Epiode 54: “Responsibility and Referrals”

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Synopsis

If your personal referral network isn’t working the way you expect, it’s time to turn things around. Are you helping them in the same way you want them to help you? The best way to get your network motivated is to be motivated yourself.

Before you blame your network for the lack of referrals, ask yourself:

• Have you followed up with the referrals?
• Have you educated your network about your business? Your job is not to close a sale, but to train a sales force.
• Have you made it clear who you’re looking for as clients? If you’re looking for vice-presidents of major corporations, say so.
• Have you built up the trust that encourages people to refer their own best clients to you?
• Are you holding your network accountable? A BNI group is not a kaffe klatsch.

It’s your responsiblity to make your referral network work for you.
Sponsored by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 054 -

Priscilla Rice:
Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley California. I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, How are you?

Ivan Misner:
Doing great Priscilla, thank you.

Priscilla:
What interesting topic do you have to share with us today?

Ivan:
Today, I’m going to talk about responsibility and referrals. I’m going to do it from the context of not just BNI and the members participation in BNI, but also from the perspective of members and their clients, members and other networking organizations like Chambers. It’s really about the relationship with their own personal network.

Oftentimes I’ve seen individuals in organizations get very frustrated because they’re not getting the business they want fast enough. That frustration then plays itself out by them saying, “Well, you know, it’s the members, it’s the venue…” It’s a laundry list of things that are the reasons why they’re not getting referrals. But the truth is, a referral network, and I mean not just your own networking organization that you belong to, but your own personal network, if it’s not working the way you expect, then you have to do things to turn that around.

There are several things I generally hear that are flags for me on this issue. One is, my network’s not motivated, the people, my referral network they’re just not motivated. When I hear that, I usually tell people, “That may be true, but what are you doing to compel them to refer you?” Do you follow up on a regular basis, are you interested in what they do, or are you more concerned about what they can do for you? In other words, are you helping them in the same way you want them to help you? So the best way to get your network motivated is really, frankly, to be motivated yourself, and to show that everyday in your networking opportunities with these people. Sometimes I’ll hear people talk about their referral network. They’ll say, and I don’t mean just a BNI chapter, it could be their own personal network with their customers. People will say something like, “the referrals that I’m getting are fickle.”

Or I got business, they used me once, but they never used me again. It’s possible that you may think referrals are fickle. But consider this, if you remember to turn the single sale into a regular loyal client relationship or contact that prospect in a timely manner, or did you insure that the client saw the best you had to offer, so when you get a referral, you have to do your best and you have to follow up with them. You have to learn how to ask for referrals. Every referral is different and that may make things feel fickle, but if you’re consistent in your response to how you work on those referrals, you’re going to see consistent patterns of success over time. Here’s another one I hear,” they don’t know my business.” The people who I’m getting referrals from don’t know my business. Well, you have to ask yourself, what have you done to educate them about what you do? Have you kept them abreast of new products or services that you’ve added. Have you given them digestible information so they’re able to retain the vital points needed to promote your business. One of the things I tell BNI members in a BNI context is when you go to a BNI meeting, your job is not to close a sale, it’s to train a sales force.

Priscilla:
Right

Ivan:
It’s to train people how to refer you. Here’s a real common one. It’s my last one. The people I have, the people in my personal network, don’t have the contacts I need. Well, you know what? Unless you’ve gone through their entire data base of contacts and disqualified everyone one of them, you may have underestimated your networks contacts, not to mention who their contacts have as contacts.

The ripple effect of connections, you have 30 people who know 100 people who know 100 people and so it’s the contacts of your contacts. What you’ll find is, that a lot of people have the exact clientel you’re looking for in their data base. The problem is, they don’t know exactly who you’re looking for because you haven’t educated them effectively.

Priscilla:
Right

Ivan:
Maybe you haven’t built the trust necessary for them to give you their best clients. It takes time to build the trust and then you have to learn how to ask. I have found that you don’t have to, if you’re looking for vice presidents of major corporations as referrals of clients, just because your own data base, your own network, may not be a vice president of a major corporation, I guarantee you they have contact s who can make those kinds of connections. Most business people do, and it’s just a matter of getting to know them well enough and teaching them how to refer business to you. Here’s the bottom line, if you’re not getting all the referrals you think you should be getting, it’s all your fault.

I said that once at a conference and I made people really, really mad at me, a very new age conference, and some woman got really mad and said,” You can’t tell people it’s their fault!” And I said,” O.K. what would you say instead?” She said, “Well, you don’t say it’s your fault, you say it’s all your responsibility.”

Ivan:
O.K. I can live with that. If you’re not getting all the referrals you need, it’s your responsibility.

Priscilla:
Right

Ivan:
You have to motivate your referral sources. You have to teach them about your business. You have to have a system so that the referrals don’t feel fickle. You have to go deep in the relationship so you can discover the context that you’re looking for. See, one of the strengths of referral network is that everyone becomes friends. But one of the weaknesses of a referral network is that everyone becomes friends, and sometimes friends don’t like to hold friends accountable. With friends, it becomes social and they’re not focused on doing business. So in the BNI context, it’s really, really important that BNI groups don’t turn into coffee clutches, but they stay focused on results, and stay focused on building relationships. You do these things I’m talking about, and pay attention to those kinds of issues, you’re going to generate business in a BNI group.

Priscilla:
I think that’s really, really good advice. I also think it takes time. Maybe the right opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet. I’ve been in a group for five years and it just happened that I need to remodel my bathroom. Now I’m able to use three or four of our members, but it took all this time for that to happen.

Ivan:
Sure. And then once you’ve used them, it’s easier for you to refer other people to them. People will come into your house, they’ll see the work, and they’ll say how nice. It’s then easy for you to refer them. And that kind of thing is about generating long-term relationships, but it doesn’t happen overnight.

Priscilla:
Right. You have to be patient.

Ivan:
Yep. The guess the last thing I would say is that if your referral marketing program isn’t working, it’s your responsibility to make sure it does. Focus on these things that I’ve been talking about here today and you’ll make that happen.

Priscilla:
Well that’s great information and we can’t hear it too many times. Thank you Dr. Misner. I think that’s it for this week. I just want to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by Networkingnow.com which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thanks for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we’ll see you next week on the official BNI Podcast.