Free Marketing Audit

Archive for referrals

Get More Referrals With This Free E-Course

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Thursday, January 12th, 2012

ReferralTipsDid you resolve to generate more business from referrals this year? If so, you will want to grab this free e-course, 5 Tips For Successful Referral Marketing.

The e-course consists of five lessons, delivered via email, that will show you some proven techniques for generating high quality referrals on a consistent basis.

Here is a quick outline of what you will learn:

  • How to get referrals even if you are just starting out or when you are trying to break into a new market or industry
  • How to increase referrals while providing value to your community
  • The six components of a fully functioning referral marketing system
  • 5 real life examples of successful referral systems
  • One referral tactic that could become your core point of differentiation

The course is completely free. I’m not going to try to sell you anything at the end of the course. I’m not even going to automatically add you to a mailing list (I will invite you to my newsletter, but it will be up to you).

So go grab your 5 Tips For Successful Referral Marketing and start generating more business today.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
Tags : ,

LinkedIn’s Forgotten Best Practice

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

linkedinToday I happened to come across another blog post outlining some “best practices” for using LinkedIn. There are a plenty of these types of articles on the web (this morning Google is returning 29,500 results for “linkedin best practices” ) and in general they contain helpful information – optimizing your profile, joining groups, etc. Whenever I read one of these articles I’m surprised by what’s not on the list:

Just Ask

Maybe “just ask” seems too obvious to make a best practices list, but I find that one of the biggest obstacles professionals face related to referrals, or networking in general, is being hesitant to ask for help. LinkedIn is full of members who are more than willing to help but very few of them are able to read minds, so don’t be afraid to ask. Here are a few ways to ask on LinkedIn

Ask for recommendations when you are looking purchase, invest, or hire. Don’t think your request is too small. I have a friend that asked for recommendations of a place to hold a luncheon event and in just a couple of hours she received half a dozen suggestions and booked one of the recommended venues.

Ask how you can help them. You most likely have a lot of people in your network, all of whom have wonderful knowledge and skills. Let people know you have access to these great people and ask if you can help them address any of their needs by introducing them to someone in your network.

Ask for introductions to specific people. After identifying someone you would like to meet, see who in your network is connected to them and ask for an introduction. Make it easy for the person introducing you – let them know how you would like to be introduced and why you would like to meet that person.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing
Tags : ,

Using CRM To Be A Better Connector

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Whether you call it networking, word-of-mouth, or referral marketing, making new contacts through people you already know is a big part of building a professional services firm.

Most sales and marketing databases, whether a complex CRM system or a simple spread spreadsheet, provide some way for tracking referrals. They tend focus on the receiving side of referrals, providing standard fields like “referral source”. Since the golden rule of networking is “Givers Get”, I believe our tools should also help us manage the giving side of networking as well.  I find that adding a few extra fields to my database can really help me be a better connector of people in my network.

Industry/Area of Expertise – I’m sure you are every bit as busy (if not more so) as I am. I don’t know about you, but the more time it takes me to find and contact the appropriate person in my network, the less likely it is to happen. Being able to quickly identify and introduce the right people in your network will go a long way to helping you become the person people turn to when they have a need. Since people tend to express their needs in terms of industry and\or need (I need a vet who specializes in horses), that is typically how I will search, so I’ve added a few custom fields to my database to capture and search on this information.

The ideal customer profile of the person I’m  referring – The other side of the coin to making good referrals is making sure the person I’m referring actually helps the type of person I am referring to them. In the example above, if I am referring someone with a horse problem to a dog vet, I’m not doing either one of them any good. Therefore, I like capture some notes about the type of customers my contacts help along with the particular problems they solve for these customers.

The referral relationship – I like to follow up and make sure I am doing a good job of making referrals, so I like to store information about the connections I have facilitated. I also like to capture similar information when someone sends a referral to me. In addition to helping me manage my follow up activities, this information helps me know who my best referral sources are as well as what other services my customers typically need.

Different CRM systems have different ways of customizing the data you capture and reports you create but I think you will find that most will allow you to capture the data mentioned above and help you become a better connector of people in your network.

What other information to you keep track of to help you be a better connector?

Comments (0)
Categories : Referral Marketing
Tags : , ,

5 Ways to Use Your CRM System to Get More Referrals

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (1)
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

ShakingHandsMost professional service firms rely heavily on referrals to grow their business. Having a systematic process for requesting, giving, and following up on referrals is essential if you want to consistently receive quality referrals. When designed and used properly, your sales and marketing database can be your secret weapon for giving and receiving referrals. Here are five ways you can use your database to get more referrals:

  1. Achieve top of mind status – Have you ever had a coffee or lunch meeting with someone who you thought would be a good referral partner but the relationship never developed? When developing new referral relationships, it generally takes more contacts or “touches” early in the relationship to help you establish top of mind status. Use your database to record things you learned about your contact in your meeting (their needs, likes, contact preferences, etc.) and set up a reminder system to contact them 3 or 4 times in the first 30 days. Rather than calling to “check in”, use the information you recorded to provide them with helpful resources and connections.
  2. Stay top of mind – by having your system remind you to touch base with your contacts on a regular basis. The more relevant your stay in touch messages are, the more effective they will be, so use the information you have captured about their likes, interests, and preferences to deliver relevant and effective messages.
  3. Quickly identify people by expertise and relationship – One of the keys to building your business through referrals is to give referrals to others. Having a database that allows you to quickly identify and connect people in your network who will benefit from meeting one another will help you become the “go to” person people turn to when they are looking for help.
  4. Provide feedback on referrals you have received – if you want to improve the quality of the referrals you receive, it’s important to provide feedback to your referral sources. Set up your database to remind you to always provide feedback to your referral sources. Let them know why someone was a good referral and how you were able to help them. If they referred someone who was not a good fit, take responsibility for that by explaining that you haven’t done a good job of educating them about how to spot your ideal customer. Thank them for the referral and explain who it is you are best suited to help.
  5. Know and nurture your best referral sources – do you know where your most profitable customers come from? Many of us can name our top referral source, but may struggle to name the 4th or 5th best source. Focusing attention on those who already refer us is often more productive than looking for new sources.

photo credit: Nicola Corboy on Flickr

Comments (1)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
Tags : , , ,

Blending Your Online and Offline Professional Networks

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (0)
Friday, March 18th, 2011

[ This post originally appeared in my newsletter. I don't usually repost, but I've had a lot of interest in this topic recently, so I thought I would share it here as well]

We marketing types are good at giving advice about using social media tools to “have conversations”  and to “build relationships”. Like a lot of advice, this is easier said than done.

Another theme growing in popularity these days is the idea of blending your online and offline communities. You may have read articles about using online activities to drive participation in your offline activities. Examples of this would include promoting your open house on LinkedIn or Tweeting daily specials to bring people into your shop or restaurant.

One of the challenges I see with this approach is it encourages broadcasting rather than conversations. It’s very difficult to build relationships or start conversations if the majority of your messages are commercials.

But what if you used your offline activities (and communities) to help drive your online activities?

Another challenge I hear business owners express is most of the people they see using social media are marketers – they have trouble finding potential customers or referral partners on social media sites.

One way we can overcome this challenge is to bring our existing “offline”, community with us to the online world. Giving your existing group of customers and referral partners another tool to stay in touch can help strengthen that community. I also find that it is easier to attract new members when you already have an established core as opposed to building a community from scratch.

Not comfortable using tools like LinkedIn or Twitter? You are most likely not the only one in your network that feels that way. The members of your network who are comfortable using these tools will be happy to help you. Here are some tips to help you learn these tools and strengthen your community:

  • Start small. Pick one tool (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) to focus on rather than trying to master them all.
  • Commit to posting one update a day. It really doesn’t matter what you post, share something about your business or your personal life with your group.
  • Commit to responding to at least one of the members in your group. Social media is a set of tools for having online conversations. Having conversations in this manner may take some getting used to, so practice with friends.

Focus on the conversations rather than the tools and I believe you will be successful.

Have you found ways to blend your online and offline communities? If so, drop me a  note below, I’d love to hear from about what you’re doing.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing Strategy, Referral Marketing, social media marketing
Tags : , ,

Referral Engine Power Groups – bring a friend and save big bucks

By Bill · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Today I scheduled two new sessions of The Referral Engine Power Groups to begin at the end of July and early August. Thanks to some feedback from you, I will be offering an evening session this time around for those who have trouble getting away during the day.

I am also offering a special discount to reader's of this blog that will allow you to Bring-A-Friend and you both get in for half price. This blog is the only place I will be promoting this 2 for 1 deal for these upcoming sessions. This is my way of thanking you for reading my blog and also a way for me to put my money where my mouth is related to referrals.

Even though social media gets the lion's share of the press, referral marketing is still one of the strongest tactics you can use to grow your practice.  Join us to create a step-by-step, documented referral marketing system based on your very specific target market. 

You can learn more about program and save your seat here – http://ReferralEngine.eventbrite.com

If you would like to take advantage of the Bring-A-Friend program, drop me a line or give me a call at 913.962.9261 and I will send you a special code for your discount.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
Tags : , , , ,

Referral Partner Groups or Networking Events – Which do you prefer?

By Bill · Comments (2)
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I was spending more time listening to the conversations around me. Another theme that seems to be repeating itself is the idea of shifting from attending general networking events to referral groups.

In these conversations, networking events are comprised of chamber of commerce and association events, various luncheon get-togethers, and after hours events. In the Kansas City area, we seem to have an embarassment of wealth when it comes to these type of networking opportunities. It would be very easy to consume a 40 hour work week just attending the various networking opportunities in our city.

Referral meetings tend to be much smaller and are typically comprised of business owners who serve similar target markets but don't compete with one another. 

Some other ways referral groups tend to differ from networking meetings include:

  1. Expectations – there is more of an expectation that people who attend referral groups are looking for introductions. This expectations goes both ways, if you want me to provide you with an introduction, you must be clear about who (or what company) you would like to meet.
  2. Introductions vs. Referrals – even though I refer to them as referral groups, I find that people in these groups are looking for introductions. They realize they may not be able to connect directly to the ultimate decision maker in one step. Rather, they are looking for a path to lead them to the decision maker.
  3. Speaking of decision makers, many of these groups seem to form out of a shared frustration over the inability to connect with decision makers at the typical networking event. If you are not having any luck meeting the decision makers of your target customers at these events, you may want to explore forming your own referral group.
  4. Because expectations are more clearly defined, these groups often feel more productive. They feel more like a business meeting rather than a social. This feeling of being productive often makes the experience more valuable to the participants, so attendance and participation tends to be stronger.

Those are some of the things I have been noticing. How about you? Do you have a preference between networking and referral partner groups?

Interested in starting a referral partner group but not sure how? Drop me a line or leave a comment, I'll be happy to help.

Comments (2)
Categories : Referral Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Tags : , ,

Marketing Tactic Building Blocks – Call To Action

By Bill · Comments (0)
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

TacticBuildingBlocks

The next block in our model of a successful marketing tactic is the all important Call To Action. Much has been written about the importance of having a call to action in your advertising and marketing materials, so I will just mention my top three reasons for having a strong call to action.

Your call to action provides the answer to the question “what do I do next?”.

One of the great marketing challenges in today’s environment is getting the attention of prospects and customers who need our services. Once we do gain their attention, the biggest marketing mistake we can make is to fail to provide a clear course of action related to what they can, and should, do next. A call to action may be as simple as providing a phone number to call or linking to a relevant page on your website. Without a clear next step, chances are your prospective customer will move on to the next provider, no matter how clever your marketing materials

Your call to action provides a link to your measurement system.

Professional service firms need to move away from spending money on a marketing model that just “gets our name out there” and towards a model that provides feedback on the results of that marketing budget. The way to capture that feedback is to provide a call to action that can be measured. What would this look like in our referral system example? You could create a gift certificate for people to share with their family, friends, and colleagues who they think would benefit from your service. The call to action is to bring in the gift certificate to receive their free or discounted service. By including information about the person you gave the certificate to (name, date, etc.) you can have some very useful information about who your best referral sources are, the amount of time between when a certificate is given and when a client comes in, which offers are the most popular, etc. Contrast this with the typical process of asking a client how they heard of you – “I’m not sure, I think Joe told me about you, or maybe it was someone at the chamber, or BNI…”.

Move your marketing plan from guessing to knowing by including a call to action that can be measured.

Your call to action helps move people through the marketing hourglass.

In Duct Tape Marketing, we often use the marketing hourglass as a conceptual model of the marketing process. The general idea is that the hourglass consists of several stages and we need to make sure that our marketing system addresses prospects and customers at each and every stage of the hourglass. One of the ways we can help people move from one stage of the hourglass to the next is to 1) use our marketing materials to make people aware of the next stage and 2) include a clear and compelling call to action that tells them how to move to the next stage.

One note, I used the phrase “help people move” on purpose. I think it is important, particularly when marketing professional services, to realize that WE don’t MOVE people, they have to choose move to the next stage. Even if you can force someone to move (which I doubt), in the case that you do, you are bound to have a client that has an unhappy experience.

Comments (0)
Categories : Marketing Plan, Marketing Strategy
Tags : , , , ,

Make a Referral Wednesday, How Can I Help?

By Bill · Comments (4)
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

We are half way through Make A Referral Week, how are you doing so far? Personally, I need to step it up a little. I've made a couple of referrals, including connecting two people that I would like to do business with but haven't yet.

Sometimes, our biggest obstacle to getting referrals is getting in the habit of asking for them. I think the same goes for giving them- we have to remember to ask. So here is a quick tip to help you start the habit. Call up 15 people (that's only 5 per day for the rest of the week) and say "This is Make A Referral Week, who can I connect you with to help you with your business?".

Ask without the intention of receiving anything in return, but be prepared to answer when they ask how they can return the favor. Just as it is important to help others, it's also important to be able to graciously allow others to help you.

We are half way through Make A Referral week, who can I connect you with to help you with your business?

Comments (4)
Categories : Referral Marketing
Tags : , ,

Don’t Ask, Don’t Sell

By Bill Brelsford · Comments (3)
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

When asked, most accountants, attorneys, and other professionals tell me that the primary way they acquire new clients is through word or mouth or referrals – no surprise there. What does surprise me is how often these same folks tell me that they rarely, if ever, ask for referrals. Many of us are hung up on one form or another of “head trash” – we think others will think badly of us if we ask for referrals because (insert excuse here).

If you want to grow your business or practice, you must get over this. You must learn to ask for referrals and to ask for the sale. If you are providing a valuable service, and I assume you are, then people are not going to think ill of you for wanting to help more people.

I think for most of us, learning ask for business is less about technique and more about attitude and creating new habits. Technique is important, but if you don’t get over the hurdle of actually starting the conversation, all the technique in the world isn’t going to help. Here are three approaches that you can use to overcome your reluctance and build the habit of asking for referrals:

Join a networking group – groups like BNI can help because they will teach you how to ask, give you a place to practice asking, and set the expectation that you exchange referrals with members of your group. The more you think that sounds like you won’t like it because you will be uncomfortable, the more likely you need to join.

Ask who can can refer to them – as an accountant or attorney, you probably know a lot of people. Practice being a referral source for those you meet. End every meeting and phone call with “is there anyone I can connect you with to help you with your business?”. Give without the expectation of receiving, BUT, when someone does ask what they can do for you, have a specific answer ready, for example “Thanks Bob. You know, I like working with dentists and I’m always looking for practices with 3 or more dentists. Do you know anyone that you would feel comfortable introducing me to that has a practice like that?”

Blame me – if you don’t feel comfortable with any of the approaches outlined above, do this. Blame me. Here is how that sounds – “Ok, Joe, is it ok if I ask you one more question before we finish (our meeting)? I”m a little uncomfortable asking you this, but this marketing coach named Bill is harassing me to get in the habit of asking for referrals, so I have to ask, do you know anyone else who may be facing similar issues in their business?”

I know you are going to ask for at least 2 referrals today, so come back and leave a comment – let me know how it worked out for you.

Referral Marketing Programs for Professionals

ReferralFlood

Learn how to generate a flood of new business without spending one dime on advertising. Available as a Self Study Program as well as group and individual coaching programs

Comments (3)
Categories : Marketing, Referral Marketing
Tags : , , , ,
Next Page »

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Newsletter Subscription

Explore

Connect Socially

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn email