Referral Marketing: Establishing Routines!

Some of you may not know this yet ... over the weekend, we got a new puppy!! This is her a few months ago when she was at the rescue shelter in Ohio. She's part german sheperd, part lab, and part golden retriever (mostly). She's an absolute sweetheart! Her name is Karlie.

Karlie is adapting well to her new living arrangements. She had been in a foster home, a horse farm, for the last four months (she's almost six months now). Initially, she was very shy with all the sounds of the house ... tv, microwave, stairs, etc. Everything we take for granted, it seemed like she was experiencing for the first time. She's a very calm puppy and gets along great with the cats. She loves anyone who will rub her belly! She's so good and so calm that I just might train her to visit kids in the hospital or elderly in their nursing homes!

She's learning things very quickly as we establish her routines. Routines are a critical part of training a new puppy. They like to know what to expect. Routines provide reassurance. Routines help to set expectations.

From my perspective, establishing routines can significantly help your referral process. Your referral partners need to know what to expect from you and you from them. There really should be no surprises. When you establish your referral routines, it becomes easier to refer each other. When it becomes easier, you both will get more referrals ... and that's what it's all about!!

Referral Marketing: The Importance of Branding!

What does it mean to "brand" your business? How important is it to establish a brand identity? Does it really have an impact on whether or not someone chooses to buy from you?

Wikipedia states: "Marketers engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand image may be developed by attributing a "personality" to or associating an "image" with a product or service, whereby the personality or image is "branded" into the consciousness of consumers. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. One goal in brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of the company present. For example, Disney has been successful at branding with their particular script font (originally created for Walt Disney's "signature" logo)."

I feel that branding plays a big part in whether or not someone chooses to buy from you. I also feel that establishing a successful brand also enhances your referability! When other people can stand behind your brand with confidence and security, they feel that they can refer with you with the same confidence.

In the near future, you will begin to notice my brand identity shifting to Referral Institute. I am now the owner of the Referral Institute franchise in Western Pennsylvania and in order to align with a well-established brand and simplify/clarify my brand identity, I will soon be shifting my website, email and the title of this blog to reflect that brand. I've made a practice thus far to practice what I teach ... I can't stop now! So, stay tuned.

Referral Marketing: Informational Support

Have you ever realized that the most successful people are often supported by other successful people? As a business owner, it's wise to surround yourself with people who can provide you with informational support to help you reach your goals. Often times, we get caught up in trying to do too much by ourselves!

For example, I've learned to surround myself with people who are very good at areas that are my weakness. I am not very technically inclined ... therefore, I have some close contacts that help me alot in that area ... Linda, Jason and Bob ... thank you! There is no way that I could be successful without their support. They are my experts! I depend on them.

However, I could still be doing better. So, I have a renewed commitment to find more people who can support me with information. I strongly encourage you to do the same!

Referral Marketing: What's behind the wall?

This week, we started renovations on our kitchen! If you've ever done a renovation before, you know that you can almost always count on a few surprises ... because you never quite know what's behind the walls!! In our case, we discovered that a few little, furry critters were living behind the walls!! We found a very old stash of dog food tucked between the studs, obviously stored for a long, cold winter, many moons ago. Now, when I looked closely, I noticed that it wasn't my dog's dog food ... so, it must have been from a previous owner! Anyway, it seemed obvious that something had worked long and hard to find that stash and store it in a safe place. However, the one bad thing is that it must have never been utilized!

It's kinda funny but I see the same thing happen with how people treat their business relationships ... especially their clients ... when it comes to referrals! They work so hard to impress their clients ... building up a stash of credibility, trust, and loyalty. And then, for some reason, it's never really utilized to generate ongoing referrals from those clients. The stash is left behind.

Asking clients for referrals can be a delicate matter. You must have a strong relationship with that client and be very confident that you have done your best work for them. Asking too soon could harm the relationship. Be sure to allow your stash to develop fully before asking for referrals from your client! But by all means, don't allow your stash to gather dust behind the walls ... if you're going to work that hard ... make it work for you.

Referral Marketing: Determination!

Yesterday, as the snow was beginning to melt in our 60+ degrees weather, I noticed the first signs of spring ... crocus popping through the soil! Then, as I looked closer, I noticed that they were pushing themselves up between some rocks that I had laid for a rock border. All of a sudden, it dawned on me that I had inadvertently covered up my tiny crocus bulbs with this rock border! As I picked up a few more rocks, there underneath were the tiny crocus, sprouting on their sides determined to seek sunlight under the edge of the rock! I was shocked to see that they had even sprouted ... that's determination.

Too many people that I meet lack the determination to stick with their referral marketing plan because it takes too much work or it takes too much time to develop the relationships. Many people join networking groups and then give up because they "didn't get anything out of it".

The foundation of referral marketing is relationships that grow stronger through reciprocity. Developing a referral network does take time and it certainly takes commitment and determination. It also takes WORK ... that's why it's called Net-WORK! If you don't give first, you can't really expect to get anything in return.

Don't allow yourself to become one of the statistics that drop out of a relationship or a networking group just as it's about to begin giving back to you. Try as you will to match the determination of my little crocus plants ... if you work at it ... the pay off will be worth it!