Comments on: Episode 130: “Three Common Delusions About Referral Sources”

By: Russ Ferris

Russ Ferris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:06:52 +0000

Dear Ivan,
That was a great article! I agree with all the points you made, except one: in my opinion a person needs more than just a 30 second (tiny) “sound bite”. I feel 1 minute (minimum) is needed for a few reasons, that I don’t have space here to go into. Also, especially since groups often have new visitors or new members who were not at the previous meeting and did not hear your previous 30 second “bite”, and you would have to be somewhat different at your next 30 sec. “bite” (since it is so short) which would be at their first meeting. Thus, they would have only half of what they otherwise would have heard from you; and a fragmented 30 sec. bite, w/o the previous “bite” may not be well understood by those new people. That delima can also happen to fairly new members who had to miss the previous meeting and your previous 30 sec. “bite”. All of those people I mentioned would have to try to akwardly process/piece together who you are & what you do, and try to remember it for their next monthly meeting. Russ.

By: Gina Demangos

Gina Demangos — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:23:02 +0000

I completely agree that you must train your referral team. Teach them how to refer you and what to listen for.

By: David Demangos

David Demangos — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:48:17 +0000

I am personally experiencing this delusion right now! “Another common delusion wrapped around referrals is “The more referrals, the better”. Everybody wants lots of referrals, but they need to be bonafide, good referrals!
You want a good number of referrals (not more than you can handle) and you want to be able to close a lot of them ($). This is why BNI works so well- you create a “pipeline” and can actually predict referrals! How cool is that?”

By: Mark Sternefeld

Mark Sternefeld — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:40:46 +0000

Excellent information. I am going to use this for our educational moment at this weeks meeting.

Thanks Dr. Ivan

By: Shawn McCarthy

Shawn McCarthy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:02:03 +0000

I really like how Ivan talked about moving from one networking group to another and how poor of a decision that is. I always tell people: “You’ll have to start all over building relationships”. People do business with people they know, like, and trust- and trust takes time! BNI (and business in general) is NOT a “get rich quick” scheme. BTW- if you know of a “get rich quick” scheme that works, let me know what it is so I can go there!

Another common delusion wrapped around referrals is “The more referrals, the better”. Everybody wants lots of referrals, but they need to be bonafide, good referrals!
You want a good number of referrals (not more than you can handle) and you want to be able to close a lot of them ($). This is why BNI works so well- you create a “pipeline” and can actually predict referrals! How cool is that?

There are lots of delusions out there. I remember many years ago I helped a youngster learn how to play basketball. He was small (by basketball standards) and that worried him. I then reminded him of one of my favorite sayings: “If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito”!

Shawn McCarthy BNI ED Ventura County, Ca.

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Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:07:35 +0000

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