Joining referral networks or local chamber groups can be a
great way to help you network and generate referrals. The
most powerful way to use this strategy, however, is to grow
your own.
Almost any business can benefit from having a group of
trusted providers effectively marketing your business like
a referral sales force. When you build your own private
referral network your business benefits in two very
powerful ways: you experience an increase in leads and you
have additional resource to bring to your client
relationships. In some cases, this second benefit may
produce the greatest long-term impact of this approach.
How to build it
The key to building your own referral network is to focus
on developing relationships with businesses you can believe
in thoroughly. I would suggest that the first consideration
should always be – what can this business bring to my
client and not what can they bring to me. You might start
by identifying the top products and services you know your
current clientele need and use.
There are many ways to build a “formal” referral network.
Let me explain the idea of formal. To me that means there
is an agreement between the parties that explains what each
party will do. There is a process where each party educates
the other on the best way to refer each other. There are
marketing materials of some form that help each business
cross promote. Once this basis framework is in place,
creativity can come into play in many ways.
The one place I see these efforts trip up is when the focus
is on compensation. In other words, if everyone in the
group is concerned about keeping score, the group is bound
to fail. You must focus on the benefit to your clients. If
you do that, the universe will take care of the rest. There
will always be members that only want to take; you’ve got
to be ready to move them out of your network.
Let me give you an example
This financial planner created his very own referral and
lead network by sending a letter to 10 other professionals
that he had worked with and felt comfortable referring
business to. This letter informed them that he was creating
a unique referral network of 100 of the area’s top
professional service providers. He invited them to become
members and explained that he needed them to recommend 10
others who belonged in this exclusive group. He then
created a resource directory and website that featured all
100 professionals. The entire group promoted the directory
and web site and referred business to each other. As a
result, other professionals begged to be allowed into the
group. The strategy was so powerful that many of network
members did no other form of marketing.
Once you put your group together there are many ways to
take advantage of power of this new sales force.
Create a blog network
If ten or fifteen related businesses were to get together
and create a blog focused on a specific target market, in a
specific geographic location, they could easily create a
very valuable local resource. With very little effort this
blog would rank very highly for local search engines terms
related to the blog topics. Even with the mainstream
recognition of blogs, this is still a wide-open opportunity.
Interview each member for a teleseminar series
Host a monthly interview with an expert and feature one of
your network members. You can conduct these interviews over
the phone and have all the members invite attendees to the
teleseminar series. Record each session and you’ve also
created some killer content for other marketing efforts.
Keep these calls non-sales, high impact, and information
rich.
Create co-branded white papers
You should be creating and using white papers in your lead
generation efforts anyway, so take those educational pieces
to other members of your network and let them start
offering them to their clients and prospects. Put their
logo on the cover with your logo and you’ve got an instant
hit.
Do endorsed mailings
One of the simplest ways to promote members of your
referral network is to mail a letter to your clients
endorsing another member’s work. If every member of the
group were to do this same thing, you could experience an
instant flood of new business.
Put on a group workshop
Once you have built a strong group, you should consider
hosting an all day workshop covering the hottest topics of
concern to your target market. Each member of the group can
present a topic, and all parties invite participants. For
some groups, this could turn into a profit center above and
beyond referrals.
Distribute marketing materials and offers
It’s pretty simple to create little leave behind marketing
pieces so that when the plumber makes a house call he can
leave a special offer from the heating and cooling and
electrical members of the group.
Bundle each others products and services
In some cases partnering with your referral network can
help you make a much more competitive offer. Putting your
products and services together with two or three other
providers might give your firm the ability to compete with
much larger organizations.
With some careful consideration and a little effort you
could build a referral network that would rival any sales
force.
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John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning
blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most
Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. You can find more
information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com .
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