Follow Up Success » Business Resources

Using SendOutCards to Generate More Referrals

Alan Underkofler — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:40:18 +0000

Can SendOutCards really help you and your business generate more referrals? The answer is yes! The act of sending out thank you cards, birthday cards, follow up cards, and general thinking of you cards to your network on a consistent daily basis is guaranteed to generate you more referrals, customers, and business.

As you can see from the video it’s all about creating stronger relationships with the people in your network. Sending out greeting cards is a bit old fashioned but very effective. In fact in today’s world of email, texting, and social media saying thank you or happy birthday with an actual card allows you or your business to stand out among the crowd. The more you stand you the more business you receive!

If you truly want more business and referrals you need to consider implementing this relationship marketing tool. Visit our follow up tools section to learn more about SendOutCards for your business.

A Simple Step to Start Receiving Business from LinkedIn!

Alan Underkofler — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:09:10 +0000

When I ask a new contact if they are on LinkedIn the common response I hear is yes I am but I have no idea how to use it! LinkedIn is a great Social Network for business but for many people they just don’t understand what it can do for them or have any plan in place to really engage the people they are connected to. So today I decided to talk about how I handle new contacts on LinkedIn.

For me of course it all comes down to follow up! Follow up is the key to really get things moving on LinkedIn! So what do I mean my follow up?

This week I set aside some time to go through my LinkedIn invites. In the end I accepted invitations from about 100 pending connections. After viewing each connection request I sent a simple email to each new LinkedIn connection asking them for a 20 minute meeting with the goal of learning more about them and to explore how we might be able to help each other.

Here is the email I send out:
Hi Shane!
Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn! Let’s set up a 20 minute meeting to learn more about each other and our businesses. The goal would be to explore how we might help each other.
How does your schedule look for next week?
Alan Underkofler

My expectation is to have about 20 people accept my offer to talk on the phone and explore how we might help each other. Taking this one follow up step with each new LinkedIn connection allows you to start a relationship which leads to new business and referrals.

So there you have it, a very simple step to start the conversation with your LinkedIn connections. So tell me… What do you do to maximize your connections on LinkedIn?

Can I Give You A Referral?

Alan Underkofler — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:19:34 +0000

On my last post I highlighted Make A Referral Week 2009. The goal was to generate 1,000 referrals to 1,000 deserving small businesses in one week. I am happy to report the goal was met and I am excited to see Referral Week happen again with a much larger goal!

This week I had the pleasure of talking to one of my favorite people Stuart Manley from ChannelPoint, Inc., a Toronto, ON human resource company specializing in cross border HR. After talking to Stuart I thought of another friend Art Kriegsmann. Art is the CEO of H.R. SERV., Inc. based in San Diego, CA. The conversation with Stuart prompted me to refer both Stuart and Art to each other. I referred them because they both specialize in different areas and could possibly be a great referral source for one another.

The example points out one of the most overlooked referrals we can make. We all love to receive direct referrals which will lead to a new client. Sometimes our best referrals are not a direct referral but someone who can continually give us referrals over time. Creating referral partners, power partners, or fantastic referral sources should be a major part of your referral strategy.

To create a referral source think about the businesses in your network who may serve your ideal client. Possibly a company you notice working with the same clients you have. Once you identify such a company or industry reach out to them and talk about the possibility of sending referrals to one another. This strategy could make the difference of your business maintaining sales this year or possibly growing another 10, 20, or 50 percent! And for those of you who may watch the news or if you happen to still read the paper… Yes I did say you can grow your business in this economy!

If you are still reading this post I have one question for you. Can I give you a referral?

Do you have a company or client you have been trying to reach? Do you know who your ideal client or referral partner is? How can I or the readers give you a referral? Leave your referral request as a comment and let’s see if we can help each other!

Referral Week 2009: Can Your Referral Make the Difference?

Alan Underkofler — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:11:45 +0000

Make a Referral Week 2009 is March 9-13, can your referral make a difference? We are all hearing the negative talk about our economy! Many businesses, sales people, and entrepreneurs are complaining and contributing to the negativity. But what if you can make a difference? What if you made one referral today? Could you inspire others to do the same? Can this effort have a profound impact on your business as well as those in your business network? The creators of Make a Referral Week seem to think so!

The goal for Referral Week 2009 is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses. This seems pretty simple to me and I am hoping you will participate in this positive approach! Here are some simple steps to help you create your referral:

Over the next few days think about the people in your business network.
Listen to the conversations with your customers. What are they looking for? What do your clients need?
Simply match those customers and clients with someone in your businesses or referral network.
Visit the Make A Referral Week Counter Page and tell them who you referred!

For great referral strategies John Jantsh is hosting a live conference call on Tuesday March 10th featuring Bob Burg, author of the Go-Giver, Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and Bill Cates, author of Get More Referrals Now. This should be a great call teaching the strategies of referrals. Just check out Johns post Have Your Made Your Referral? to register for the call.

Will you participate? Will you help one those people in your network and give them a referral? Will your referral start a chain reaction of more referrals? We all can make a difference in turning around this economy! The question to ask yourself is are you willing to give one referral?

Networking Basics: I don’t Wear a Name Badge! Everyone Knows Me!

Alan Underkofler — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:11:55 +0000

I definitely have to admit I have fallen into this trap many times! It does happen, you go to a Chamber Mixer or a Rotary meeting every week and feel like you know everyone and everyone knows you… While this may or may not be true you still must where a name badge!

The bottom line is while everyone may know or recognize you, it is very possible they do not remember your name. For this reason alone people may avoid you rather than face the embarrassment of not knowing your name. Of course most groups have a flow of visitors consistently attending to check out the group. As a member of any group you want these visitors to feel welcomed! Name badges make it easy for visitors to interact with members. Name badges help create a great experience for the visitor. A visitor who has a great experience visiting a new group is more likely to join when you follow up with them!

My last thoughts on name badges are where to put them. I mean does it really matter where you place your name badge or is it good enough just to have one? While thinking about this I am remembering all the people I have met with name badges placed on a shirt which is great except they were wearing a jacket which completely covered the badge. I have no great study which proves one area is better than another. I do know when I go to shake a hand of a friend or someone I have just met I reach out with my right hand. Because of this I always wear my name badge on the right side of my shirt so when I reach out to the other person they can clearly see my name badge. This allows the person to easily use my name in conversation and actually makes them more comfortable around me.

If you really want to meet more people consider wearing your name badge everywhere you go! Realtors and Mortgage brokers seem to do this a lot. What about you? Can you be the guy who wears a name tag everywhere?

I know this is pretty simple information and to some of you maybe too obvious. The bottom line is wearing a name badge to every event is great business networking habit which we all must have to insure our business networking success!