I just returned home from a fantastic fishing trip to Alaska. It was spectacular. (That's me on the left!) Since we were there to specifically catch salmon, which you see in this photo, I learned alot. I learned how to fish for four different kinds of fish ... king, silver, and sockeye salmon and halibut.Each one requires a different technique and different bait ... some no bait all! As we became more efficient with the technique, our success increased dramatically. We brought home 86 pounds of fillets!
Referral marketing has it's own technique, too. If done well, you can achieve incredible results. If done well, you can literally grow your business entirely by referrals. If done poorly, you can waste a lot of time, spin your wheels, invest in risky relationships, and end up with a bunch of dead-end leads.
I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of leads ... especially when the person giving them to me THINKS they're giving me a referral. Do you know the difference between a lead and a referral? Since I can't hear your response, I'll give you my definition of a "lead" and the next post will define a "referral". You can add your comments, too, if you like.
LEAD ... In my book, a "lead" is mostly just information. It might typically, sound like this ...
"Hey Michelle, you said you wanted to meet financial advisors. Here's the name and phone number of someone in my Chamber who is a financial advisor. Tell him John said to call."
Typically, the person passing the lead really has no relationship to John at all. And ... typically, if I were to call this lead, they would respond, "John who?" In this case, I would thank the person and ask him how well he knows John. If he says "really well", I would ask him to arrange an introduction for me in person. I would also coach him a bit on what he might say to that financial advisor on my behalf. If instead he said, "not that well", I would thank him for the information and tell him that I'll be asking around my network to find someone who can introduce me in person to John.
Most people don't realize that you have complete power over the quality of their referrals. You can choose to follow leads all day or you can coach and educate people how to bring you higher quality, bonafide referrals.
It's all in the technique ... just like if I wanted to catch a king salmon ... I certainly wouldn't be using the sockeye salmon technique!!
Time for a salmon dinner!!
