It’s Not About What You Know – It’s Who You Know

Building a referral system and running it, is much like deciding that you’re going to run a marathon and then training everyday – because you know that this is the only way you won’t die before you get to the finish line.

In the same way that you don’t begin your marathon training by actually RUNNING the whole thing all at once, you don’t begin building a living, breathing referral marketing machine all at once.

1. Make a list of everyone you know.  I was at this multi-level marketing meeting… well, actually I’ve been to more of these meetings than I’d care to admit to.  And one of the first things they tell you is to make a list of everyone you know.  This list might contain about 250 people.  At first I was shocked, but I ran the exercise anyway and guess what!  My list was actually something like 253 — and I’m a little shy, so you should have no problem.
2. Segment your list into Inside, Partner and Center of Influence.  These are the three categories you’ll be working with.  Inside Referrers are your friends, relatives and people in your inner circle.  These are people that you can call anytime and chat with, ask them anything and they will help you.  Call them up at 2am for a ride; they’ll be there.  Then there are Referral Partners.  These are people that are part of your process.  They either come before you or after you in the process.  I’m in marketing, so designers and printers would be my referral partners.  We can refer business to each other.  Then there are the Centers of Influence.  Centers of Influence (COIs) are those people who can say "The sky is falling" and everyone will run for shelter without asking a single question.  These might be business owners or CEO types — but not always, and don’t make the mistake of discounting COIs based on title or status in the company.  They are the people who are trusted advisers to decision makers – and that could be anyone.

That’s enough for now – we’ll talk about what to do next tomorrow.