Author: Bill Cates

A subscriber to our weekly blog asked me this question, “How do I ask for referrals without looking like that creepy referral guy?”

While I had to laugh, I do understand this concern that many people have around asking for referrals (and I should really say “Introductions”).

There are two simple strategies you can implement today. You’ll look back and wonder, “Why was I ever uncomfortable with this?”

Our brains are processing thousands of pieces of information every minute. And this, by the way, consumes a tremendous amount of energy. One way our brain attempts to minimize its energy consumption is by always asking the question, “Is this relevant? Do I need to pay attention to this? No? Great. What about this? A threat? An opportunity? And so it goes every waking minute of our lives.

I submit, therefore, that the most important ingredient in getting and keeping someone’s attention is relevance.

If there is one book responsible for creating more millionaires than any other, my guess it would have to be Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

One of the many concepts Hill covers is the power of the Mastermind. He said, “When two people get together to brainstorm solutions to problems, it creates a third mind.” This third mind can create ideas that wouldn’t happen with an individual on his/her own.

Many people call this a “study group.” Regardless of what you call it, do you have one? And is it bringing you the results you set out to achieve?

I’ve been using the power of the Mastermind for over 20 years. Here are a few ideas hope you’ll find useful.

Phone calls with prospects should always be mutually qualifying – so therefore there’s a delicate balance between your learning about them and them learning about you.

When you talk about what you do to prospects, you want to make it as relevant to them as possible.

The more engagement you can create before your first call and the more you can learn about your prospect, the more relevant, compelling, and effective you’ll be.

Irrelevance is a deadly poison to be avoided at all cost!

Your client relationships can be broken down into three stages.

Stage II of your client relationships is the “New Client Experience” or “Onboarding Process.”

You can deliver a Welcome Package and/or drip a few items over the first week or two. Either will help you create a “Wow” experience that helps you engage with your new clients on both a “personal level” and “value added level.”

Here are 7 ways I’ve seen a number of businesses use to create great first impressions and even generate referrals without asking for them.

When you’re on the phone with a prospective client – do you wing it? Do you play it by ear? Or do you have a specific process you know usually works if you follow it?

The 4 bases you want to touch to help you score more high-level clients are:

1. Create Engagement with the Prospect
2. Discover & Quantify Their Gap
3. Provide Value Quickly
4. Tell Your Prospect You Think You’re a Great Fit and Why

Make sure you click the link to this blog post where I go deeper with each of these strategies.

For this moment in time, I’m going to assume you are highly referable. I mean, you are getting referrals and introductions without asking for them – from prospects, clients, and centers of influence – right?

Your referability (or lack thereof) will make or break your ability to get referrals and turn them into introductions.

Since you don’t want to ask too soon or ask too often, how else can you be appropriately proactive? By promoting referrals.

Your prospects think you are there to sell them something.

Even if you are 100 percent committed to doing what’s in their best interest – which could mean you not winning the business – they still think your motive is to get them to do business with you.

So how do you shift this dynamic?

I have two totally different approaches for you to consider. Both can work. And, yes, it’s possible to blend the two. (I’ll show you how.)

And check out the video associated with this blog for some concrete ways professionals put these strategies into action.

Are you a lazy event networker? Could your event networking use a kick in the kiester?

The most successful event networkers take the time to do one thing that most people don’t (that’s why they’re so successful).

They use the powerful strategy or Personalized Event Networking.

It’s simple! It’s easy! It will produce results for you!

If I ran into a good prospect for you and your business, how would I know it and how would you like me to introduce them to you?

That phrase summarizes the topic for this week’s blog post. Last week I provided a checklist of things you can do to create more productive referral relationships.

Let’s drill down a little deeper, shall we?

We don’t want Word of Mouth! We don’t want weak Referrals! We DO want Connections or Introductions! We want prospective clients waiting and wanting to hear from us. We want prospects who are a perfect fit for our business, ready to do business with us.

Wow! Wouldn’t that be nice? So how do we do that?