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 […]
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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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
20+% of groups we start won’t make it to the 24 month mark. I’ve tracked that ratio since 2004. Groups that fail usually struggle with at least 2+ of these areas.
1. Poor Attendance:
When attendance as a group is below 80% overall the meeting value gets diluted. When they fall below 70% it is death sentence for a group.
Our […]
4 Big Things for the next 60 days
Summer is always busy. Every season is, but during June & July I find our best groups focus on 4 things to maximize opportunities for success.
1. Be Ready to go
-Be ready to talk about referrals given/received, guests invited, testimonials, & successes
2. Bring Energy & Enthusiasm to each meeting
-Sometimes you need the meeting […]
My Top 10 Take-a-ways from the Podcast with Ginger Terrell- The Referrals Group along with Ashley Young who started CHA3-The Referrals Group & Clint Powell- the host. I encourage you to listen and share additional insights you got from this fun, productive podcast.
Listen to Podcast
1. Listen more than you pitch. It will allow you to be a connector and […]
A competitor has been making some calls to a few of our members lately. The members they’ve called happen to be also part of their organization & ours. They are telling them that they have to choose us or them. The reality is….you don’t. We won’t make you choose.
We know that:
1. Entrepreneurs by nature don’t like being told what […]
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 […]
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 […]