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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A few best practices I’ve observed the last few months at The Referrals Group meetings:
Speakers:
1-Share specific targets. Recently, I saw a member share a list of 175+ specific targets he had wanted to meet. He then focused on why he wanted these targets and how to introduce him. It made it easy for the group to create referral opportunities […]