Referral Marketing: Under-valued Networks

The other day, I got a referral for a gentleman in California who wanted to buy my book, "The 29% Solution". I sent him the details on how to buy the book ... so he did. As we continued to communicate, I told him that my co-author, Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, was practically in his back yard and that he might want to look up the organization.

He believed that referral networking groups near him contained too many people in professions like florist, party clowns, jewlery reps, cosmetic agents, etc. He also believed that if those referral groups had bankers, mortgage, and attorneys in the group, he might be more interested.

I saw this an opportunity to enlighten this fellow a little. From my perspective, too many people under-value the network of the "non-corporate" entities like florists, clowns, and cosmetics. These people have a huge network of people behind them that people with blinders on can't even see and therefore often miss tremendous opportunities. Case in point ... one of the largest referrals ever passed in BNI (in terms of $$ generated) came from a Mary Kay representative.

It's pretty clear to me ... any networking group should consider it an asset to have these folks around their table. Remember ... you never know who they know or who their people know. You never know who they may have relationships with from prior points in their life. It's like a box of chocolates ... you never know what's inside the box!!