Quarter 2 of each year is a busy time for our groups. Over the last 4 years referral volume has increased by 34%+ from Q1 to Q2! When things are busy in a group a few minutes of prep help make the meeting more valuable. Here are the things I recommend you doing to prep for each meeting.
Prepping for […]
Every group has some members who:
Are hold themselves & the group back
Are Takers
Act “Too Cool for School”
Act More Important Than Everyone Else
Are Really Busy! (usually they aren’t any busier than you are)
Everyone notices the signs:
They email 24 hours before the meeting, “Hey all – Love you, but a client called. I have to be there.” Message: Y’all ain’t that important to […]
You want to stay in touch with your customers & referral sources/COIs (Centers of Influence) because you want to build and maintain relationships long-term. Referrals are the byproduct of the relationships we build. Here some tips on staying in touch.
Have a process to stay in touch
I know a realtor who dials the alphabet in his phone. He calls every […]
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, […]
Things you can control
1- That you invited someone
2- You run good meetings
3- That you follow a consistent process with all your guests and prospective members.
You can’t control
*If/when a guest responds, attends, is interested in your group, and if the rest of the group thinks they fit. For those reasons don’t overthink your invitations. Just invite.
Let’s break this down a little […]
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The value of this section of our meetings is the dialog about. We should learn from the referral giver and referral receiver the scenario, how the opportunity was identified, how it was tee’d up, an update on the status of the referral, and anything either side could of done better.
(Referral Giver):
Mike-Financial advisor: “I gave a referral to […]
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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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
This education blog content comes from an interview with Brad Schooler a mortgage lender. Brad has been in two groups in (Lex19 & a group that failed). In this interview he talks about his successes & what makes a group thrive from his perspective.
Question 1(Bart): Brad, you’ve had great success since becoming a member. You’ve given 46 referrals in […]
Life changing events often times create referral opportunities. They may be
Events like:
-Marriage
-Having Children
-Divorce (personal or business)
-Death
-Mom/Dad grandparents going to nursing home
-Job promotions
-Kids going to school
-Becoming a partner in their company
All members should have a short list of 5-7+ life changing events that trigger referral opportunities for you. Then, you have to train […]
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 […]
I enjoying running. It is where I clear my head, burn off stress, come up with new ideas (most of these article ideas are created on a run), & in general get my mind right. Often times when I’m on a run I am either really energized or extremely tired.
When I’m energized I often visualize myself chasing my competition […]
Groups often ask me for advice and tips on how to handle things as their guest volume grows. Some groups borderline freak out and don’t know how to handle a lot of guests. Don’t freak out. Your chapter meeting agenda is built to handle guests providing that you run a timer to keep things moving along.
Keep in mind that…..
Not […]