in 1996 called Watermelon Magic: Seeds of Wisdom, Slices of Life. He wrote the Watermelon Credo as I was reading it I realized more than ever how it applied to our lives and our networking activities.

W-Whatever you believe creates your reality. Believe that life is a positive experience and it will be.
As a business networker, you have to believe that others are willing to help you succeed.

A-Attitude is the magic word. Your greatest asset is your attitude. When you are networking, you will attract more people who want to be around your when you are positive and supportive.

T-Together everyone achieves more. There are no limits to what we can accomplish together. Networking only happens with more than one person. Each helping the other by building trust and making connections with one another.

E-Enthusiasm is the wellspring of life. Enthusiasm makes you fun to refer to, people want to be with you, to help you.

R-Respect yourself, as well as others. When you begin to respect yourself, your whole world changes. If you want others to make connections for you they must have respect for you. That will not happen if you do not respect yourself.

M-Make commitment, not excuses. You have to build credibility with people if you are going to build a strong network, unfortunately credibility is often destroyed because people make excuses for what they have not done or did not due. Live up to your commitments and build credibility.

E-Everyday can be a fun day. Make your networking activities fun, something you enjoy doing, not something you dread, make a game of it, smile and enjoy yourself.

L-Love is the answer. Whatever the question, love is the answer. When you love what you do, it comes through as passion. People will be drawn to you, they will want to know your secret, they will want to be part of your network.

O-One day at a time. All of life happens in increments of one. Building a strong network means adding one person at a time and building a relationship with them. Creating a win-win relationship for each of you.

N-Never give up or become a victim. Regardless of the economy you can create success as long as you understand that you are the victor and not the victim. No one cares to hang out with the victim.

We have the power to create great success when we help others do the same thing, when you remember the principals of watermelon you will attract people who want to be part of your network, who want to help you create the success you are looking for.

Have you taken a look at the goals you set for your business?  More precisely have you reviewed your referral goals?

Most people don’t set goals, at least not in writing. I would encourage you to take this time to write down what you expect to achieve for the second half of the year.

For those of you who did take the time to set your goals at the beginning of the year, now is a time to take a hard look at those goals and ask yourself, based on your current activities;

1.  Are you on track to achieve those goals?
2.  Were they realistic referral goals?
3.  Have you identified and developed your Referral Partners?
4.  Have you shared your goals with your Referral Partners?
5.  Do you need more help?
6.  Who can help you & when will you ask them?

For most of us, staying on task and focused on our goals requires a little extra help.  If you are behind ask for help, find an accountability partner, get a referral coach, and get your Referral Partners trained so you can help each other.

Have you ever asked a referral partner to introduce you to a contact they have only to be put off or not introduced at all? Did you wonder why? You might be surprised to know, that your referral partner did not have the same level credibility as the level referral you were asking for.

I once had a referral partner who boasted a very large database, we decided to sit down and do a little identifying out of each other’s databases. He had great contacts in his database but when I began to rate the level of referral I was looking for against the level of relationship he had with the contact, there was great disparity.

He quickly realized that his network was wide, but not very deep and he had some work to do to build higher levels of credibility with some of the people in his database. You see he spent most of his time networking, very little time working his network. Once, he had done some of that work, he became a much better referral partner.

Having a very wide network that is only an inch deep does not make you a solid referral partner. If you spend time, working your network instead of being out there networking you will create a much deeper network. One that will produce results for both you and your referral partners.

Annual Income $,___________x 10% = Investment in your self improvement

I personally have invested more than $100,000 in my expertise as a Referral Expert with the Referral Institute.  How much have you spent on your personal and professional improvement?  This is not the place to cut your budget!

If you are going to be the expert in your field, you must keep your saw sharp or someone else will clear cut your forest!

Referrals, leads, word of mouth, buzz marketing, viral marketing, networking, seven second introductions, elevator speeches, referral groups, business networking and social networking.  It all blends, causing confusion, misunderstanding and a muddied mess in the business world. 

You see it everyday, one networking event after another, business cards being passed, people shaking hands, and those ever so famous seven-second introductions being pitched.  It’s the same people at every event, giving out the same cards, same pitch hoping for a different outcome. 

We hear about networking as a way to grow our businesses, and everyone calls themselves networking experts. If you put the words “business networking” into Google, you will get 186,000,000 hits  So called experts teach classes and workshops on how to do better seven second pitches, how to hand out their cards, what to do after the event, how to give more, and do more. 

Recently I ask a young man how he got most of his business, “90% by Referral” he stated.  When I ask what kind of system he had to generate and track that level of referrals his answer was; “I have a great yellow page ad that generates a lot of referrals for us.”  While having a Yellow Page ad will create a lot of visibility for you it is not generating referrals.  

What’s missing here?  What is the plan?  Where is the system?  People who are networking have no idea where their business is coming from, who their referral sources are, what target market they are connecting with, or even if they are networking in the right place.  When asked what their ROI is on all of their networking activities they will say things like, “Great” or “I have made a lot of business contacts and friends while networking”.  Rarely if ever do they really know the ROI.   

If business professionals are going to build their business by referral, there has to be a plan that goes beyond, what most networking gurus are teaching. Word of mouth does not mean business by referral, and Networking does not mean you will get referrals. 

If you really want to build your business by referral, you have to develop a plan, a system.  Much the same way as you developed a Marketing Plan.   

Who are your customers, where do they live, what do they do, are they other businesses or are they consumers? Companies spend thousands of dollars every year identifying their target market, their customers.  How much time have you spent, is your customer anybody who needs or wants your product or services:?  What do you offer to your customers, and why do they come to you?  Have you asked them? Who are your Referral Sources and what system do you have for motivating and training them? 

Networking is very valuable, but learning how to develop a system is more important.  Once the system is in place, and you know whom you want to connect with and whom your referral sources are you will then be able to choose the right places to network.   

If you’re going to build a house you need to take some time and do your preparation, lay out the design, build the foundation, then build the building.  Every step must be followed in the proper order.  The same holds true when you are building your business by referral.  Where is your plan, how is the foundation, or did you forget all of that and just start networking, hoping for best.  

Here are 5 Tips for building a foundation before you start networking. 

1.  Narrow your focus, having a clear Target Market is one of the most important aspects to building a business by referral.  Anybody, everybody, and small business does not constitute a target market.  

2.  Who are your potential referral sources?    If your target market is “Any small business that needs health insurance”, you will find that all you are able to generate will be random unpredictable leads from the people that you network with. 

On the other hand, if your target market is; “Family owned businesses, with 3-50 employees, in the manufacturing industry.” You will have a better chance of building strategic referral partnerships with others working in the same target market.  

3.  Know where you want to spend your time and efforts.  Building a business by referral takes time.  You only have time and money to spend, you can make more money but you cannot make more time, spend it wisely.  When you are networking look for those people who would make great referral partners and begin the relationship process with them.  You do not need 2500 people in your database if you have 10-trained referral partners helping you connect with their clients and contacts. 

4.  Clean up your database.  Are there people in there you don’t even know?  When was the last time you contacted them?  Are clients, contacts, prospects, clearly identified?  Do you have other ways of sorting, like support, information, and referrals?   

5. Create a system for tracking your networking activities.  How many calls did you make? How many notes did you send?  How many hours did you spend out networking?  What events did you participate in?  Who did you give referrals or leads to?  What gets measured gets done, tracking is one of the most important things you can do, but often the most neglected. 

Don’t get caught up in the Networking madness until you have a plan.  Do some work first, build your foundation, identify who you want to network with and where you want to network, then get started. 

Hazel M Walker

Referral Strategist