In a previous blog, I talked about how to help people understand what you do in order to help you more effectively; making it easy for them to do so rather than antagonising them.
Once your network understand what you want them to say about you, you then need to focus on who you want them to share your message with. If, for example, you are looking for contacts in the public sector, there is little advantage to be gained if your message is being shared with small start-up companies. [click to continue…]
Just as you need to be very clear on who your ideal referrals are when speaking to your Champions, so it is important for you to think about how you can best help the people you want to refer.
Whereas a referral to a prospective client may lead to just one transaction taking place, one to an introducer could lead to a number of transactions over a period of time, and to long-term partnerships. It may, therefore, be far more powerful for you to refer potential introducers to your network, rather than just clients. [click to continue…]
Over the years I have run many seminars and training sessions on referrals strategy. I have asked a lot of business audiences where their best and most effective new leads come from and the vast majority will always reply ‘word of mouth’, ‘recommendation’ or ‘referral’. Yet, when I ask specifically for them to describe what strategy people have in place, I am met with blank looks.
On the whole, companies believe that if they deliver good service, their customers will refer them naturally. This is a passive approach, and in reality quality referrals are unlikely to be forthcoming. [click to continue…]
So many people attend business networking events, participate in online business networks and have networking meetings. But what do they get back from all of that time and effort? The answer is usually very little. They struggle when it comes to turning networking into business. To explore this, I use the phrase ‘CTC’ in my many networking and referral seminars. It stands for any of the following:
- Card to Client
- Contact to Customer
- Card to Connection
- Connection to Client
You get the idea. It’s about turning a business card into a sale. It’s about converting your networking leads into paying customers and clients. It’s also the hardest thing for most networking business people to do. Here are five reasons why: [click to continue…]
In a previous blog, I talked about how to help people understand what you do in order to help you more effectively; making it easy for them to do so rather than antagonising them. 
