Please Help Me!

Jennifer Blakeman asked a great question the other day. She wanted to know how much you should share of yourself during a one-to-one meeting.  Should you actually share that your business is barely hanging on and that you need referrals, or should you just keep a stiff upper lip?

Great question!

And the answer is one that everyone is going to hate!  IT DEPENDS!

• If this is someone new that you've just met, that level of confidence is probably going to scare that person away 

•  If this is someone that you've known for a long time and with whom you have shared other worries, if would probably be OK.  I would phrase it carefully, though, asking for advice or ways that they think you can jump start your business.  

It's really all about the level of relationship and the length of time you have known the person sitting across from you.  No one wants to sit through a pity party, so look at this as an opportunity to open your brain to new ideas on how to promote your business.  

Also think about the people you are choosing to meet with.  Are they referral partner material, meaning, do they want to help and have the same target market?  If not, while it is not a waste of time to meet, the time spent could be better used if  you were more strategic in selecting people to meet.

Did I miss anything? 

Unlikely Partners

Today, I visited with the Bowling Green, Ohio, Silver Dollar BNI chapter for a visitor day.

There are several reasons to have a visitor day; new members and new opportunities.

But who would think that a Heating and Cooling guy and a woman that sells Shaklee would have anything in common.

This is what I love about networking. It is so unpredictable.

Today the visitor, the HVAC guy, talked about being new to town and that they are focusing on those types of issues that are more "green" like geo-thermal and wind turbines. In fact the company name is Green by Design.

The member, Kaylene Smith, asked for people who want to live "green" lives as her referral request. Shaklee's products support that lifestyle. Now, I don't know what is going to happen with these two, but it sure would stand to reason that they might have customers in common and would be able to refer to each other.

Who'da thunk it?????

What's the most unlikely referral pairing that you have run into?

Focus for Fulfillment

Recently I spoke with a group from Lima, OH about how they could gain more referral business by narrowing their focus. I took them through a process that I developed about four years ago called the referral triangle. The triangle shape is positioned on the paper with the point at the bottom.

At the top is a request for do business with "anyone, everyone or someone." (that doesn't paint a picture for anyone trying to help!)

As the spaces get narrower each step down, the idea is to refine the request so at the end the last little pointed area is the request for a specific name.

One of the participants in the exercise, Sue, wanted to increase the referral business she receives from one specific doctor in the community. Guess what? Sitting right next to her today was the wife of that very doctor. While the wife said she didn't know how much she could help, at least there was a connection. Because the wife has an accounting business Sue had not thought of her as someone who had doctor connections.

It goes to show that the more specific you become with referral requests, the more likely it is to have a helpful offering.

What the most unusual connection you've made as a result of asking for a specific referral?