This blog is about how Helen Beaumont of Essendon Tax focuses her network and messages to stimulate more referrals to her ideal clients. I spoke to her a few weeks ago and it was lovely to see that she is still using the techniques I taught her and, most importantly, is getting great results ...
Trigger words ignite, Referrals flow, Business grows
One of my favourite expressions I first saw in a Royal Mail advert many years ago. Does anyone remember it? It was an unexpected gift arriving by post with a message, "I saw this and I thought of you". Isn't that what you're asking people to do when you network with them? You're asking people to notice as they go about their business when there is an opening for your product or services. And then you're asking them to wrap it up nicely and present it to you as that most precious of business gifts, a red-hot referral to someone who needs what you offer and is ready to meet you because your contact has recommended you highly.
"The trouble is that people are busy, and once off the phone (or out of the room), they are not always thinking of you!"
So, many opportunities slip by. A useful tip to bring you to the front of their mind at the right moment is to give them a trigger word or image. When they see or hear it, you pop into their head.
A lovely example of this is one of my clients, Helen Beaumont. She's a tax consultant, and whilst she can offer a wide range of tax advice, what most of her best clients had in common was that they were involved in property.
So, she started promoting herself as a property tax specialist. Now, her contacts increasingly think of her as soon as someone uses the word 'property' around them. However, she is becoming more than just the property tax specialist; she's the 'go-to person' who knows people who can help other people with anything property-related. Her referrals are growing as her reputation as a resource for others increases. As she put it, "Now, as soon as anyone hears the word 'property' they send people my way".
Analysing how she did this can help you to become the 'go-to person' in your specialist area:
We defined her true specialism. We examined her client base and identified that her best clients had come to her with property tax issues. We identified her present referral sources for property work and noticed that most of these referrals came from one source. So, we identified all the people she knew who potentially could refer her, but either were only doing so infrequently or not at all.
We advised them on what she could offer their contacts. She organised a reception, inviting all these contacts, and together we ran a briefing on her services. We included what she could do for them in return, as it was important for her network to see what a valuable referral and information resource she could be for them, too.
Helen focused her networking on building relationships. This was with people involved with property investment or who know such people. It is a surprisingly wide range of business people.
She invested in content marketing and started a blog. This gives people a weekly resource that is building up to be a library of information on property and tax issues. It demonstrates her knowledge and authority and adds confidence to the recommendations that her referral sources make. It also means that they see evidence of the issues she tackles every week, which makes it more likely that she will spring to mind at the right moment in their business conversations.
Helen consistently repeats the message at every opportunity. Like any type of advertising or marketing, people need to hear it over and over, in many different forms, before it becomes imprinted in their minds.
So, what would your trigger word or image be? This is the one that will become synonymous with your product or services. It springs to mind every time your contacts hear or see it, and it cuts into their all-too-busy day to remind them to introduce you to your ideal clients.
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