More than LUCK!

That what gets written ... gets done!

I am a true believer in this statement. Just three days ago, I bought this 1991 Harley Davidson Sportster 883!!! A dream come true ... a personal goal for 2007 met at the end of 2006!

I am so psyched that I can hardly stand it. I ask myself ... how did this happen? One way ... that what gets written, gets done.

I wrote down that I wanted a Harley before I was 50! I added it to my personal introduction so that as I was introduced by other people, I could hear it being said to validate my intentions. I told everyone I knew that I wanted a Harley. It became my goal for 2007. As luck would have it, this beautiful bike showed up on Ebay (yes, Ebay) at the right time. However, it was more than LUCK. I believe that things happen for a reason. I created the intention to own this bike.

Imagine what can happen to your business if you create the intention to grow your business by word of mouth? Imagine if you created the intention to never ever place another cold call?

Write it down. Set the goal. Turn the intention into reality. I did. Can you see me smiling?

Building Team Spirit!

TEAM ... Together Everyone Achieves More!

Think about how this applies to referral marketing and more specifically, YOUR referral marketing team. How do you build team spirit so that other people want to bring you business?

Team spirit doesn't just happen. The team leader (you) must provide the motivation and incentive to reach the target goal of the team. What is the target goal of the team? If you can't answer that question, that's where you need to start. Do you want to generate referrals for each other? How many? by when? How many new clients do you want to find for your team members in 2007? Is this a part of your business goals? Why not?

In referral marketing, in order for your team to ultimately generate more referrals, the team members must spend time together to build a bond of friendship, trust, and credibilty. I am constantly looking for ways to bring my team members together. Sometimes I organize a function and other times, I encourage that all of us attend something together. Whatever it is, your team needs to be motivated and inspired. When you accomplish this ... you create team spirit! When you have team spirit, together you really do achieve more!

What do you do to motivate your referral team?

Dollar for Dollar

I have belonged to BNI in Western Pennsylvania for about 4 years. My chapter is called the Circle of Excellence. We currently have 38 members. I have watched this chapter grow and flourish. As a member, I have served on several leadership teams and helped this chapter to achieve our regions Chapter of the Year Award for THREE years in a row! I thought that was quite an accomplishment ... until now.

This week, my chapter of 38 professionals surpassed the $500,000 mark (that's HALF A MILLION DOLLARS) of net income generated by members for other members in qualified referrals in 2006! Dollar for dollar, one chair in my BNI chapter is worth $13,158! That's not a bad average return on the investment into a networking group. I don't know of any other networking group, as a whole, that can quantify business results that even come close to BNI.

How did we do it? It's easy ... we followed the system that BNI puts into place. We spend time together outside the meeting to learn how to refer each other. Education and learning is only part of it ... the proof is in the action. This group of professionals care about each other enough to act every day on behalf of someone else.

If you've not heard of BNI, you must be under a rock. Check out the link to my region. Deanna and Bob Schmitt, the Directors of my region, live by the giver's gain philosophy and would be happy to introduce you to the most profitable networking organization in history!

If you are in BNI, tell me about your chapter successes!

Shelf Life

FRUIT CAKE ...

What's the shelf life of the traditional holiday fruit cake? It depends on who you ask! Most people that I know really don't like it and would probably keep it on the shelf for a long time. That's if it actually even stays on the shelf and doesn't find itself in the trash can. Logistically, fruit cake can have a shelf life of 4 months to a year ... depending on how much whiskey it contains!

What's the shelf life of your clients? Well, that depends on if that client came to you from an ad, a cold call or a referral. Studies have shown that a client that comes to you from a referral source typically will stay with you longer than the others, all else being equal. A referred client enters the relationship with you at a much higher level automatically since they were recommended by someone they know and trust. This person will also hold onto your business card longer and be more inclined to refer you as well.

So, think about it. If you want clients that have a long shelf life, like fruit cake, work your network to get more clients referred to you!

What's In It For Me?

What's in it for me?

From my perspective, so much of our society revolves around those 5 words. It's an underlying motivation in so many things. How does it impact referral relationships? I've met people that believe the only way someone will pass them a referral is to pay them for it ... literally. "I'll pay you $100 for each referral that you give me."

Personally, I believe that there's a better way. I believe that if you are proactive and offer your help to people often enough, they will offer to help you in return. I believe that if you give referrals to someone freely and genuinely because you honestly care enough to WANT to help their business, that person will return the favor to honor your relationship and keep it flourishing.

I don't need to get paid to give someone a referral. If I like you, trust you, and respect you enough ... you will get my help from the heart. A strong relationship is incentive enough for me!

What incentives do you offer for referrals?

Foreign Languages Kill Referrals!

You say "brolly", I say "umbrella".
You say "flat", I say "apartment".
You say "loo", I say "bathroom".

What does this have to do with eliminating cold calls? My British friend, Joe Gater, president of Emerge Consulting, Inc., speaks the same language as I do (English) however, on occasion, our wires get crossed! You can probably see why.

Have you ever felt like people just don't have any idea what you do? I suspect you're speaking their natural language, however you may still be speaking another language to them called JARGON! Only you and those in your industry understand jargon. It's a foreign language to the rest of us.

If you want to increase your chances of getting more referrals by word of mouth, your message about your business must be simple, concise and free of jargon. When you can accomplish all three of these, it increases the chance that your message will be passed on to someone else. If you don't ... it won't ... and so goes your word of mouth marketing campaign and success.

Don't let this foreign language kill your chances for referrals! Simplify and specify.

Family Connections

At this time of year, families seem to find themselves gathered around a dinner table, a card table or football game. For me, the family becomes the center of alot of activities. How much of the discussions focus on business? If you're like the average person, not much.

For whatever reason, we rarely talk to our families about what we do from 9-5pm or 6-7pm for alot of sole proprietors I know. This is the perfect time of year to talk about what we do and how we help our clients to the other members of our family. Why?

Let's look at the numbers.

Perhaps you have 3 adult siblings. Each of them like you and trust your work. Each of them know roughly 275 people from their own network of contacts. That's 825 people who right now know virtually nothing about your business. If you tapped 2% of that potential, it could lead you to 16 potential prospects. If you made $1000 per closed deal, that could be $16,000. See what you're missing? Your sibling(s) could become your best word of mouth marketing agents ... especially if he/she really understood the benefit you bring to your clients. And incedently, you should return the favor for them as well!

What kind of business opportunities came your way from family members?

Setting Course

It's time to set a course for 2007! Believe it or not, it's just around the corner!

This past weekend, I was at a retreat for the BNI Directors in Western Pennsylvania. Our main focus of the weekend was to spend time on our own businesses and to learn more about each other in the process. Frank DeRaffele, Jr. President of ProActive Consulting, Inc. facilitated the retreat.

Here are questions that Frank had us consider with respect to our 2007 goals:

1. Where are you now?
2. How did you get to where you are now?
3. Where do you want to be next?
4. What are the things you have to put in place to achieve your "next"?
5. What are the specific action steps you have to take to make your "what's" happen?
6. Most importantly, "why" are you going to make your "what's" happen?
7. What will it feel like to achieve the results you desire?

If you are setting goals for your business, why not set marketing goals too? In fact, why not set word of mouth marketing goals for your business? Why not set referral marketing goals for your business?

Consider the significance of these questions as they relate to all your 2007 goals, but in particular, your word of mouth marketing goals!