It used to be people totally disconnected from their business lives during their summer vacation. No conference calls. No faxes. No email. No texts. Removed. Unplugged.

You have to disconnect and cool your jets to effectively recharge. We all need time to sit back, relax, and forget about our business world… for a bit. The thing is, the sales cycle doesn’t take a summer vacation. And this is a problem if you’re in sales.

Business development is an everyday, ongoing sales activity. Salespeople often ask me, “Joanne, when will the phone ring off the hook so I can stop prospecting?”

My answer: “When you find out, let me know.” Sales doesn’t take vacation .

I’m headed to the Jersey Shore for the best vacation imaginable—putting my toes in the sand and walking along the water’s edge in bare feet.

The Salesperson’s Summer Vacation: A Perfect Prospecting Combination

The beach. The sand. The subs—I’ll be eating more subs than I should. If you don’t know about “subs,” that’s short for submarine sandwich, and even though other locations try, nothing beats the taste of subs in Philadelphia or Jersey. (They say it’s the bread.)

I don’t envision spending my vacation talking business, but I meet people everywhere. Airplane conversations are either enlightening or boring. You have a captive audience for hours (or, worst case, you’re the captive). You meet people waiting for your luggage, at the rental car counter, in restaurants, eating a sub, and yes, on the beach.

Bottom line: Business development opportunities are everywhere, in the everyday path of our lives. Even on summer vacation. Everyone is part of your sales force.

Genuine Wins the Game. Still.

One of the best things about summer is that when we meet people, we are more relaxed; we’re our authentic selves. We talk to people with ease. And people, in general, are more receptive than when they’re not fussed up in a dress or suit, or in shoes that aren’t flip-flops.

There’s a lot of talk about how the world of sales has changed. Pundits rant about the “new normal,” “new realities,” “web 2.0,” etc. Truth? Nothing’s changed. People buy from people. Real salespeople remain experts, committed to their customers’ success. Real salespeople:

• Are authentic—they are comfortable in their own style
• Learn what the customer requires to boost his business
• Ask question after question until they uncover the real issues
• Contribute innovative ideas and engage in an exchange of information
• Propose a reliable solution to impact the client’s business
• Are willing to walk away if there is not a fit
• Readily refer other resources—even if it’s their competition

Business Development Never Stops

Whether this August newsletter finds you on holiday or diligently working in your office, your responsibility is to continually prospect for sales. If you’re not prospecting, your sales pipeline dries up. Top salespeople prospect continually. They don’t wait for the phone to ring with that perfect sales prospect.

So talk to everyone, learn about others, and share ideas—wherever you go. You never know, the person next to you might just be your next referral source or even your new client.

Claim 1: Social Media Has Changed Everything

Balderdash. Yes, we’ve got shiny new tools, and consumers can give more public, vocal feedback on your products and services. However, leads still need to be generated, sales need to be closed and invoices need to be sent; no business survives otherwise.

Furthermore, networking didn’t start with LinkedIn. Before there was social networking there was real-world networking. And you know what? It came with drinks and hors d’oeuvres, so it wasn’t all that bad.”  Read more…

It’s the sales mantra and referral drum I’ve been pounding for years. Sales are built on relationships. Our role as salespeople is to build relationships. Bottom line: People do business with people, not with technology. For more on building your business through relationships, read “How to Attract Sales Prospects in a Tech-Focused World.”

Let me know what you think.

Everyone Is a Part of Your Sales Team

If you don’t include your current clients in your referral-sales team, you leave money on the table—every single day. If you ask them, they will refer you. But, you must ask.

Get upfront and honest with yourself. Ask (and answer) the two most important sales prospecting questions:

1. How many client relationships do I have? (Translation: How many people do I know in all of my current and former client organizations?)
2. With how many of these clients do I have great relationships? (Criteria for “great”: They return my calls.)

Savvy sales professionals have at least 100 client contacts. If just 20 percent offered you referrals, you’d have 20 amazing new contacts. Once you actively cultivate them, they become part of your “sales team.” Can you see where this leads, and how much business you could generate?

Take a few minutes and imagine your new sales life when you talk to prospects who want to talk to you. When you receive a referral introduction, you:

• Are pre-sold (They know you and the results you deliver.)
• Have already earned trust (One of the hardest things for salespeople to gain.)
• Gain instant credibility (They know you’re not just there to “sell” them something.)
• Shorten your sales process by at least 25 percent (You decrease your cost of sales.)
• Convert that referred prospect to a new client more than 50 percent of the time (You decrease your prospecting time and increase your client-facing time.)

Really.

It’s Who You Know

Most salespeople have numerous current or former customers who they know pretty well, well enough to receive a steady stream of referrals. But they leave untapped referral riches at their fingertips.

How many of your clients have you asked for referrals? When I question sales professionals, the usual answer is “not many” or “hardly any.”

Your Clients Will Help You Make the Sale

Here’s the hard fact -most clients think of us only when they need us. It’s up to you to get them thinking about you between orders. Your clients may not automatically offer referrals: Regularly remind them that you exist, so when a referral opportunity arises, you’re the one who gets it.

The clients you serve well-the ones who know you, like you, and trust you-truly want you to achieve sales success. After all, they know your work and the business results they’ve achieved from your solutions. Referring you makes them look good to their customers and business partners.

Our clients will refer us—if only we ask. With a little “instruction” you can empower your clients (your Referral Source) to refer you. Teach them how to introduce you (How do you want “what you do” to be described?). Teach them about your Ideal Client, and provide them with the answers to these critical questions:

• What business issues do you solve?
• What is the function of your Ideal Client? (CEO, VP, IT, Marketing)
• In what industry or geography do you work?
• What size company is your sweet spot?

The more specific you are, the easier it is for a client to refer you.

Referral selling sounds too good to be true. But it’s all true. Referral selling works. You choose how to spend your time. Get back in touch with your clients, ask them for referrals, and ask how you can help them. Your new sales opportunities will amaze you!

It’s time to ask.

You know who they are—the time-wasting, buy-nothing customers… By dumping them, you free up time to develop and care for the ones who really matter. Just do it.

The PITA Customer

You can see the warning signs a mile away: They push you on price, threaten to take their business to your competitors, make unreasonable demands, masquerade as the decision-maker, don’t return phone calls; yet expect fast, complete and reliable delivery of your service.

You know who they are: The “pain in the ass” (PITA) customers. Do you have a PITA client–or perhaps more than one?

PITA customers are never happy. They drain your energy, test your patience, and waste your time. They demoralize your entire sales team. Yet companies accept this bad business continually, thinking bad business must be better than no business. But is it?

Dump Hidden Costs

When organizations take on these bad customers, they pay a hidden cost–the lost opportunity to use those resources going after and servicing the phenomenal clients they want and need to make money! Collect too many PITA customers and watch your profits dwindle… not a compelling scenario.

Why accept business from a few customers who drive us crazy and drain our resources? Many salespeople say they sell to “anyone who fogs a mirror”–because of a looming quota, or because their company insists on certain deals. Many sales organizations create unrealistic expectations that they can turn a bad situation into a good one. Are you dreaming? Bad business is bad business. Period.

Dump the Junk

Targeting just “anyone” often means attracting more PITA customers. Never ask a PITA to refer you. Why? Because PITAs hang out with other PITAs. They belong to the same organizations, play golf together, and love telling stories about how they negotiated an unprecedented deal, or whipped a salesperson into shape. Your best sales decision: Fire the PITA. Don’t take them in the first place, and if you have one, recognize you have a PITA situation and fight back.

Yes, fight back–push back–whatever you call it. Don’t take their abuse. You deliver a service that boosts their business. If they push you on price, be willing to walk away. That really turns the tables.

To demonstrate this point, picture two people standing up with their arms out straight, pushing on and resisting each other’s hands. No one gets anyplace. It’s a stalemate. Now re-create the same picture: One person stops resisting. What happens? The other person moves toward the one who ceased resisting. The same thing happens when you’re willing to walk away. Sometimes you’ll walk, but many times the PITA comes to you.

Clean House

So Fire the PITA! We know them 90 percent of the time before we even begin to work with them. Say NO. It’s OK to walk away.

When you walk away, you have time to attract exactly the kind of clients you want, and watch your sales soar!

When I ask salespeople how I can help them with prospecting—who they’re looking for—they begin with “Anyone who…” “Anyone?” I’m confused. I don’t know who “anyone” is.

Every salesperson recognizes their Ideal Clients. You know who they are. Don’t you love it when you work with your Ideal Client? They value what you offer, communicate well, are forward thinking, reasonable, have a good sense of humor, and give you the time, money, and resources to make any project successful. Your task is to clone your Ideal Clients into more and more great sales.

When we work with our Ideal Client, our sales time collapses, productivity soars, deals are larger, and these clients refer us to other Ideal Clients.

Find Your Ideal Client

The best way to locate your Ideal Client is to ask your current clients to refer you. (Yes, you want someone just like them.) The second best way is to ask your network to refer you.  In either case, you must be specific. The more specifically you describe your Ideal Client, the easier it is for your Referral Source—current client or network—to think of and identify the perfect referral for you.

Think: Specific

Being specific is counter-intuitive. Many of my clients believe the wider the net they cast, the more clients they reel in. The exact opposite is true.

Think of yourself as a sketch artist: the more color, lines, and detail you present, the easier it becomes for others to envision, recognize, and identify your Ideal Client and refer them to you.

Think of a time when you looked at paintings in a museum. (With no judgment about modern vs. classic art or artist, I offer the following thought.) Perhaps you viewed, the “blue wall”—the modern painting, all one color, and mused about how you could paint the exact same thing. Perhaps you pondered what the “blue wall” meant. The artist’s “blue wall” is open to a wide and varied interpretation. Then, perhaps, you viewed a more specifically representative painting, a Rembrandt or a Vermeer. The artist’s intention was defined. You knew exactly what you were looking at, with very little interpretation. You identified people, what they were doing, and perhaps what they were feeling.

Art is often interpretive. In order for referrals to work, you need to do the interpreting for your Referral Source. You need to be specific, and to tell the story yourself.

Create the Profile

For some salespeople, being super-specific in describing their Ideal Client feels confining. It’s as if they’re leaving good business on the table. Sales pros often think that if you don’t mention everything you offer you’ll miss a sale. The opposite is true.

The more specifically you describe your Ideal Client, the easier it becomes to receive a perfect referral. As you consider your business-development strategies, review these categories:

• Industry: In what industries is your expertise? Where do you have a track record? In what vertical do you want to expand?
• Geography: Where is your ideal geography? (Regions within the United States, North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, or Africa, for example.)
• Company Size: What size company is the best fit for you sales offerings?
• Business Unit or Function: What group of people within the company are your ideal prospects-CEOs, CIOs, COOs, HR employees, or sales or marketing teams?
• Type of Person: Identify the personality traits of your Ideal Client.
• Situation/Need: What specific business problem do you address?

…you get the idea.

As an example, it’s too broad to say you want to meet VPs of Sales. In my case, I want to meet VPs of Sales with a technology company, software specifically, who have a re-seller channel, headquartered in Northern California, and hold sales meetings for their reseller partners. I can get even more granular if I stated the names of companies where I want an introduction.

Guess who I meet? You got it. Exactly those people. It’s not difficult to find my Ideal Client, and they know others just like themselves. Referrals to your Ideal Client are within your reach.

We get what we ask for, so ask for exactly what you want and get amazing referrals!

There’s nothing like getting the gang together. Salespeople have great combined power and energy when they gather in person and share successes, ideas and information. At conferences, they learn as much through conversations with peers in the hallways as in their sessions. But there’s no “hallway” on the World Wide Web.

Make the Live Connection

The digital world – as great as it is – threatens personal connections. Humans need face-to-face contact with others. Even with whisper-light computing power and immediate, 140-character Twitter posts, we are a face-to-face species, one that thrives on interpersonal communication and being in the presence of like-minded individuals working together to accomplish results. E-mail, texting, social networking – none of that takes the place of an in-person connection.

So if you want to get ahead in your career – and especially if you want to sell – put down the mouse and step away from the computer. Come out from behind the cloak of technology and learn to speak to people, whatever their language.

In an era when companies are canceling sales meetings because they believe webcasts and videoconferences are just as effective, they actually need to do the opposite – schedule more. Since the start of the recession, many companies have slashed business travel budgets by 20 to 40 percent, viewing it as expense rather than what it really is – an investment.  Face-to-face meetings aren’t luxuries. Even in our technology-driven world, nothing replaces a handshake and in-person interactions for both building and maintaining business relationships. In fact, 95 percent of business people agree they’re the key to building long-term relationships, according to a Harvard Business Review Reader Poll. And a 13-year study of American businesses by Oxford Economics (released last year) shows that for every dollar spent on business travel, organizations report around $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits.

Win the Numbers Game

Now more than ever, as businesses seek to operate more effectively and efficiently, they are depending on analytics in order to thrive and survive. Firms that recognize the relationship between business travel investments and increased sales, and then act on that knowledge, will see a big impact on the bottom lines.

One of my clients shared with me about a potential deal she was trying to work with a major prospect, but she couldn’t get the decision-makers on the phone. I strongly recommended that she schedule an in-person visit. Fast-forward two months. She not only met with potential buyers, but also got the opportunity to present to 60 people (who were notified the day before) and now has four strategic projects in the pipeline. She called me (elated) to say thank you. The personal visit, she said, sealed the deal.

Last summer I tacked a 60-mile drive onto the end of a vacation to meet with a prospect. That business-development visit resulted in two speaking engagements, which never would have occurred had I not taken the time to visit and build a new, mutually respectful relationship.

You don’t have to hop on an airplane. Drive your car; get on a bus; take a train. Just meet face-to-face with every major client and prospect. You will accelerate your sales process by at least 30 percent, spend less time prospecting (who wouldn’t want that?) and attract more quality clients.

Face-to-face contact will give you the edge over your competitors every time. You make the effort, you win.

Think about it: How have in-person, live connections impacted your sales business? Join the conversation, in the comments below.

Show Up

Woody Allen’s said: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Showing up counts. The more often you show up, the more visible you become, and the more people know you and recognize you.

Opportunities abound at the Holidays to meet new people at a very social and happy time of year. Invite someone you enjoy to go along with you—perhaps a new acquaintance or someone you haven’t seen in awhile. They make new connections, and you both win.

Many sales people refrain from actively networking. When I tell my clients that I expect them to attend at least one business networking event a week, they gasp. Am I asking them to do something so terrible?

We encounter so many people who network poorly. They shove business cards in our face and ask us to do referral marketing for them. They are loud and pushy and fail to understand that referral networking means connecting to people—one person at a time.

Get Involved

Consider networking an essential tool in building your Business Referral Network. The contacts you develop because you attend networking events emerge strong. You not only attend business networking gatherings, but you volunteer. Every organization needs and welcomes volunteers. Think about ways to contribute. Even if it is a small amount of time, you develop lasting relationships because others know your work, you deliver what you promise, and keep your time commitments.

Once you get to know people and they get to know you, you discover many opportunities to provide business referrals. Refer someone to a potential client, alliance partner, or to a person in a similar business. Give a personal referral—to an accountant, banker, or mechanic—a resource to help the other person. We become referral marketing sources for each other. How perfect!

One salesperson told me that she stopped going to certain networking groups because she didn’t receive any sales leads. She sounded desperate to me, and I bet she came across that way in her networking interactions. I told her if she relied on sales leads as a measure of networking success, she attended for the wrong reasons. Networking is building relationships and expanding our network of resources. Ultimately, we want to refer business back and forth. But that only happens when we take the time to get to know people. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Period. End of story.

Build Your Business Referral Network

Referral networking means building relationships and being genuine. You network to make friends, sell a product, promote your company, find a job, find new clients, learn the latest from others, or gain more visibility in the business community. Business networking opportunities exist everywhere—meetings, professional associations, alumni groups, sports groups, community groups, weddings, parties, and any place people come together.

Set a goal and attend at least one networking event per week, where you meet potential referral sources. In fact, my referral marketing strategy includes proactive networking. This is a non-negotiable. Attend a breakfast, lunch, or evening networking event—or all three. Get out of your familiar places. Go where you clients go, go and hear an exciting speaker, attend professional association meetings, ask your colleagues what events they attend. Just show up!

Want great networking tips? Learn from the Mingling Maven, the leading authority and original expert on how to work a room: Susan RoAne and get her latest book, FACE TO FACE: How to Reclaim the Personal Touch in a Digital World (check out page 50 for a mention of yours, truly.)

Three Networking Goals

Manage your networking goals. My three goals when I attend a business networking event:

1. Meet interesting people
2. Learn a tip from an engaging speaker
3. Have fun.

When I achieve at least two of these goals—and I make a point to do so—great things happen!

So go out there, build your Business Referral Network, meet terrific people, and watch your business soar!

“Ideas and guidance come from the most unexpected sources-if you’re open to receiving it. Anne Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox, once told Fortune magazine that the best advice she ever received was from a customer who attended a breakfast meeting she conducted. ‘When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed,’ the customer explained, ‘you gotta do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t go into the ditch again.’ ”

Get Out of the Ditch

“The pragmatic translation of this homespun advice: The first imperative is survival. Second is figuring out what happened. Then, learn from those lessons and put a plan in place to recognize the signs in the future so you never make the same mistake again.”

Understand the Ditch

The Economy is rebounding slowly. Will companies make the same mistakes again? We’ve ridden many economic waves-1987, 2001, now-and when things pick up, we quickly forget lessons learned and go back to the way we used to work, and we believe the economy-and our business-will continue to boom.

The National Bureau of Economic Research reported in December 2008 that the U.S. economic recession officially started in December 2007-that’s nearly 2 years ago. No one predicted then how deep a ditch the cow was in. And, our heads were in the same ditch as the cow.

However, some good news surfaced during this recession. People talked, they wanted to connect and exchange creative ideas. They challenged conventional thinking and adopted new ways of working. Continuing this exchange of ideas in a slowly growing economy is essential.

Alan Greenspan predicts economic growth will hit 3 percent or higher, but unemployment will continue to increase and will pass 10 percent. Greenspan told the ABC program “This Week” that he expected 3 percent growth in the third quarter, up from the 2.5 percent he previously predicted. A slowing or halt in job losses is different from reversing the rise in unemployment, Greenspan noted, adding that the nation’s unemployment rate-currently 9.8 percent-is “going to penetrate the 10 percent barrier before heading down.”

Economic pundits remind us that unemployment is a lagging indicator in an economic recovery. Uh, oh, the cow is still in the ditch.

“We are in a recovery, and I think it would be a mistake to say the September numbers alter that significantly,” Greenspan said, adding: “This is what a recovery looks like. … It’s premature to act on this type of information.”

Stay Out of the Ditch

So, what to do? I act exactly as I tell my clients to act:

1. Ramp up activity. Triple your activity-but not just any activity. Focus on the activity that produces results in the short and the long term. Talk to people-past clients, new clients, prospects, peers, and colleagues. Everyone wants to talk. We share information and insights about the economy, the valuable lessons we learn, and the smart strategies we then engage.
2. Show up. Attend networking events. How many? One a week, minimum. For me, I attend 2 or 3 a week. It’s energizing, I learn, and I develop new and exciting business relationships. Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Show up. Period.
3. Forge new alliances. Everyone works differently now because the business landscape continues to change and evolve. As business issues become more complex, the solutions become more complex. Companies partner with other companies to deliver relevant solutions. Sometimes, they even partner with competitors (see, “Deepen Your Client Relationships & Grow Your Business with an Unexpected Referral Partner“, April 2009).
4. Narrow your niche. Yes, this business strategy produces immediate results-anytime–but particularly in a challenging economy. Why? The generalist no longer counts. Companies hire experts. The client expects measurable results from the person he hires. The client keeps his job, the company grows, and everyone wins. The more granular, specific, and definitively you position your business expertise, the faster you obtain new, profitable business.

The cow makes its way out of the ditch slowly. We need to get out of our ditch quickly. Get out there, show up, talk to people, get creative, and become the expert. Position yourself for the rebound. But don’t get fooled. Don’t go back to the way you used to work. Use anything and everything to boost your sales and ensure that you and your clients never land in the ditch again.

No shovel needed.

The quote I hear is: “If I wanted to sell, I’d have a sales job.”

A few things are happening:

• Retirement. Baby boomers are retiring. Kind of. (”We really don’t want to, so perhaps we’ll consult for awhile. At any rate, we’re not as available as we used to be.”)
• Budget cuts. Everyone is asked to do more with less.
• The connection. Companies are finally acknowledging that everyone in an organization knows someone who could be a connection, or link, to a new client or client network.

Sales Is Not a Dirty, Five-Letter Word!

Most of us hadn’t planned to go into sales as a career. In fact, until a few years ago, colleges didn’t offer program degrees in selling. Things are changing.
Selling has received a bad reputation because of stereotypes created by a few “bad apples.” The stereotypical image of a used-car salesman is that he is a pushy, arrogant, egotistical dealmaker. And a bad dresser, to boot. These qualities don’t serve the sales industry well.

Good sales experts are just the opposite of this clumsy, thoughtless, ugly stereotype. Think of a time when you left a selling interaction and thought to yourself, “That was a really good salesperson.” The positive attributes are universal:

• she listened
• asked good questions
• cared about me
• gave me options to think about
• was interested and genuine
• Isn’t that who you are?

Sales Is Not: Winning a Deal at Any Cost

Sales is about doing what is best for the customer at all costs. It is always about creating measurable business results for our clients. If you can’t help your clients with their business, you shouldn’t be doing business with them. Be willing to walk away from situations that aren’t right, and when you may not be the right fit for the client.

This doesn’t mean leaving a client in the lurch. It does mean offering a referral to someone who has the expertise you don’t.

Sales Success Is Leveraging Your Relationships

You know lots of people from many different areas of your life. Consider your community groups, hobbies, volunteer organizations, sports, service providers, family, neighbors, and friends. The list goes on and on. Companies are asking you to leverage these relationships by finding out who these people know and what their network is.

You’re not asking your contacts to do business with you. You want to know whom they know (and how and when they can refer you).

It’s a dramatically different dynamic. People are delighted to help.

You just need to ask. (Read “If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Sell” (Back in the Black newsletter, Feb. ‘09)

Sales Success Is Redefining the Concept of “Sales”

I want you to change how you think about selling. Several clients tell me they don’t “sell”, and we can’t use the word “sales” in our discussions. I respect their point of view, but I also help them think differently about sales. Good salespeople are authentic and genuine. When you are sincere, care about your clients, and ask your contacts who they know, you are selling in the only way I know how. As a respected professional.

What do you think about sales now? We all have to “sell” to succeed.

Are you willing to help your organization grow?

Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of life is showing up.” He also said “Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.” No matter how you slice it, showing up counts!

At holiday time, you have an exceptional opportunity to meet new people at a very social and happy time of year. There are all sorts of networking events to attend. Invite someone you’d like to know better to go along with you. They will have a chance to meet new people, and you both win.

Here are some tips for building your Business Referral Network, which I touched on in last month’s Back in the Black Newsletter: So You Don’t Like to Network (Nov. ‘08).

Business Referral Networking

Networking Prep Work

Just as you would prepare for a business meeting, you need to prepare to attend a networking event.

• Put monthly attendance on your calendar and pay for the event. By paying in advance, you create a commitment. (If you haven’t paid, you might decide not to show up. Give yourself incentive to network.)
• Set a goal for each networking event. If there’s someone in particular you want to meet, make sure you get introduced. Or perhaps you want to take away specific business tips from the speaker or meet a client.
• Travel solo. If you go with someone you know, split up, so that you both can meet new people. You can’t put referral networking into place if you stay with the people you already know.
• Plan your personal introduction. How will you introduce yourself in a way that’s intriguing and will make people want to hear more about what you do? Create a short, five-second “blurb” that engages your audience. (For example, a colleague of mine is a content strategist, writer, and editor. Her intro blurb is: “Making the world a better place, one word at a time.” It’s light-hearted, easy to understand, and opens the door to a conversation … and maybe a referral!)
• Prepare insightful questions. Always have a few questions prepared to begin a conversation. You could ask if other attendees have been to this business networking event before, or have heard the speaker before, or you could comment on something in the news – just stay away from politics.

Networking Interactions

Look for friendly conversations, introduce yourself, and join the group.

• Move graciously from group to group. Tell people how nice it was to meet them, and let them know there are some other folks you need to meet. (They’ll understand. They’re at the event for the same reason you are.)
• Look for a person standing alone and talk to them. The person standing alone is often uncomfortable. Work your referral networking magic by making him or her feel comfortable. Who knows? The man or woman standing alone could be your next client.
• Ask, “How can I help you?” Only ask if you mean it. People don’t expect this question, and sometimes they don’t have an answer. At a minimum, you will now be viewed as a referral marketing resource.

Proactive Networking Actions

• Have a system for organizing your referral marketing contacts – where you met them, what you agreed to send or to do, and when to follow up. Be sure to follow up with what you promised.
• Send a hand-written note. It only takes a few minutes and your personal touch will be remembered long after the business-networking event.
• Set realistic goals: This means committing to meeting two or three really good people and finding out about them. I like to have a “substantive” conversation with only two or three people. That’s it. If the referral marketing conversation is intriguing for both of us, we make plans to meet again and continue our discussion.

Just relax and have a good time. Most people are just as uncomfortable at business referrals as you used to be. Use these tips, and you’ll be great at building your own Business Referral Network!