This education blog content comes from an interview with Stephanie Preston. The group she is in (Lex9) has tripled in size and referral volume has increased 4.5 times in the last 18 months. Stephanie is a market leader with BB&T in Lexington, KY.
Question 1(Bart): Stephanie you told me at a meeting last year that you’ve gotten a lot of […]
I have a good friend Liz who owns a successful business that operates in over 25+ states. She and I think a lot a-like on relationship building. A response that has always bothered both of us is was when people respond with “I’m so busy” to the question of “How are you doing?”
Almost anytime we’d hear we’d both look […]
Face-to-Face meetings are the #1 driver of referrals in our groups.
We want busy successful people in our groups. The ability to attract and retain talented business professionals is one of our main goals. I’ve observed over the years that some of our busy members struggle with scheduling enough face-to-face meetings to participate at the level that they want. Their […]
Before I started The Referrals Group the smartest thing I did was to seek advice on our business model from over 55 people that I thought were smarter than me. It was a great exercise for me and shaped philosophically how I tried to build groups from day one.
I came from an environment where every member had to participate […]
Members want to be part of successful, thriving groups. To get a group clicking you have to embrace the process and master the fundamentals. Then one day it all clicks. The meetings are more fun and referral volume goes up. Occasionally I’ve seen groups waste momentum, because they relax too much when they get there. I encourage you as […]
Our goal when we give a referral should be to always set it up as well as we can for all parties involved (prospective customer and the referral recipient). It is important to try to set things up properly on the front end to avoid confusion and to make sure giving the referral makes you look good.
Here are […]
I get asked a lot, what are the steps normally involved in guests becoming members? Or what should it look like? Let’s run through the 9 steps that are normally involved .
1. They Get invited
It starts with an invitation. Guests don’t show up on their own. Our groups operate by invitation only so everyone that visits a meeting is […]
I often get asked, “What do you recommend I focus on for my next presentation in my group?”
Over the last decade I’ve seen a lot of great presentations. I’ve seen a lot of poor ones as well, and I’ve noticed some themes and topics that have consistently been more effective.
Begin with the end in mind. The most effective […]
I recommend structuring your commercial in the following format:
I. Basic Intro (5-7 seconds)
II. Tell us how to help you (25-75 seconds)
Now let’s break this down in greater detail.
Section I- Basic Intro
When guests/fairly new members are in the room I think this is important to reinforce. Think of it as 5-7 seconds.
For example I normally say: “Hi, […]
I often get asked by members, “What can I realistically expect from my The Referrals Group membership?”
I believe you get out what you put into anything you are involved in. I also believe you should have realistic expectations. It is a tough question to answer, but I start by saying that our program, when worked properly, creates an opportunity […]
Question #1: (to log or not?)
I changed all my property and casualty insurance over to (Member Name) three months ago. At that time I “referred myself” to him in the system. Now I’m buying another rental house and I’ll be getting another policy from him to cover it. Should I “refer myself” to him again? Or since I’m already […]
Time for another mailbag! Questions in BOLD.
I wasn’t sure if I logged this referral correctly. I don’t always specifically log each referral for closings. Example: I had sent 6 closings in October (with list of family names in notes). Is it ok if at the end of the month I total up all the office closings and send them […]
This blog’s format: mailbag questions that have come in over the last month. Questions in bold.
Bart our speaker no called no-showed at our meeting. What should we do with the time block? Also, we’d put a lot of effort into having guests and we had 3 that day. Our member (Name removed) made us look really bad. What should […]
Holiday season=PRIMETIME for referral generation opportunities.
In November & December as you go to holiday parties, family gatherings, office parties, Christmas plays, year end banquets, etc you will see people in a more casual setting. Conversations will start with open ended questions like:
“How are things going? What is new? How have you been?”
Have a good answer for the “How are […]
One of my favorite quotes is, “Be quick but don’t hurry,” from John Wooden the famous UCLA basketball coach who won 10 national championships.
Creating Urgency
Nothing gets done without urgency. Shorter timelines providing they don’t compromise quality are often better because they create urgency.
I spend a lot of time observing what makes our groups successful. I find that our […]