Follow Up Success » Networking

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!

Networking Basics: Be on Time to Your Business Networking Group

Alan Underkofler — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:51:24 +0000

Being on time is a very simple thing to do and yet it is very simple not to do. Over the years I have been in many different types of networking groups for a variety of companies and projects. There is something about the message being sent out by the members that are consistently arriving late or leaving early. Business networking is very similar to dating in that first impressions make big difference. If you are consistently late at a networking event it leads people to believe you may be late to all of your meetings.

Does being late really make a difference in your business networking success? I know for me when I see this in a networking group like BNI, LeTip, or a weekly chamber of commerce group I am less likely to give the habitual late person a referral. The reason is each referral is really an extension of me and my reputation. If I refer my best client or referral source to a member who in turn is late meeting with my contact this reflects negatively on me. My personal network is far more important to me than just giving someone a referral!

If you are habitually late and want to know simple ways to change your pattern read this great article, 5 ways to stop being late by Penelope Trunk.

So the next time you are getting ready for your business networking event or BNI meeting, maybe you should skip responding to that email which just showed up in your inbox and instead arrive 10 minutes early to your meeting (on time).

Networking Basics: Simple Steps to Insure Your Success

Alan Underkofler — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:26:25 +0000

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing networking basics to insure your success! Some of these may seem very simple or obvious and that is because they are! It’s funny but I find the simple and obvious things, the steps we know we should do, are the very things we neglect to do!

Why is this? Are we just looking for ways to sabotage our success? Do we do this consciously or unconsciously? What is it that prevents us from doing the things and steps we know will insure our possibly guarantee our success?

Recently a friend asked me, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”. Thinking about this question brings another question to my mind… How many, projects, careers, or dreams are you playing in right now? In your career are you playing at 10%, do you have a dream you are working towards, yet only putting a 20% effort into it? What would happen if you played at 100%? What would happen if you knew you could not fail? Would you play at 100%? Would you take the small steps everyday to guarantee your success?

For some reason I am reminded about a post on Seth Godin’s blog, How to be Remarkable. It’s a top 10 list on how to be remarkable to your clients and a must read. You will find being remarkable is just like having success! It’s not hard, there is no magic to it, it’s just a few simple steps done repeatedly over time!

Keep a look out this week for the Networking Basics! Each time you read one think about how you are playing in networking, think about how you might improve or add one of these basic steps to have the success you are looking for! If one of these basic steps comes to mind now, take a moment and leave a comment so I can add it as one of the steps for everyone!