Episode 188: “What Does My Referral Network Need to Know to Pass Me Business?”

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Synopsis

Mike Macedonio joins Dr. Misner again this week to pick up where Episode 187 left off. So, what does your network need to know?

1. Referral marketing strategies. Invite a new BNI member to Member Success Program Training and go through it with them.
2. Who to refer to you. Make it easy for them to identify good prospects.
3. How to refer to you. Give them qualifying questions to ask, or a testimonial to share. Let them know your preferred next step.
4. Why they should refer you. Your number one responsibility is to make the referrer look good.

It’s important to get all four of these elements in place in order to generate a steady flow of referrals.

Find out more about Mike’s work at the Referral Institute, which has a strategic alliance with BNI.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 188 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, CA. I am joined today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you?

Ivan:
I am doing great, Priscilla, and this week I am in New Orleans for the Transformational Leadership Council, which I have talked about a couple of times on my podcasts. TLC is a business and training organization for transformational leaders. They invited me to join a few years ago when I met Jack Canfield. I met Jack Canfield at the same event in New Orleans. Well, not the same event, it was a different organization, but with my guest today on the call, Mike Macedonio. Mike was there when I met Jack Canfield about six or seven years ago, also in New Orleans. Mike, do you remember that meeting with Jack in New Orleans, where we did our first presentation on Truth or Delusion?

Mike:
I do remember that. It was a very memorable day, not only to meet Jack, but the entire day was quite special.

Ivan:
It really was. I am back in New Orleans at the TLC event today. I had an opportuntiy to meet a lot of members here as well. Today we are going to be talking about the question, what does my referral network really need to know to pass me business? Last week Mike was my guest on the podcast, and I have brought him back to do this second part, which ties in very well, which was the three core competencies to referral success.

Mike, just for listeners, in case you haven’t listened to the previous podcast, has been involved with BNI since 1997. He is currently the President of the Referral Institute, which is a referral training company throughout the world. He is also a really good friend and I spent time with Mike and the Referral Institute partners last week in Petaluma. Mike, it’s great to have you on the podcast.

Mike:
It’s great to be back, thank you.

Ivan:
Go ahead and talk about what your referral network needs to know to pass you business, and we are going to start with the knowledge of referral marketing strategies. That ties into the third topic that we talked about last week, which was to have an educated referral network. So do you want to pick it up from there?

Mike:
Last week, we were talking about the three core competencies. The third one was so critical- that our network is operating at the level we are, in terms of their knowledge of us and the referral process. We also talked about the importance of education, and once you get the education, to actually experience it with a referral partner and follow up with your referral network.

I look at networking training alone to be similar to going to a couples class alone. You are going to get some great information, but it is just not going to be as effective. One of the first things that we want to do is make sure that the people who plan to be in referral marketing with us understand referral marketing and understand referral strategies. So that is making sure that they understand how to play the sport.

Ivan:
That is a great analogy, by the way- going to a couples class alone. Have you ever seen anyone go through something like Member Success Program training with the person that they invited?

Mike:
Yes. On so many levels, it’s so powerful when the sponsor member brings the new member. They are showing the importance of that training, and at the same time, they are taking a huge step in building that relationship while spending time with them.

Ivan:
I think that is such a great idea, and I don’t see it done very often. That is a real nugget for the listeners here, going to Member Success Program training again with the person that you invited to BNI. That fits the strategy really well with having an educated referral network and doing that together. So do you want to jump into the second one, Mike? Who to refer to you?

Mike:
Really, your network needs to know who are your targeted prospects? Who do you want to meet? I think the key here is make it easy for them. Vague descriptions or assuming they understand what your business is and who would be a good prospect is most likely going to lead you to nobody. I know, Ivan, you have talked a lot about this in terms of techniques that BNI uses in chapters, 60-second or 30-second presentations. It’s critical that we need to make it easy for people to refer us. The phrase, “Specific is terrific,” is a great example of how to do that.

Ivan:
I think this is one of the areas where members really fall down. They are not really prepared. They just sort of wing it when it comes to their 60-second presentation. They are not specific enough. They are too vague, too general. “We are a full service_______” whatever, fill in the blank. That is nothing that anybody can hang their hat on. One of the things that I recommend is to think of the phrases, what I call the language of referrals: I can’t, I need, I want, I don’t know. What would someone say next to any of those phrases that would be a good referral for you? What if they said I can’t and then describe something that would be a good referral for you.

Whatever it takes, you need to think about how to be specific and how people can refer to you. It’s really important. Your third category is how to refer to you. How does that work?

Mike:
Once we think we have identified a possible prospect, the next step is the how? I have done this myself. We get so excited and think this is perfect. “You need to go talk to Ivan.” People take a step back. There should be a sales process in place of how people are going to refer to you. In other words, there are specific questions that they could be asking, similar to what you just mentioned, and maybe some qualifying questions in addition to that.

Do they have a testimonial they may be able to share about your business? “If this is an issue you are having, let me tell you about ____________ and the types of experiences their clients have had.” It helps to be able to share a testimonial.

Also, let them know what is the next step? Is this something you would like to call on? Would it be better if they called you? Or is there an event that you can go to and meet them in person? Make it very clear who they are and what they can do to make those personal introductions.

Ivan:
In the context of BNI, Mike, how do they apply this? What would you tell members in how they can apply these concepts of how to refer you at a BNI chapter?

Mike:
I think that one to one situations can be really powerful. All of those conversation starters are qualifying questions to ask on our behalf. We can’t assume that in the year that we have been doing business that another business owner is going to understand our business like we do, to know what questions to ask the prospect.

The second question we talked about is offering testimonials. Share with them or give them testimonials that they can share with their network. There are a number of ways that can be done. Certainly, verbally is one, but we have also seen where BNI members would share those testimonials through their websites or in their email signatures, which is another way of promoting their fellow members. Depending on the industry, I have seen plenty of referrals come through successfully simply by an email.

And then, with others, a personal introduction or a face to face. The best place to get the face to face introduction is actually at the BNI meeting. Bring them to the meeting. Again, depending on the nature of their work, this could be a great place to make this face to face.

Ivan:
Great idea. That is a good suggestion. I don’t think I talk about that very much, but when I was a BNI member, one of the things that I would do is bring somebody to the meeting and make the personal introduction. You jogged my memory on that one, Mike. That was a good idea.

So what does my referral network really need to know to pass me business? We talked about three things. Knowledge of referral marketing strategies. If you can go through training together, that is really powerful. We talked about being immersed in a culture of learning. Who to refer to you was the second one. How to refer to you is the third one. The last one is why refer you. Do you want to talk about that, Mike?

Mike:
The why is so crucial in this process. So many times we make the assumption that I am referring you because you are really good. Or, they are going to refer to you because you are a fellow BNI member. All of those are good reasons, but they are probably not going to be the true motivator of why they are going to want to refer you. This is something we should evaluate ahead of time and clearly communicate to our network- what we are going to do for them. Or find out what is important to them.

For example, one of the phrases that we say in the Referral Institute is that your number one responsibility when you receive a referral is make the referrer look good. If you are operating at that level-

Ivan:
Stop there. I want to talk about that for a second. That is the person who is giving you the referral. So hey, Mike, I know somebody who needs your product or service. Then you are saying that you need to make me look good to the person that you are about to do business with, right?

Mike:
Above everything else. Even above getting the business itself is most importantly to make you look good because you put your reputation on the line. If I do that, you are more likely to want to do it again and again and again.

Ivan:
That is a real interesting mindset there. That is something we don’t talk about much in BNI. Thyat particular strategy is a real powerful strategy. So when I give you a referral, your first mission is to make me look good to the person that I gave the referral to, the third party. So you are saying that you need to make me look good, and the more you do that for me, the more I want to refer you. Is that right?

Mike:
That is correct.

Ivan:
I want the listeners to think about that because that is a powerful thing that we rearely talk about in BNI. Education coordinators, that is a great topic to discuss at t BNI meeting as one of the reasons why to refer you. Great. I am sorry I cut you off. Go ahead, Mike.

Mike:
To expand on that, one of the things that we train our clients to do is in the first part of the conversation, when you meet with a referred prospect is to ask them about the person that referred them. Make them the first topic of conversation. You can also be reminding the prospect why you were recommended, and at the same time, you could be edifying the referral source by talking about your relationship with them and finding out more about their relationship with the person who referred you. This significantly changes the sales process when you go in with the relationship leveraging conversation.

Ivan:
I just love this concept. I think it is probably something that we could write about, you and I, Mike a lot more because this is one of those counter-intuitive things where people don’t think of this as a valuable aspect of networking, but this is really an important one. It’s a good reason for me to give you referrals.
Anything you want to say to summarize?

Mike:
Well, in summary, I believe that the referral process for our network really does include all four of these. It is really not a buffet, where you can take one or the other. They are all important. When you get all four in place, you are going to propel your referral network, you’re going to compel your referral partners to start giving you a steady flow of referrals.

Ivan:
That is great information, Mike. I really appreciate you sharing it. For the listeners, Mike Macedonio, President of the Referral Institute. Mike, how do they get a hold of you? We talked a little bit about the strategic alliance with BNI. I think these two organizations really go hand in hand and I urge members to take a look at training that the Referral Institute. So would you like to tell everybody how they can get a hold of you or the Referral Institute?

Mike:
One of the first places would be our website, www.ReferralInstitute.com. That will give you information as to whether we are in your country or your area. If we are not, feel free to contact me and I will be happy to discuss with you how we could bring the referral institute into your area. The best way to contact me is mikem@referralinstitute.com. I would love to have a conversation with you about bringing the Referral Institute into your area.

Ivan:
Mike, thank you so much for joining me on this podcast. You are a good friend, and you do a great job with the Referral Institute. BNI members could benefit from what you have to share. Thank you very much, and I’ll turn it back over to Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay great. Thank you both very much. I would just like 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 hope you will join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.