Referral Marketing: Too Much Rain!

The mighty Mississippi River is raging into farmlands and flooding anything in its path. Homes, businesses and complete towns are underwater. Where I live in Pittsburgh, we have seen 24 of 30 days in April with rainfall and more than twice the amount of rain we should have in May! Nature has gone mad! There's just too much rain and today it's 50 degrees in the middle of May. Ughhhh.

People are beginning to wonder if the sun will ever shine again long enough to dry the ponded lawns and warm the flowers that should be bright and beautiful by now. I can only watch in wonder at how the robins and bluebirds are keeping their babies warm and dry. Is Mother Nature mad at us?

What happens when it rains referrals on your business? Can you ever get to the point of having too many referrals? My short answer is YES, you can get to that point. HOW you get to that point is for another rainy day. WHAT you do when you get this is today's topic.

If you focus on a specific niche market that suits you to a tee, you are likely to get more referrals than you can handle. Then what?! You need to have a way of handling the excess so it doesn't flood your reputation. You can only handle so much until important things start to give ... follow-up gets slack, customer service suffers,etc. Now is the time to have great referral relationships! Who do you know that you can refer some of these clients to who will care for them as well as you? Who do you know who would partner with you in some way to handle the clients that aren't the best match for you? Who can handle your overflow?

Strategic alliances like this make for good business. You win ... your clients/prospects win ... your colleague wins ... and your relationships win. What more could you want? And the best part is ... nobody drowns from the rain.

Referral Marketing: Strengthen Your Relationships

Have you ever noticed that some over the counter drugs are listed as "extra stength"? If you really have a splitting headache, you might grab the extra stength version of Tylenol as opposed to regular strength. Why? Because the hope is that the extra strength variety will do more for you. The assumption is that if there is more strength in the product, you will see and feel results faster. Right?

That's exactly why you need to strengthen your relationships. The more strength in your relationships, the more they can and are willing to do for you. The more they do for you, the more results you'll see.

Referrals don't come from people ... they come from the strong relationships you have with people. So, how can you strengthen your relationships? Here's one example:

A friend of mine (who happens to be a client and referral source) discovered earlier this year that his wife has breast cancer. Once they were able to breathe again, they decided that they were going to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Mother's Day. They put out the word for others to support them. I organized a small team to join the walk and raise funds for the cause. Several other clients of mine gave donations to support my friend.

Supporting the efforts of your referral sources does not go un-noticed. When you offer your support out of kindness and authenticity, relationships gain strength and durability. Who can you support today?