Your BforB Referral Networking Audit

A BforB Referral networking audit sounds a bit corporate but it could well bring you more   leads, prospects and referrals which is where your profit eventually springs from.

What is a BforB Referral networking audit? It’s a long, cool look at how you are performing at meetings. The most common complaint from poor performers is that ‘networking just doesn’t work’ as if it were some creature with an independent will that we have no control over. They may be right and I would certainly agree that superficial networking can be ineffective.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you audit your BforB Referral networking skills:

·        How many referrals have I given to other group members in the last 3 months?

·         How many testimonials have I given at meetings in the last 3 months?

·         Have I ever brought any guests to meetings?

·         Have I seized every opportunity to set up one-to-one meetings with other members?

·         Have I organised an event (business/social/charity) in the last 12 months that I have invited the other group members to?

·         Do my conversations start off with me asking about them, rather than talking about myself?

If I had to rate my current marketing effectiveness out of 10....where would it be?

How can I get to a 10?

Like everything in life, you only get out what you put in. These questions will draw out those areas where you can become a more effective networker.

Remember its the quality of your questions that gets you to the correct outcome for you and your business!

How serious am I about growing my business through referrals on a scale of 1-10?

 

Whats the Difference between mere networking and Referral Networking

Recently I met someone who asked at a BforB Club "So what's the difference between BforB and the other networking groups I go too?"

And it's a valid question, in fact it's a great question!

There are many differences, the number 1 is the quality of the members, BforB is a referral networking system that works through trusted contacts and a great way to work and grow any business.

We only look to work with people who are commited to growing through positive referral, who are top of their game and most of all want to put something back in to their local business community.

We are not about being the biggest or the fastest growing.....BforB's focus is on quality, empowerment and education using a proven time tested system.

If a person adopts the BforB process and approach in to his or her area of business and does not fall in to just thinking or viewing BforB as just a business meeting they attend to get contacts then they can generate some serious success year after year.

If you want to collect cards then mere networking is great for that and may be what you are looking for, but if your like most successful business owners who want qualified referrals that turn in to actual business, relationships that turn in to friendships and contacts that turn into contracts then you may be right for a BforB group or you may want to launch one in your locality? If you can make a commitment to improving your skills, polishing up your follow-up and most of all making sure you have your attitude right so you can achieve your goals then do get in touch.

Making The Most Of Your Business Card

This post will give you some ideas about how to get more out of that most underused of marketing materials: your business card.

First of all, does it contain both your Linked In profile URL and your Twitter ID? You need to give your contact details through as many channels as possible. Some people are Twitter addicts and will follow you immediately if the relevant details are on your card. Others conduct most of their social networking through Linked In – don’t alienate them either.

Of course if you would rather watch paint dry all afternoon than spend a single minute on Twitter, don’t bother signing up for an account just to have a Twitter ID on your business card.

Wondering how on earth you are going to fit this information onto your card? If your fax number is the same as your office number, why not amalgamate them on the same line like this: tel/fax ? You may want to even question how relevant a fax number even is to your business.

Next, does your business card have a call to action? If you have room for this you should definitely include one. However good your free offer sounded at the Business For Breakfast meeting, the person who took your card will have been inundated with jobs to do, calls to make and people to see throughout the rest of the day. If the call to action is on your card, it could jog their memory when they are organising their list of contacts.

Finally, compare it to other business cards you collect – does it stand out visually from the crowd? Can you get it redesigned to have more impact? Any departure from the normal rectangle shape is always a good idea – but don’t make it too big.

How To Vary Your Pitch

It’s vital to vary your pitch every networking meeting. Here are some ideas to do this without spending hours the previous day reinventing the 60 second soundbite wheel:

1. Highlight a different aspect of your business each week. This way, people will start to expect to hear something new about you at each meeting. This is great, because it takes you out of the pigeon hole that your company name or tagline might put you in.

2. Using current affairs is a great way to vary your pitch. In fact, it’s almost prerequisite if your area of expertise has hit the headlines. For example, in September 2010 the news about HMRC miscalculating millions of people’s tax is something that many accountants were probably discussing in their networking pitches that week.

3. Test having different calls to action at the end of your pitch. I say test because it may be that the first call to action you think of is actually an irresistible offer that can’t be improved upon.

4. Vary the theme of your pitch. One meeting describe a recent project you undertook, the next read some testimonials, the next give some statistics about how much money you saved/made for your clients – or however you measure the value that you bring to your target market.

These are just a few ideas for varying your pitch. The more you start trying out different ideas, the more of your own you will start having.

The Effortless Business Networking

Do you ever find it a struggle to get up for your early morning Business For Breakfast meetings? There’s not much you can do about the fact that you’re an owl rather than a lark, but wouldn’t it be that much less effort getting up if you knew that business networking itself was a good deal easier?

The thing to do is to concentrate on making it easier for others to follow up on that initial contact (your pitch). Do you have a compelling call to action? This will make your business stand out and increase the chances of others approaching you at coffee time.

The best way you can phrase your call to action is like this:

State your special offer

Invite anyone who wants to take advantage of the offer to simply give you their business card and you will do the rest.

This is in marked contrast to “Visit my website and sign up for my free report” or even “Come and talk to me later and I will arrange a free consultation”. A visit to your website gets added to your prospects ‘to-do’ list, which is no doubt already longer than Mr Tickle’s arm. The invitation to come and talk to you may not be convenient if the person in question has to rush off or gets into an unexpected conversation with their own prospective client.

Ask for their business card, and all they have to do is spend 3 seconds handing their details over.

There are lots more ways you can make it easier for others to start a business relationship with you. Spend time observing how the most successful networkers at your meetings operate, and you are sure to find more ideas in this area.

The ABC Of Business Referral Networking

Business Referral Networking as a marketing tool is as easy as ABC. Don’t believe me? Follow these 3 principles religiously for 6 months and watch your client base - and profits - grow:

A is for Attitude

Attitude is more important than ability. Let me prove it to you. If you were offered £15 commission for every referral you got for your business, could you get 100 referrals this month? You might say yes, or no – depending on your desire and or (perceived ability). Now answer this question: If you were offered £50,000 for getting all 100 referrals this month, could you get the lot? Of course you could.

Enough said. With the right attitude, we can achieve far more than what we are right now. All we need to do is decide to improve our ability – then go out and accomplish this. It applies to networking just as much as sales.

B is for Be Patient

Business Referral Networking is certainly not for the quick fix merchants and not generally responsible for overnight success stories. Go in with your eyes open – do not expect to start making direct sales or even get referrals straight away. It takes time for others to trust you.

C is for Commitment

Part of the trust issue is about showing up at every meeting. Once others see that you are committed to the group, it won’t just be you making all the effort to build relationships. People are not interested in excuses on why you can't make a meeting as business referral networking is about giving business....not excuses.

And make no mistake, it’s about more than just attendance. If you have employees you may have heard of ‘presenteeism’ – where someone shows up at work and goes through the motions without really achieving anything of note. Be careful that you don’t fall into this trap with your Business For Breakfast meetings. Who in your group can you help out this week? When was the last time you went and chatted to someone about their business without trying to sell them anything?

Start thinking like this and before long you will start to reap the rewards. Learn More

77 Ways To Get More Referrals

Leverage the Power of Referrals in Your Business

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Its Not What You say that counts it's your behaviour!

When you are looking to grow your business or improve your career then business networking can be one of the best ways to achieve your aims.

However BEWARE!

Its Not What You say about yourself or your business that counts it's your behaviour! People want to know that you are reliable and can be trusted to represent them well should they refer you on to their trusted contacts. So please heed this WARNING!

DO NOT EVEN THINK OF JOINING A BUSINESS REFERRAL GROUP UNLESS YOU ARE 100% COMMITED!

Approach your business networking with the right behaviours like attending on a regular basis, taking interest in people, following up, being on time and this also means commitment to build relationships with your colleagues around the table.

Don't be a superficial business networker who is just out to sell and all talk with no follow-up.

If you join a group then do so with an attitude and determination to "put something back in" and remember its not all about what business you get now, it is also about the lifetime value of the relationships and your contribution to like-minded people who are as equally serious about business.

The Hidden Problem With Networking

Networking operates beautifully when you are in the right place at the right time. For example, you are an insurance broker and meet a web designer who has just found out they need professional indemnity insurance. You get along well, and before you know it you have a new client - a lifelong one if you do things right.

It would be great if that's how life worked. However, what is far more likely is that you are in the right place at the wrong time. That nice web designer you have just met? They got their PII sorted out last month. So what can you do?

The answer lies in the long-term connection that you can form with the web designer, or any other business person you meet. By building a relationship based on mutual trust, you lay the foundation for gaining his or her business at a later date. Not only this, but you have access to their whole circle of influence (that is to say, everybody that they know) in due course.

How big is the circle of influence of each person you meet networking? Obviously there is no set answer to this - some entrepreneurs have more social capital than others. (Social capital means not just how many people you know, but who you know). However, somebody who may not be otherwise powerful in business circles may still provide the one vital connection that could lead to your next biggest client. Say you are a financial adviser who wants to carve yourself out a niche working with property developers. The recently setup sole trader you meet who on first inspection does not seem to be able to provide any decent leads for your business may in fact be the brother-in-law of one of the biggest property developers in your area. You can see where this could lead…

It is these indirect connections that is one of the reasons that Business for Breakfast (BforB) is so powerful. Our greatest strength - long-term relationship building - is the answer to networking’s biggest hidden problem.

The Forgotten Fifth

According to networking author Rob Brown, every time someone meets you at a business event, there are some common questions that they ask themselves about you:

1.    Do I like you?

2.    Do I rate you?

3.    Can I sell to you?

4.    Do I want to buy from you?

Of course, many novice networkers come unstuck on question 3: they think it's all about the immediate sale. Scanning the room for potential clients, they either don't know or have forgotten that people rarely buy on the first contact. So they make the classic mistake of thrusting their business card into the hands of unsuspecting victims, without so much as a "And what is it you do?"

This attitude is incredibly short-sighted. It's like setting out to do your Christmas shopping, then giving up after an hour because you haven't found the perfect presents for all your family and friends in the first gift shop that you visit.

If you have made this sell, sell, sell mistake, don't worry - there is hope for you.

It comes in the form of a fifth question - one that all good networkers ask themselves:

5.    Who can I refer you to?

This how can I help you? mindset is by far the best antidote to inappropriate and sometimes aggressive overselling. If you catch yourself getting overexcited when you see that ideal potential client, calm down and start getting curious about what you can do for them - without in any immediate payback for yourself.

In this way you can approach them, find out about their business, then ask them what sort of referrals would be ideal for them. In this way you find yourself forming an immediate connection with them - one that they going to remember far more than yet another business card thrust in their face.

The Hidden Problem With Networking

Networking operates beautifully when you are in the right place at the right time. For example, you are an insurance broker and meet a web designer who has just found out they need professional indemnity insurance. You get along well, and before you know it you have a new client - a lifelong one if you do things right.

It would be great if that's how life worked. However, what is far more likely is that you are in the right place at the wrong time. That nice web designer you have just met? They got their PII sorted out last month. So what can you do?

The answer lies in the long-term connection that you can form with the web designer, or any other business person you meet. By building a relationship based on mutual trust, you lay the foundation for gaining his or her business at a later date. Not only this, but you have access to their whole circle of influence (that is to say, everybody that they know) in due course.

How big is the circle of influence of each person you meet networking? Obviously there is no set answer to this - some entrepreneurs have more social capital than others. (Social capital means not just how many people you know, but who you know). However, somebody who may not be otherwise powerful in business circles may still provide the one vital connection that could lead to your next biggest client. Say you are a financial adviser who wants to carve yourself out a niche working with property developers. The recently setup sole trader you meet who on first inspection does not seem to be able to provide any decent leads for your business may in fact be the brother-in-law of one of the biggest property developers in your area. You can see where this could lead…

It is these indirect connections that is one of the reasons that Business for Breakfast is so powerful. Our greatest strength - long-term relationship building - is the answer to networking’s biggest hidden problem.

Laser Networking

What is laser networking? It means focusing your referral networking efforts (hence the laser analogy) to reap a greater ROI from this powerful form of marketing.

First of all you need to decide what you want to get out of your referral networking meetings. More customers? Joint venture partners? Referrals? Maybe you need to actually sell the very concept of your service (The vast majority of Dragon’s Den pitches are preoccupied with doing just that).

Secondly, define your ideal customer be as specific as you can. What is their name, company name? What are their needs? How do you fulfil these needs? What is their turnover? How often would they use your product or service?

Armed with these 2 pieces of information, you can now be clearer about who it is you want to be referred to from your referral networking meetings,  who do the other members of your group know. The more specific you are about this the better.

One important point about laser networking: don’t let it blind you to the hidden opportunities that exist within your group. For example, you get chatting to a caterer. He is a one-man band who deals mostly with customers who are not your target market. Don’t dismiss this contact. Who knows, maybe his wife works with the brother of someone who could be next year’s biggest client for you.

Finally the biggest challenge for most people is in the lack of follow-up so make sure you always follow up and keep the dialogue going, remember you can get instant coffee even instant tea at your group.........however instant success or results are usually not available so coordinate an effective follow-up strategy for your Laser Networking!

Networking Works

Referral networking works, check out this article the result of referral networking in action

BforB opens in Australia

Networking Myths

Could these 10 Networking Myths be costing you and your business money?

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How To Vary Your Pitch

It’s vital to vary your pitch every networking meeting. Here are some ideas to do this without spending hours the previous day reinventing the 60 second soundbite wheel:

1. Highlight a different aspect of your business each week. This way, people will start to expect to hear something new about you at each meeting. This is great, because it takes you out of the pigeon hole that your company name or tagline might put you in.

2. Using current affairs is a great way to vary your pitch. In fact, it’s almost prerequisite if your area of expertise has hit the headlines. For example, in September 2010 the news about HMRC miscalculating millions of people’s tax is something that many accountants were probably discussing in their networking pitches that week.

3. Test having different calls to action at the end of your pitch. I say test because it may be that the first call to action you think of is actually an irresistible offer that can’t be improved upon.

4. Vary the theme of your pitch. One meeting describe a recent project you undertook, the next read some testimonials, the next give some statistics about how much money you saved/made for your clients – or however you measure the value that you bring to your target market.

These are just a few ideas for varying your pitch. The more you start trying out different ideas, the more of your own you will start having.

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Doing Business in Salford

On January 27th I had the pleasure to attend as a guest to the Business for Breakfast (BforB) Ramada Salford Quays Group at its regular fortnightly meeting. On this occasion they were celebrating the contributions that they made in 2010 towards the success of the group.

All important Recognition, Awards and Thankyou's were made in each of four categories of Top Ten members, Attendance, Introducing Quality Guests & Leads and Referrals passed.

Business for Breakfast is run by Rob Webb, who started the Salford Ramada BforB as a way to connect local businesses. “It’s a well known fact that a business referral generates 80% more results than a cold call and that approximately 70% of all jobs are found through networking,” explains Rob, “Now, more than ever, business people, professionals, decision makers and the self employed need to get out there and referral network with other like-minded individuals – it’s vital as a means of sky rocketing your marketing efforts, meeting useful new contacts, and improving your order book. It’s also a relaxed and friendly whilst being very effective"

Christine Thorpe receives her ‘Best Contributing Member’ award from John Fisher

Mark Burgess, Graham McLeish & Tony Kelly with their Best attendance certificates and John Fisher

Christine Thorpe receives her ‘Best Ambassador’  certificate for bringing the most guests in the year,  from John Fisher

Sucheet Amin, one of the groups most popular members receives his award for bringing the most leads and referrals to the group.

John Fisher congratulates the group ‘TOP TEN’ performers

Sean Martins, Gary Crosbie, Graham McLeish, Mark Burgess, (John Fisher),Christine Thorpe, Steve Swinyard, Sucheet Amin, Neil Buckley

Sharing Best Practice is key to everyone's development and Success

So what are Rob’s tips for first-time referral networkers? “It might sound obvious, but you have to be approachable and talk to people – you also need to be prepared and be able to sum up your business effectively in 60 seconds.At the meet, be aware of your body language and try and adopt an open and approachable posture to attract others to talk to you. Show interest in others and don't just start talk about yourself - ask lots of open questions to encourage conversation. Networking is all about building up long-term relationships so after the meet, make sure that you follow up effectively with all contacts you have made and suggest a one to one meeting where you can both find out more about each other’s businesses and how you can work together.

The Sixty Second Challenge

Phil Keenan (Centre) of Thoroughly Food receiving a nice bottle of red for the best 60 second soundbyte, pictured with Sam Tuplin (Right) Regional Director and John Fisher (Left) Founder of BforB.

So if you want to know where to buy, where to eat and whats happening on the Lancashire food scene then Phil is your man.

Phil is a member of BforB Chorley who meet every two weeks at the Pines Hotel and secured his prize by being specific in the type of referral and introduction he wants for his Thoroughly Food business.

Sam Tuplin commented "This is a really strong group of like-minded business people who are serious about making referrals work for their businesses. Phil did a great job this morning"

Referral Networking Bores

Referral Networking Bores

Have you ever come across Referral networkers who are basically so dull that watching paint dry is a day out at Alton Towers in comparison to talking to them? People whose idea of an exciting Saturday night consists of completing their tax return while pushing the boat out with two cups of cocoa.

The next time one of these walking cures for insomnia corners you at a meeting, don’t make your escape plans just yet. There are things you can learn from these people.

What is it that they are doing wrong? This is the question that you can ask yourself while listening to their pitch or chatting to them.

Is their tone of voice monotonous?

Do they talk exclusively about themselves and/or their business?

Do they concentrate on the features of their product or service?

Is their small talk only related to problems – in other words, are they professional complainers?

Do they lack social skills such as maintaining eye contact, the ability to listen and ask relevant questions about others?

Once you have assessed what causes them to be such bores, you can decide how you would improve their Referral networking skills.

There is also another question to ask yourself – how can you improve on your networking technique? Nobody is a perfect Referral networker, so before you mentally write someone else off for their lack of skills in this area, take a long, hard look at yourself and work out how you can do better.

What Referral Networking Is Not

It's very, very easy to make mistakes when Referral networking. Here is a list of common Referral networking minefields to sidestep:

1. Referral Networking is not about sell, sell, sell. We've all been approached by aggressive businesspeople who thrust their card into our faces, extol their virtues are about 10 minutes, before prowling the room for more prey to irritate and bore. These walking nightmares are pretty easy to spot. The question is, are you ever guilty of talking when you should be listening?

2. Referral Networking is not a quick fix. Of course there are people who make very profitable connections the first time they attend a Referral networking group, but it is not something that you should expect. The real gold is in the long-term mutual beneficial relationships that you form. You never know where where one conversation that you have in January could lead - don't be surprised if it's made you thousands by the end of December.

3. Referral Networking is not about telling the whole story of your business. The point of the pitch or indeed those initial conversations is to stimulate people's curiosity. You can give them as much information as they need -or you feel they need - at a later point. We are all overloaded with too much information as it is in the 21st century - this is even worse at a Referral networking event. So do people a favour and favour simplicity over detail.

4. Referral Networking is not about boring people. Steer away from highlighting features - talk about the benefits instead. If you get into a conversation with somebody who comments I feel so tired I just can't be bothered to be honest are you really going to try to discuss business with them? Everything you say you say should be relevant to the needs of the other people in the room.

This is just a small not to-do list for Referral networking. Always observe the successes and failures of others’ Referral networking efforts. There is a lot to learn from them.

Plan For The Perfect Referral Networking Pitch

Imagine you have a very important meeting to pitch to a prospective client tomorrow. Are you going to roll up with minimal preparation, and just hope for the best?

Obviously every time you go referral networking, you don’t need to invest the same amount of preparation. However, you do need to do some preparation. Don't worry - this doesn't have to take up a lot of time. The more you do this, the better you get, and the less you have to prepare.

If you feel your pitch could be better crafted, follow this simple process and watch the results:

Firstly put yourself in the shoes of your prospective clients. What problem does your product or service solve? There may be multiple answers to this question, so think about this issue over a few days. If you feel stuck it may be a good idea to ask friends and colleagues. People are less close to your business may come up with more objective answers.

Next, list all they benefits that your product or service provides. Be aware that benefits are not the same thing as features. For example, a feature of your vending machines could be that you have a lot of branded products. So what? thinks your prospective customer. Reframe this feature as a benefit: the famous brands that fill your vending machines will result in more sales.

Now write out your pitch, making sure you only include three key pieces of information. Don’t overload the audience with too many facts and figures.

Finally, test out your pitch or someone you know - someone who is honest and is not going to say Oh that's good just to please you. You are looking for constructive criticism rather than blind moral support.

Now go out there and practice, practice, practice!

Stealing Is Good!

Q: When is theft a great idea?
A: When you steal other people’s concepts, change them and apply them to your own situation.

In referral networking this means analysing the most effective communication and marketing strategies of successful referral networkers that you come across, then making them your own and adapting these concepts to your own situation. As long as you are not parroting another networker’s exact words, this is completely ethical.

The trick is to retain the concept, but change all the other elements. Here’s an example of what I mean:

You see a web designer called Web Wonders use a diagram of a spider’s web as part of her pitch. Around the spider’s web she has written the key benefits of her service.

You steal the concept in this way: Your business is called Green Fingers Gardening. You get an oversized plastercast gardening glove and one each fingertip of the glove you place an icon that relates to an area of your business.

If Web Wonders was in the same referral networking group as Green Fingers, it would be wise for the gardener to wait a few months before using the plastercast glove, and not to use it every meeting. The more subtly you can alter the original concept and the more time that has elapsed between the original idea and the altered one, the better.

One thing to note: only ever ‘concept steal’ from businesses in different fields to yours.