secret to getting more business

9Jan2020

Secrets to Getting Referralsstring(28) "Secrets to Getting Referrals"

January 9, 2020

Entrepreneur Magazine, keywords, Lowest Common Denominators, networking secrets, sales force, secret to getting more business, train Entrepreneur, Referrals, Sales 2

Networking groups can definitely help businesses generate referrals. When attending referral-related networking groups, remember that your efforts should not focus on trying to “close a sale. If you want to get business from the fellow members of your networking group, educate these people about some of the specifics of your business and what to look for in order to refer you effectively. Here are some secrets to getting referrals to consider for educating people in your networking groups:

Train your Sales Force

The only way people can pass referrals is if they know as much about your business and you as time allows. No one expects a referral group’s member to be an actual salesperson for all the members; but, if you want referrals, the other members do need to be trained. Thus, the way your introductions are done can substantially impact your results in generating referrals from other networking group members.

Do not generalize

I have heard hundreds of thousands of introductions at business networking events in my 20 years of running a business referral organization. Many people, when outlining what type of referrals they want, use the words “anyone,” “someone” or “everyone.” I don’t recommend it. It is also important to remember that if you are in a group that meets weekly, your presentation should focus on something different each time in order to continue the educational process.

Bring support materials

Have something visual for members to view or leave with. Your chances of staying in their minds long after the day’s meeting are increased. A flier about a product sale or a newsletter from your company are good items to bring. You might also bring samples of an item you carry in your store or place of business.

Break your business down into keywords

When introducing yourself, break your business down into keywords. Each week you focus on simply one aspect of your business. In other words, break your business down into very small pieces. What are the words others will use as search terms about your industry? These are your keywords. You may be tempted to use broad approach-listing all the areas your business covers. Instead, consider that your fellow networkers will learn more about you if you explain one aspect of your business weekly at each meeting.

If you want to get referrals from your networking efforts, remember to train your sales force and provide them the support material they will need to find others searching for you based on your keywords. Chances are, you’ll see a noticeable difference in your results.

19Jan2012

Want More Business from Networking?–Watch This Videostring(58) "Want More Business from Networking?–Watch This Video"

January 19, 2012

Ivan Misner

key to networking, networking success, secret to getting more business Business, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Referral Institute, Referrals, Success, Video Blog 6

I’ve been asked time and time again by people all over the world what I consider to be the key to getting more business through networking. I can, without a doubt, say that there is, indeed, one thing you can do to get more business from your networking efforts. Do you think you know what it is? The answer may surprise you . . .

Watch the video and then take a minute to leave a comment if you have the time . . . I’d love to hear what some of your guesses were in regard to what the “secret” to getting more business through networking was going to be. Chances are, some of the guesses you came up with are pretty good networking tactics as well and it would be great to get a conversation going about them!

6May2010

Time Equals Money in Networkingstring(31) "Time Equals Money in Networking"

May 6, 2010

Ivan Misner

networking process, Networking results, networking strategy, networking success, Referral Institute Survey, Referrals, secret to getting more business, time spent networking Business, Networking, Referral Institute, Referrals, Survey 6

The secret to getting more business through networking is . . . spend more time doing it! OK, well, it’s a little more complicated than that because you have to spend time doing the right things. However, based on the recently completed Referral Institute study on business networking, we finally have a definitive answer about how the amount of time spent networking impacts the amount of business that is generated.

The most dramatic statistic I have found shows that people who said “networking played a role” in their success spent an average of 6.5 hours a week participating in networking activities. On the other hand, the majority of people who claimed that “networking did NOT play a role” in their success spent only 2 hours or less per week developing their network.

What does this mean? It means there is a direct correlation between the amount of time you devote to the networking process and the degree of success that you realize from it. To illustrate this further, there is a graph below which demonstrates the “average” percentage of business generated from someone’s networking efforts in comparison with the amount of time spent on networking activities. Here you can clearly see that people who are spending between five to nine hours a week networking are generating (on average) 50 percent of their total business from this activity.

People who spend, on average, more than 20 hours a week networking are getting almost 70 percent of their business through referrals.

Based on this study, it is clear that people who devote six hours a week or more to networking are generating a large percentage of their business through their efforts. So, it’s time to ask yourself . . . how much time are you spending developing your personal network and what kind of results are you starting to see?