By Bertrand McHenry
I have two questions for you. Are you actively designing your network or have you gotten caught up in social “networking activities” believing that you have actually been productive towards and congruent with your goals? Okay, here’s the second one. Aside from attending the mixers and events we use to meet other business people, are you also applying an actual referral marketing system to your efforts? I know these questions seem to be coming totally from left field, but given the current business climate and the discussions I am hearing among business people, I think they are very relevant questions. See, we live in an era of speed and have been for some time. What I mean by that is that each generation of man has evolved through an era; ice age, stone age, bronze age, iron age, industrial age, etc. The information age and now the Internet age, has had a gap between one and the advent of another. Each of those gaps has become shorter and shorter until now we are in an age where we seem to crave speed and ease. We even have an office supply chain that has made “The Easy Button” part of our language! Let me be brutally honest: Business is not easy; it may be simple but it’s not easy. To believe that attending networking events and having a drink, collecting as many business cards as possible, being seen, shaking many hands, smiling a lot, and handing out stacks of business cards are the skills we need to master in order to be successful in business is wrong. Those activities may indeed need to be present when we network, but they are not the strategy.
Let’s go back to the fundamentals. First, let’s begin with why you are in your particular business. Nail that down firmly and be able to communicate it to anyone at anytime. Next, decide who your target market is; this is key. In fact, these two questions are paramount before moving forward in your networking efforts. By the way, if these two questions give you pause, you are among most people and I can help. I teach, “Finding Your Starting Point,” which is a class guaranteed to get you those answers.
Now, we’ve got your “why” and your “Target Market,” so let’s decide what percentage of your business you want to receive via referral marketing or networking. What are your mission and vision statement and your 30-second elevator speech? Got it? Now look at your target market and decide where you want to be in the next three to five years. Visualize that and ask yourself three questions: Who else serves that target market but does not compete with you? (Ex: Chiropractors and Massage Therapists) What value can you bring to their business efforts or lives? And, do you see yourself being friends with them? Do you think these might just be some of the folks you may want to form strategic alliances with? Yes! Could meeting these people be a goal you set for yourself when you attend a networking mixer? Yes! I actually believe you would feel more in control of your destiny if you attended these mixers with these goals.
Is this starting to sound like a business discussion? It should because Referral Marketing as an entire strategy is a business system which includes the activity of Networking. Yes, it also includes having fun, having a drink and enjoying yourself, but those activities are not the system that drives results. Results driven Referral Marketing and Networking are relatively simple ideas that take hard work, consistency and discipline. Thank goodness for that otherwise everyone would just be partying and hitting the easy button!
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Bertrand McHenry President / Owner The Referral Institute of Houston
Bertrand@referralinstitutehouston.com 281-401-9852 281-300-8228
