How much time and budget are you focusing at the moment on where new business comes from? And what percentage of that effort is devoted to encouraging more opportunities through word of mouth?
A referrals strategy is essential for many businesses yet so few devote serious time to generating recommendations and referrals. Most of us prefer to sit and wait, hoping that doing a good job is enough.
I was recently interviewed for the NatWest and RBS Business Sense websites on referral strategies. The resulting videos can give you a good chance to review your approach to generating referrals.
Part one of the interview can be viewed here
Part two can be viewed here
I hope you find them useful. And please share what you’ve taken from them…and what you’re going to do as a result.
Andy Lopata
Labelled ‘Mr Network’ by The Sun, Andy Lopata was called ‘one of Europe’s leading business networking strategists’ by the Financial Times. The co-author of two books on networking, Andy‘s third book, ‘Recommended: How to Sell Through Networking and Referrals’ was published by Financial Times Prentice Hall in July 2011.
“The worst time to think of the best thing to say is when you’re saying it!”
Rob Brown
When you introduce yourself to strangers (and friends) at networking events, can you tell someone everything they need to know to refer you, in just 60 seconds? This is your elevator pitch – your compelling answer to the question ’What do you do?’ [click to continue…]
by Linda Parkinson-Hardman on May 2, 2012 · 0 comments
How many people have you ever seen at a networking event with a paper bag on their head? It’s not many I’ll bet. After all, the purpose of networking is to meet people and no-one feels comfortable if they can’t see your eyes and face, hear your voice or shake your hand. We learn a lot through all of our senses often without realising it. The way someone speaks or looks may be important to us and a simple handshake can give us a good idea about whether we want to get to know them better. Once we have this simple sensory feedback in place we then gain an innate ability to seek out the people with whom we feel most at ease. [click to continue…]
Business networking, when done correctly, can lead to some amazing referrals . However, just because you come highly recommended does not mean the sale is in the bag. You still have to close the sale.
Here are the 5 steps you need to take to turn an opportunity into cash in the bank.
Step 1 – Qualify interest
At this stage you need to check there is a real opportunity and you will not be wasting your time (and your prospect’s time) in pursuing the sale. You want to ensure that there is genuine interest, the authority to buy and the money to pay for it. If the opportunity is real then your job is to fan the flames a little so they are motivated to go to the next stage which is to put time aside to discuss their wants and needs with you. [click to continue…]
