WWYW?

I was talking with a friend recently who meets regularly with a group of friends that have a goal of helping each other gain more referrals.

I asked how it was going. She said, "Okay." (not great)

It seems that every other month they focus on one member and she is the one for this month. The members have been giving her suggestions but no referrals. (You should do this or you should do that.)

It's my guess that the goals of the group need to be revisited. They each want more referrals, but are only giving suggestions. In my opinion they can do the following:

• Set goals for the type and number of referrals they will give each month.

• Be accountable for bringing those referrals.
• Actively seek out referral business for the target, instead of waiting for it to happen.

Or they can disband. Or they can decide that the group has a different focus. Or they can continue with status quo.

What would you want?

Referral Backfire

Today, I was at a lunchtime networking event. Two people had never attended before. Near the end of the meeting, they said that they had a question to ask all of us about accepting referral appointments. It seems that an acquaintance had given their names, as new business owners, to a CPA. The CPA called them and
suggested a meeting. They agreed.

After meeting for about an hour, during which the CPA said that they didn't really need his services yet, that they were doing everything right. He also said, "Well, it is about an hour of my time at this point, so would you like me to invoice you? My rate is $90 per hour."

These new business owners were shocked. They said that he had spent a majority of the time telling them about his services and what he could do for them. They were asking us for direction. Had they been unaware of the way referrals work?

We assured them that what had happened was unfortunate and not right. We also encouraged them to get back to the original referral source to let that person know what had happened.

I would call this scenario referral prospecting at its worst.

Have you ever been backed into a corner like these business people were?