Back To Basics: Make It Easier For People To Refer You | Times just got a whole lot tougher ... |
Posted by Jacky Sherman on 25/03/2020 @ 8:00AM We’re in a countrywide lockdown and some companies are not going to make it. As a small business owner, that could very easily be someone we know, or even ourselves, so what can we do? It's simple! We can turn to our network for help ... Get back to basics and reach out to your network! How can you help them? How can they help you? copyright: dolgachov / 123rf Whatever skills we have, there are clients and companies out there who need what you can offer, even now. Sure they may be in shorter supply, that just means you’ll have to work smarter to meet them.
"Working smarter doesn’t always mean making radical changes, sometimes it just means paying more attention to the basics!"
The one I believe will have the biggest difference is to make it easy for your contacts to spot an opportunity for you. When we’re stressed and worried how we’re going to pay the bills this month ... and the only phone calls are to cancel ... it’s hard to think about other people’s businesses.
The key is to plant a few (maximum 3) key triggers words or phrases in your contacts brain so that when they see or hear them mentioned, you automatically pop into their head!
Right now, the most usual way your contacts will be interacting with their network is online. You need them to spot these triggers in email subject headers, blog post, social media posts and comments on other people’s posts. However, we are in the early days of the lockdown so remind them of the people they already know as well as people they just spotted online.
You will have to prime your network to look at these before they automatically delete them. Here’s mine to give you the example.
Look out for: As you trawl through your emails and social media postings, or attend online networking groups, can you look out for people who have recently set up their own consultancy business support services. What will you notice in their words: They will be trying to remain positive, but you will instinctively feel their inexperience and/or desperation. They may be looking for alternatives to going networking. What questions to ask them: When you ask them who they want to meet they respond with, "Anyone who needs a ...". Or they might say, "It was xxx, but they all seem to have locked down so now I’ll take anyone". The key trigger word for me is 'anyone'.
You then suggest they talk to me for a free no-obligation conversation about how to get referrals during the time we're all in lockdown.
Once you’ve worked up your own version of this, arrange a video or phone one-to-one with key people in your network and share it with them. Remember, the very best way to stimulate referrals is to give them so help them to make it easy for you to refer them by getting their key trigger words. Until next time ...
JACKY SHERMAN
Would you like to know more? If anything I've written in this blog post resonates with you and you'd like to discover more, it may be a great idea to give me a call on 07970 638857. Let's have an initial chat over a coffee and see how I can help you. More blog posts for you to enjoy ... | | | | | | | | |
| 
