About Us

About The Referrals Group

Who We Are

 We create groups of like-minded, talented local business professionals with a common goal and direction.  The Referrals Group isn’t a one size fits all program. Our goal is to attract and retain talented local business professionals and allow them to grow their network, business and support systems together.

Our Founder Membership

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Meet Bart Giles


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Bart Giles started The Referrals Group in 2014.  The Referrals Group has grown to 35+ groups, primarily in Lexington and Louisville, with additional groups in Owensboro and Northern Kentucky.  The goal is to attract and retain successful business professionals by putting them in an environment where they can grow their businesses with other like minded professionals.

He is married to his wife Megan.   They have three kids – Benton, Sammy, and Mary.  Megan is a former elementary school teacher and is active in her parish & CASA.  Bart and Megan met at the University of Kentucky the last semester of their senior year.

He grew up on the family farm in Christian County, KY.  Bart enjoys going watching his kids play any type of sport, game, or develop new hobbies/skills.  Also, he likes going to Glen Lake up in Michigan with family, UK football & basketball (some of the time), sports trivia, missing connecting flights, and being involved in their parish.

Fun Facts:
· Bart was once the #1 ranked 4-H livestock judge in the state of Kentucky – yep, that’s a real thing
· is slightly above average at NCAA tournament history/trivia Contact Bart

Renee Shomer profile picture, Market Leader of The Referrals Group

Meet Renee Shomer

Renee first became involved with The Referrals Group in 2017, as a way to grow her insurance business. She chartered her own chapter where she wore many hats, including Chairman and Recruitment Chair. In 2022, she joined The Referrals Group team as the Greater Louisville Market Leader, where she has enjoyed teaching others how to be successful within their groups. Her favorite part is meeting new people all the time and connecting them with one another.

Renee lives in the St. Matthews area of Louisville with her husband Grant, and their children Lillian and Henry. She is on the Board of Directors for The Cabbage Patch Settlement House, and a member of The Optimist Club of Louisville. They are active at Holy Trinity, love traveling, and also make frequent trips to visit family in Northern Kentucky, where she is from. She also enjoys tennis, comedy, concerts, book club, and anything that involves good company and better conversation.

Fun Facts:
· Met Oprah twice while living in Chicago
· Fiercely loyal to Cincinnati food – Skyline, Montgomery Inn, and Graeter’s Ice Cream forever! Contact Renee

Why Us?

You will learn how to build strong business relationships.  A membership gives you a great opportunity to develop relationships that will be confident in referring you and your business on a consistent basis, become a strong support system, and help you through business challenges.

  • Focused Meetings
  • Creating consistent referrals & developing a referral marketing plan
  • Education content provided on www.TheReferralsGroup.com/Blog & our  youtube channel

*Scheduled and conducted at no additional cost

On Individual basis

  • New Member Orientation   (*Scheduled/Completed after new member is accepted to onboard you to the program)
  • Individual Member meetings upon request

When your The Referrals Group representative visits….. During the meeting they will:

  • Share best practices from around the area
  • Offer guidance on ways to increase referral volume and/or close ratio, tips on running high-quality meetings, ideas on recruitment, ways to make face-to-face meetings valuable, and a variety of other topics that may help make your membership more valuable.

  • Repeatable meeting agenda that works.  Chapters choose to twice/month(most common), three-week intervals, or weekly.
  • Each group has annual goals and a custom-operating plan that is unique to their group.
  • Trained chapter leadership, check-in meetings, and clearly defined roles.

  • Custom designed software program that helps members:
    • Send, receive, track, update, and measure close ratio on referrals given and received.
    • Register guests, tracks prospective new members
    • Auto-meeting reminders to members and guests
    • Auto-schedules and manages speaker rotation
    • Your referral data is confidential to you
    • Tracks your return on investment

Our goal is to focus on being the most efficient and effective business networking for your money and to provide a positive program.  We want to put both the overall group & individual members in the best spot to succeed.

How We Help

Our goal is to attract and retain talented local business professionals and allow them to grow their network, business, and support systems together.

Men and women are standing and sitting around a conference table having a meeting.

What We Do

The Referrals Group creates a customized plan for each group because every group has different needs at different times. Every business owner, company and organization in the world has their own strategic plan for increasing their network.

Learn More

Two people with laptops at a small table with a cup of coffee.

How We Do It

We have structure, but not too much structure. Each group determines the characteristics of their members, along with the frequency of their meetings. Our meetings are one hour. Why? Our goal is to be efficient, effective, and dynamic.

Membership Details

A woman in camera focus is attending a meeting, sitting down.

What Is Involved

Because every group is at a different place in their life and business, we provide a repeatable structure and plan that fits their needs. You don’t out grow The Referrals Group. You and your members grow with it. Really…we simply get down to business.

Our Groups

Frequently Asked Questions

Before you apply, you may want to visit a group or even two. We encourage it so you have the ability to meet the group members, they have a chance to meet you and learn about your business. When you are ready, we are ready to help grow your network!

Why The Referrals Group?

You will learn how to build strong business relationships. A membership gives you a great opportunity to develop relationships that will be confident in referring you and your business on a consistent basis, become a strong support system, and help you through business challenges. Read more…

What is the cost of membership?

Memberships start at $725/year.

How do you track referrals?

The Referrals Group has created a tracking software to enable us to start out as a paperless organization from day one. The software will automate a significant amount of the day-to-day organizational work and be mobile, tablet, and PC friendly. The software will put The Referrals Group in a position to offer data that members need to track and monitor their success within a business networking organization.

What is the process to join?

We encourage you to visit a group. You can do so here by locating a group near you. You have the ability to meet the group members, and they have a chance to meet you and learn about your business. When you are ready, we are ready to help grow your network!

 

Member Success & Testimonials

The Referrals Group is the perfect choice for your business! If you are looking to grow your sales team overnight, this is the organization you have been looking for.

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