Glen Gould

Most business people intuitively know the types of other business people who will be good sources of referrals for their business.  People who sell title insurance, homeowners insurance, and handyman services know that a real estate agent will be a good referral source for them.  No doubt there are obvious cross-promotional opportunities in your industry as well.

But what most people do not consider are the not so obvious connection sources that we meet every day.  People generally think of each person they meet or connect with as a potential customer for their product or service.  A handyman knows that a real estate agent is a good referral source because he or she will be working with homeowners and buyers all the time.  However a handyman will likely look at an attorney as a potential customer and fail to recognize that the attorney knows well over 200 people who own homes.

It requires a shift in thinking.  While we do want to do business with the people we meet, the big win is when they refer us to the people they know that we will never meet without their referral. And the same holds true for them.  The handyman could provide virtually endless referrals for the attorney, insurance agent, and many other business people.

Referrals will come to you for a number of different reasons.  Professional, prompt, and price-conscious work will always drive referrals from others.  Those who are most active and visible in the community or the chamber of commerce will receive referrals more easily as well as those people who are naturally likeable.  And there will always be people in one industry looking for products and services in an industry they rely upon.

Our handyman will no doubt have several real estate agents referring business to him.  And each real estate agent that refers business to our handy man may have other handymen that he or she refers business to as well.  But in every case, no one should give two competitors the same referral. It never works.

If you want to rapidly expand your referral network, try the following exercise.  Sit down with pen and paper and determine all the potential sources of referrals for you and the potential people for whom you could be a referral source.  Then put in place a plan to connect with one person from each industry or profession that is not currently in your close contact network or sphere of influence.  A great place to do this is at the chamber of commerce where there will be numerous people seeking connections.  You will be amazed how quickly your network and business will grow when you do this exercise and follow through.  But remember, you should only have one close contact in each profession.

A close contact is your preferred vendor of choice, the one trusted resource you refer business to for that particular category.  Our handyman may begin with two or three plumbers to which he refers business.  He will refer one job to one plumber only.  As he builds his close contact network, he will choose which plumber becomes his vendor of choice.  He may still refer work to the other plumbers from time to time, but the vendor of choice is the plumber he refers most often.  The jobs he does not refer to his primary plumber will likely be jobs that do not fit for geographic, expertise, revenue, or other reasons. This way he remains a secondary referral source for the other plumbers as well.  Everyone wins.

Developing a close contact network of referral partners can be as formal or as loosely knit as you desire.  You may find it valuable to bring together your referral network for a periodic meeting to help everyone better connect and build their business.  One great source of new business is to have an event or meeting where each person in your close contact network is invited and asked to bring two other attendees.  While there will be competitors to be sure, the influx of new people and ideas will far outweigh the cross promotion of the competing attendees.

Put together a plan to develop your close contact network.  Think outside the box to referral sources that may not come to you naturally.  You’ll be amazed how easy it is to build your business using this technique.

If you are seeking a way to stand out from the crowd, perhaps no better opportunity exists than to host or sponsor an event that brings people together.  Whether it’s just an intimate group or a large crowd, hosting and sponsoring events provides excellent exposure, however there are significant risks as well.

Sponsoring an event is different from hosting an event.  To sponsor an event usually means that you are providing financial or in-kind support of an event produced by others.  A good example would be if you sponsored a local chamber of commerce luncheon.  You could provide financial support that would assist in promoting the event or paying for the lunch for the attendees.  Perhaps you could provide meeting space for a chamber mixer.  Or you might provide the printed invitations to the annual dinner.  In these examples, you would provide financial support either directly through cash payment or indirectly through in-kind service.  Both are important to the success of the event and you would be recognized as a sponsor of the event.  The chamber would do the rest.

Hosting an event is similar in that you would provide financial support through cash or in-kind service, but then you would also be producing the event.  You would invite the attendees, coordinate the venue, food, parking, and all the other aspects of the event to ensure it’s success.  Hosting an event is not for the faint of heart but the rewards often can be greater.  When hosting an event, you control who comes to the event since you have invited all the guests.  You can create the atmosphere that works best for the attendees and for you.  Done well, hosting an event can pay off in a big way.

Whether hosting or sponsoring, the exposure you and your company receive is invaluable.  Most people assume that sponsor and host companies are better established, more financially sound, and therefore better able to serve customers and clients.  Many companies use sponsorships to position their brand as a player in key markets that matter to them most.

A local bank is usually a big supporter of the local chamber of commerce while an energy or gas company may be a big supporter of green initiatives and programs.  The key is to find the group of people you wish to influence and target them with your sponsorship.  Often companies recognize that other organizations produce events better than they can and that they can gain influence through sponsorship of chambers and other cause centric groups.

Hosting events gives you the opportunity to reduce the target group to the key people you choose.  While sponsorship provides exposure and the opportunity to influence, hosting provides the opportunity to interact.  Often the cost of hosting an event is not much different than sponsoring an event, but the cost in hours of planning and executing can easily exceed the financial investment.  Nonetheless, if you or your staff have the ability to host an event, your investment will be easier to track than it will be when sponsoring events.

Most people and companies begin by sponsoring events.  This is a good place to start establishing your brand presence.  You will get noticed and we highly recommend sponsoring events that are congruent with your company mission and that attract your target market.

But we can’t urge you strongly enough to try hosting an event as well.  Start with a goal that is small and easily managed.  Perhaps you could invite six clients, prospects, or potential networking partners to a get together over coffee at your office.  Start small and learn through the experience.  Then expand your events to include more people, different formats, and different venues.  You may find it easier to spread the responsibility by co-hosting with a few friends, partners, or vendors.  And remember, vendors who sell you products that you ultimately sell to others are good prospects for sponsoring your hosted events.  You will need to have a few successes under your belt before you will get vendor co-op dollars.

A bit of caution:  While it does happen, rarely do people hold sponsors accountable when an event isn’t a total success.  But when you host an event you will be the sole party responsible for the experience of the attendee.  If it goes well or if it goes poorly, you will receive the credit.  So plan well.  Additionally, people are becoming event-fatigued.  Unless your event has a unique twist, you may have trouble succeeding.  That’s why putting a few people together that have a common interest is key.  If you are unsure how to put the right people together or what to do to make the event appealing and different, we can help.  Just email us.

Sponsoring the right event or series of events can put you in front of your target market in a way that no other advertising can but it is hard to measure.  Hosting an event with the right invitees can position you and your company as the industry leader regardless of your experience.  Remember, people do business with people they know, like, and trust.  When they attend a well-run event that you have produced, they will get to know, like, and trust you much more quickly.  Try sponsoring or hosting events to make your business grow.

Attend networking events and before long you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself to a crowd.  While what you say is very important, how you say it will determine if your carefully crafted message (your Magical Networking Moment) will be heard.  It’s not as simple as speaking loudly enough to be heard.

Most people intuitively know that they must speak up in front of a crowd, especially in a large room without a microphone.  But even the most seasoned speaker has limited experience with different acoustical characteristics. Flooring, ceiling material, furnishings, and wall coverings play a role in how well your voice will carry in a room.

A good rule of thumb is to remember that the harder the surface, the more your voice will carry and be reflected.  You will need to speak louder in rooms with carpet, soft wall coverings, abundant plush seating, and textured ceiling tile since these materials will absorb sound.  Conversely, you will speak softer and more slowly in a school cafeteria where you will find hard floors, chairs, tables, and ceiling materials since your voice will carry and even echo is some situations.

Regardless of venue, every event has its share of soft-spoken folks who fail to be heard. Here are a few tips to ensure that you will be heard every time you introduce yourself.

1.    Get there early.  If you arrive early you can test your voice in the room.  This will ensure that you will be loud enough, but it will also ensure that you won’t be too loud too.
2.    Choose your seat carefully.  Choose a seat near the front of the room or at least on the perimeter of the crowd.  You don’t want to have your back to anyone.
3.    Be ready when it is your turn and stand up.  Read my previous articles on Stand, Pause, Breathe, Lean Forward, and Speak Loud Enough to be Heard.
4.    Slow down!  Most people speak too fast and therefore do not enunciate properly.  While you know exactly what you are talking about, the audience doesn’t.  Give the listener time to grasp what you are saying.
5.    Remember that less is more.  Give the audience only one or two points to remember. Chances are they will not remember much.

It is important to remember your goal.  You want others to come up to you and ask for more information.  You cannot and should not try to be all things to all people.  If you carefully craft your message and deliver it with the proper volume and pace, you will find that you will attract all the right people.  Following the tips above will ensure that the right people will hear you in every crowd.

Do you want to see your sales soar, your relationships blossom, and your stress level decrease?  Unclip your electronic leash.  That’s right, turn off your mobile phone or better yet, leave it in the car when you arrive at a business meeting, networking event, or dinner with a loved one.  Before you immediately dismiss the idea, consider the following.

As hard as it may be to believe, back in the last century there was a time when no one had a mobile phone.  No one had access to the current Tweets from their friends, texts from their co-workers or weather updates from the web.  And people got along just fine.

Opportunity and outstanding situation marketing has driven us to believe that we should not (or cannot) function without our mobile device.  We have been conditioned to believe that we are less effective, less connected, and less important without a mobile phone.  And while recent studies indicate that people feel more stressed if they are without their mobile phone, these same studies indicate that the use of electronic communication is a tool to help people find “real world friends” (Keeping it real… ‘Offline’ communications still key to connecting with ‘Digital Generation’ DSSResources) .  In essence, people use mobile phones to enhance, not create relationships that matter.

And in a relationship that matters, what behaviors do you exhibit?  When you are with a premier client, do you answer your mobile phone or text to others?  When sharing an intimate dinner with your mate, do you text to others or receive calls from friends?  If you do, stop it now.

Aren’t there times when you intuitively know that you should silence your phone or leave it behind?  Would you answer your phone in a theatre?  At the symphony?  In the library?  Society is changing its tolerance of mobile phones and the abusers who use them.  The signs are everywhere.  In banks, at retail check out counters, and at virtually every governmental agency, mobile phone use is no longer permitted.

The reasons are many, but the simplest explanation is that we no longer wish to be told we are less important than the person who isn’t even here.  When you answer a mobile phone call or text a friend in the presence of others, you are telling them that they are not as important as the people you want to connect with who aren’t with you right now.

The biggest problem we have with mobile phones is they have become habitual.  Just like yawning, when others look at their phones or are texting, we feel compelled to look or text too.   Mobile phones are arguably the cigarettes of the new society.  We unknowingly light them up by checking for texts, messages, and missed calls.  For many, making a call the moment they get in the car has become a habit, just like lighting a cigarette was in the past.

Clearly there are times and circumstances where keeping your phone accessible is required.  You wife is expecting a child, you are expecting an important call, or you work in a field where you are on call.  The examples of acceptable reasons to keep your phone handy are as ubiquitous as phones themselves.  But stop for a moment and ask,  “Do I really need my phone right now?”

Try this test.  Look back through your call and text log over the past day.  How many calls and texts did you make and receive?  How many of those calls and texts were crucial?  How many were time sensitive?  How many really mattered at that moment?  You’ll find that most of the interactions on your mobile device are brain candy.  They keep you occupied.  And occupied while with a significant client or loved one is distracted.  You lose.

When you begin to focus on the people in front of you as much as you do your mobile device, you will begin to change the nature of your relationships.  Better relationships are the source of more sales and less stress.  Lose the leash.

We’ve all been there.  We are at a networking event and it’s time for the elevator speeches.  And one by one they drone one in a rhythmic fashion.  “I’m Bob with Bobs Inc.”  “I’m Mary with Mary’s Cleaning.”  “I’m Steve with Steve’s Warehouse.”  Each introduction more mundane than the last.  YAWN!

But then something unusual happens.  We find that we’re listening to someone more intently.  And before we know it, we’re hooked.  We forget about the time and our wonderful buffet lunch, and find ourselves deep inside another world.  In this new world we are experiencing new and exciting things.  What is the difference?  A story.

When delivering your elevator speech (Magical Networking Moment), using stories will capture the imagination and move the audience to take action much faster than the facts.  So present the facts in a success story.  A success story is any recount of an experience a customer has had with you, your product, your service, or your business.  Success stories are extremely powerful.

Most people are thinking about themselves most of the time.  This is the challenge every marketer has when conveying information about their products and services.  How do we break the preoccupation of the audience? People will naturally listen longer and more intently to a story than to a pitch.  What’s more, people are naturally curious and want to know how a story ends.

And when a story applies to them, people have the ability to project themselves into the story and really see the success happening for them too.  When they do, you have the rare opportunity to use their self-focus to your benefit. When people are able to think about themselves while using your product or service it translates into more business for you.

Be certain that your story is true as honesty is always the best policy and your integrity and credibility are keys to networking success.  And resist the temptation to embellish for effect.  Those who relate to the story won’t need a larger than life experience to be drawn in.  That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t bring life to the story.  Include sensory words like saw, felt, tasted, and heard to bring the story to life.

And for those who are new to the company, use a story from a seasoned veteran.  Again, confirm the truth of the story but once confirmed, share the success story with audiences until you have your own.  Tell a success story every chance you get.  You may use different stories or the same one over and over again.  Remember there are always new ears listening.

One bit of caution when using stories.  Just as the audience will be drawn in and will loose track of time, so will you if you haven’t practiced.  Don’t attempt to tell a story off the cuff.  Practice your story in front of a mirror until you have the right facial expressions and you have a handle on the time it takes to share.  Telling the story masterfully is a skill that must be developed and practiced.

Storytelling has been with us since our first words.  Cave dwellers and ancients from all parts of the globe used pictures to tell stories.  Today we continue to share our most powerful lessons through stories.  You can use stories to tell in a more interesting way the story of your product or service and more people will be interested.  Use the success story to win more business and build better relationships. Tell the story.