The Single Most Important Tip For Getting the Referrals You Want
- By Louise Yates
- Published Sunday 14th 2010
- Business
- Unrated
Louise Yates
Passionate networker Louise Yates shares business networking tips and business networking advice for word of mouth marketing, generating referrals and sales leads. Louise also runs Business Networking Groups.
View all articles by Louise Yates
So you want to get more referrals when you attend networking meetings?
From running business networking groups over the last few of years I have observed how the best networkers get the referrals they are looking for and how even good networkers fail on this front.
Some networking events give you the air time to deliver a 60 second or elevator pitch, your chance to state what contacts you are looking for. It is this opportunity that can make all the difference between you getting what you want or you leaving empty handed.
My first piece of business networking advice is consider some of the challenges you are faced with:
You have a very short time in which to capture the attention of your audience and motivate them to take action
There will be others presenting their own pitches who will in effect be ‘competing’ with you to get the to get the
commitment of others round the table to spend their time helping you
People are always busy and are generally thinking about their own businesses
People need to have confidence in you or your services to refer you
So, in short you need to make it easy for others to help you
So, how do you make it easy for people to help you?
Quite simply, when you ask for a referral you need to be specific about the referral you want. This will focuses your audience’s attention and prompt them to take action.
And the more specific you can be the better. You may have an offering which could be bought by anyone, however, if you say ‘I am looking for anyone’ then this will not capture your audiences attention, will not focus their mind and is unlikely to generate a response.
Just for a moment think about this dating example…if you were placing an advert in a lonely hearts column saying ‘I am looking for anyone’ how many people do you think you would attract, and if you did what would the quality be like? If, however you specified the age, interests
and characteristics you are looking for I think you might get a more positive response.
So back to a work example instead of ‘I am looking for any contacts who might be interested in my service,’ you might say ‘I am looking for contacts with builders.’
One stage better is to say ‘I am looking for contacts with builders in x area’ as this further focuses your audience’s thought.
Better still though is to say ‘I am looking for contacts with a,b and c builders in x area.’ Whilst the majority of people may not have the contact you are looking for, those who do have are far more likely to say so and therefore will be compelled to help you.
Being a specialist can help you to attract more referrals
The other advantage to being specific is that it can help you to be perceived as an expert in a particular area. So, keeping with the above example, if you have already have builders who are satisfied customers you can say so and explain how you have specifically helped them. This will help to reassure your potential referrers that you have expertise in serving this customer base and they are more likely to be motivated to refer your services to other businesses.
Specifics which work less well
I have heard some people be specific by asking for contacts with ‘companies with a turnover of say $2m+ or companies employing more than 20 people. Unfortunately this approach doesn’t always work so well as people don’t necessarily know the turnover of businesses around them or the number of employees unless they work very closely with them.
It is your responsibility to do the research for your business
If you can’t identify exactly what businesses you would like to target then you need to do some research. This is your job, not the job of your potential referrers. How can you expect others to know what contacts you want if you don’t know yourself?
So, the next time you have the opportunity to ask for a referral, do your research, prepare well and ensure that you have identified 2 or 3 potential contacts you would like an introduction to. Try this business networking tip…it does work!
From running business networking groups over the last few of years I have observed how the best networkers get the referrals they are looking for and how even good networkers fail on this front.
Some networking events give you the air time to deliver a 60 second or elevator pitch, your chance to state what contacts you are looking for. It is this opportunity that can make all the difference between you getting what you want or you leaving empty handed.
My first piece of business networking advice is consider some of the challenges you are faced with:
You have a very short time in which to capture the attention of your audience and motivate them to take action
There will be others presenting their own pitches who will in effect be ‘competing’ with you to get the to get the
commitment of others round the table to spend their time helping you
People are always busy and are generally thinking about their own businesses
People need to have confidence in you or your services to refer you
So, in short you need to make it easy for others to help you
So, how do you make it easy for people to help you?
Quite simply, when you ask for a referral you need to be specific about the referral you want. This will focuses your audience’s attention and prompt them to take action.
And the more specific you can be the better. You may have an offering which could be bought by anyone, however, if you say ‘I am looking for anyone’ then this will not capture your audiences attention, will not focus their mind and is unlikely to generate a response.
Just for a moment think about this dating example…if you were placing an advert in a lonely hearts column saying ‘I am looking for anyone’ how many people do you think you would attract, and if you did what would the quality be like? If, however you specified the age, interests
So back to a work example instead of ‘I am looking for any contacts who might be interested in my service,’ you might say ‘I am looking for contacts with builders.’
One stage better is to say ‘I am looking for contacts with builders in x area’ as this further focuses your audience’s thought.
Better still though is to say ‘I am looking for contacts with a,b and c builders in x area.’ Whilst the majority of people may not have the contact you are looking for, those who do have are far more likely to say so and therefore will be compelled to help you.
Being a specialist can help you to attract more referrals
The other advantage to being specific is that it can help you to be perceived as an expert in a particular area. So, keeping with the above example, if you have already have builders who are satisfied customers you can say so and explain how you have specifically helped them. This will help to reassure your potential referrers that you have expertise in serving this customer base and they are more likely to be motivated to refer your services to other businesses.
Specifics which work less well
I have heard some people be specific by asking for contacts with ‘companies with a turnover of say $2m+ or companies employing more than 20 people. Unfortunately this approach doesn’t always work so well as people don’t necessarily know the turnover of businesses around them or the number of employees unless they work very closely with them.
It is your responsibility to do the research for your business
If you can’t identify exactly what businesses you would like to target then you need to do some research. This is your job, not the job of your potential referrers. How can you expect others to know what contacts you want if you don’t know yourself?
So, the next time you have the opportunity to ask for a referral, do your research, prepare well and ensure that you have identified 2 or 3 potential contacts you would like an introduction to. Try this business networking tip…it does work!
