Episode 156: “A Referral Is a Referral, Right? Wrong.” Part 2

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Synopsis

Make sure you listen to Part 1 of this topic.

This week Dr. Misner addresses the next five levels of referrals, starting with number six. Each level is more desirable than the last.

1. Your referral source makes a personal phone call on your behalf.
2. Your referral source arranges a meeting between you and the prospect.
3. Your referral source introduces you to the prospect in person.
4. Your referral source assesses the need and interest of the prospect.
5. A closed deal: your referral source makes the sale for you.

Your best source of referrals is your power partner, because that person comes into contact with prospective clients and customers all the time.

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 156 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, which is a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla. Thank you very much.

Priscilla:
What do you have for us today?

Ivan:
Well, we have a follow-up from last week’s podcast; this is Part 2 about referral levels. Not all referrals are created equal. And last week I talked about that fact, that referrals aren’t equal and that there are different levels of a referral. The more time and effort you put into your referral sources, into qualifying, educating, and encouraging prospects for your referral sources, the higher the quality and level of referral.

So I talked about Level 1 through Level 5 last week. And Level 1, frankly, is not much better than a cold call; we really shouldn’t be giving out Level 1 referrals. But Level 5 is really a letter of introduction and promotion. I ended on that, and so let me start with Level 6, which is an introductory call and promotion. It’s another level up in terms of effort with your referral source.

If you make a personal phone call on their behalf, it takes preparation and effort, but a telephone call is more effective than a letter for paving your way to communicate with prospects. As I said earlier, given a Level 1, you still have 95 percent of the work to do, which is not much better than a cold call. So the referral levels that I’m giving are definitely more desirable as you work your way up from 5 to 6 to 7.

Level 7 referral is to arrange a meeting. When your referral source arranges a meeting, they move beyond the role of promoter to that of facilitator by taking the responsibility of working on the details of getting you and the prospect together. This is a big time referral effort and I would consider a very high level referral.

Number 8, or Level 8 referral is an in-person introduction and promotion. It’s more than just arranging the meeting; at this level, your referral source is making a serious commitment of time and energy to support your business by agreeing to serve as an intermediary in a face-to-face instruction. So you literally introduce both parties together. I think this is a real demonstration of the deep trust and approval of your product or service, and it can substantially raise the referral’s effectiveness with a prospect.

A Level 9 referral is an assessment of need and interest. In this level, your referral source has really done the work of assessing the need of a prospect and may have your product or service themselves and have gauged the prospect’s interest in learning more about it. And this really enables you to focus your selling efforts on needs that you know the prospect has intention to fill. And so it’s where somebody knows you well and they’re able to represent your product or service. And we’ve all been there with some products or services. I mean, there are some people’s work that we are zealots about, we love what they do, and so we almost make the sale for them in effect by saying, “Oh, yeah. They do this and they do that, and this is an example of it.” So it’s a very, very high level of referral where you are assessing the person’s needs and giving them feedback on what kind of product or service they need from this person. By the time you put them together, it’s almost a closed deal.

And the Level 10 referral is a closed deal. It’s the top level. The sale has really been closed before the contact even meets the prospect, and it’s solely based on the strength of the referral source’s efforts. There’s really nothing else required at this level except to deliver the product or service and collect payment. And these are really rare, but they happen.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
I’ve given referrals, and I’ve talked to people and presented the product or service so well that they basically said, “Boy, just have them call me; I’m in, I’ll buy.”

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
And when that happens, it’s a done deal. Those referrals are a thing of beauty, but you have to remember they’re rare, and they tend to come from the people who really know you best and can represent what you do very effectively.

So what we’ve done this week and last week, we’ve talked about a Level 1 referral, which is a fairly marginal referral, to a Level 10 referral, which is basically a closed deal. One thing we know about referrals is that it’s easier for your referral source to close the deal than it is for you, in some ways, because your source already has a relationship with and trust with you. So a referral where the referral source has already closed the deal, it’s because of your relationship, and it really comes back down to the relationship issue. The stronger the relationships you have, the easier it is to get a higher level referral.

Priscilla:
Yeah, I was just thinking as you were talking that when you have a Power Partner relationship with somebody and you’ve done a lot of work together, you can give very high referrals.

Ivan:
Power Partners are a great example of what we’re talking about here. This is where you are in a Context Sphere, you have a symbiotic relationship, the caterer, the florist, the photographer, the travel agent. It’s a symbiotic relationship and it’s not just – a Context Sphere are the people that fit within that symbiotic relationship. Your Power Team are the people that you are actually implementing that relationship, you have a relationship, it’s not just a symbiotic profession, but it’s a symbiotic profession that is part of your efforts, your Power Team.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
So it’s sort of a subset, sub-circle of a Context Sphere. And you’re absolutely right; those are probably the best people that can give high level referrals.

You know, I always talk to members and people at my speaking engagements, and they say, “Well, aren’t your clients your best source of referrals?” And the truth is that’s not always the case. They can be a referral source for you, don’t get me wrong, and you should certainly be asking them for referrals. But oftentimes, your best source of referrals are people that come from your Power Team, just as you suggested, because they’re meeting the people that need your products and services all the time, because they’re in that symbiotic profession. And that’s probably one of the best places for you to focus fair amount of time and energy.

Priscilla:
And the trickiest part is just figuring out who your Power Partner could be and bringing that person into the chapter if you don’t have someone of that profession.

Ivan:
Yeah, you’re right. Figuring out what profession is the first part, and making sure that you’ve got somebody that you feel comfortable working with, that they’re good at what they do, that you like working with them. It’s hard working to work with a Power Partner that you don’t like to work with.

Priscilla:
Yeah, um-hmm.

Ivan:
If there’s any overlap in the services that you provide, there’s got to be a relationship where you trust that they’re not going to take away business but that they’re going to, in fact, give you the business that they don’t do and not try to take it away. And so you’re right, you’ve got to make sure you feel comfortable with this person, but as you develop that, wow, it’s reall probably one of the best sources of the higher level referrals.

Priscilla:
And the last thing I felt like saying is just that it’s so exciting when you can come up with a really great referral for somebody that’s pre-sold and they just get the work. It’s so wonderful.

Ivan:
Doesn’t it feel great!? It really does.

Priscilla:
Yeah!

Ivan:
One of the things I love about BNI is that it’s the classic example of Givers Gain mentality, that you really feel good to be able to help somebody else do well, especially in the economic climate that we’re in today. We are changing the way the world does business in BNI; we’re doing it by understanding how and why it’s important to give higher level referrals.

Priscilla:
Yeah, great!

Ivan:
Well, thanks, Priscilla. I appreciate it.

Priscilla:
Oh, you’re so welcome, Ivan. Thank you.

Well, I think that’s it for this week. So I would just like to remind you listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.