Referral Marketing: Value the Whole!

The other night, I was watching the final episode of Grey's Anatomy ... mostly because it was the only thing on tv that offered any real acting. During the episode, one doctor was helping to comfort a seriously injured young man who was encased in concrete. The patient began to discount his life as a waste since the girl he tried so hard to impress was seemingly not impressed at all. The doctor, wise beyond her years, told the young man that he needed to always focus on the whole ... not just the pieces of his life. It's the pieces that make up the whole beautiful thing ... without all the pieces (good things and bad), the whole is not complete.

Consider how this applies to you in your referral marketing efforts. The pieces all come together to complete the entire package. Missing pieces leave gaps, voids, and vacancies. When the pieces are joined together, like a puzzle, they create something beautiful ... more referral business!!

What are the pieces to your referral marketing efforts?? Here are a few that come to mind right now: your referral partners, where you network, who you network with, your messages, your image and identity, your network around you, what you give to others, how you give to others, your attitude, your credibility, your referability, your approachability, your likeability, the benefits you provide, etc., etc.

What pieces are you missing? What pieces are you focusing on so much that you fail to see the beauty of the whole?