Professional Service Firm Marketing Tips & Strategies

Referral Engine Power Groups - bring a friend and save big bucks

Today I scheduled two new sessions of The Referral Engine Power Groups to begin at the end of July and early August. Thanks to some feedback from you, I will be offering an evening session this time around for those who have trouble getting away during the day.

I am also offering a special discount to reader's of this blog that will allow you to Bring-A-Friend and you both get in for half price. This blog is the only place I will be promoting this 2 for 1 deal for these upcoming sessions. This is my way of thanking you for reading my blog and also a way for me to put my money where my mouth is related to referrals.

Even though social media gets the lion's share of the press, referral marketing is still one of the strongest tactics you can use to grow your practice.  Join us to create a step-by-step, documented referral marketing system based on your very specific target market. 

You can learn more about program and save your seat here - http://ReferralEngine.eventbrite.com

If you would like to take advantage of the Bring-A-Friend program, drop me a line or give me a call at 913.962.9261 and I will send you a special code for your discount.

LinkedIn Groups Get A Facelift

LinkedIn recently made some changes to the user interface of Groups section. Like most of their recent updates, the changes seem focused on providing a cleaner user interface that helps you perform tasks faster (fewer clicks to get what you need). Here are a few of the changes you will see in the latest update:

1. Look and feel – changes have been made to make conversations feel like “real” conversations you have in everyday life. For example, if I want to tell you about an article, you see the info from the article, not just a link to it. Pictures and links to profiles help you recognize the people participating in the conversation. You can quickly check on the status of a conversation by see the last 3 comments (and who made them) in the conversation.
2. In addition to being able to quickly review conversations, you can quickly comment inline – you don’t have to scroll all the way to the end of the conversation in order to leave a comment.
3. You can vote and comment on parts of the conversation. This allows you to quickly identify the most popular parts of the conversation.
4. By following people, you can receive email notifications when your favorite people make a contribution to a conversation.
5. Groups now highlight the Top Influencers – people who contribute and stimulate group conversations

Here is a short video from the folks at LinkedIn which shows some of these new features in action:

So what do you think of these new features? Will they help you in your networking efforts?

Referral Engine Webinar

Join John Jantsch, author of The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself , and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, for a discussion about practical solutions you can use to build your business through referrals. Learn how happy customers and actively engaged partners can reduce or eliminate your need for expensive advertising.

This is a free event, but space is limited, so register today!

Event Date & Time: Tue, Jul 6th @ 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Register here -https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/923654456

Referral Partner Groups or Networking Events - Which do you prefer?

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I was spending more time listening to the conversations around me. Another theme that seems to be repeating itself is the idea of shifting from attending general networking events to referral groups.

In these conversations, networking events are comprised of chamber of commerce and association events, various luncheon get-togethers, and after hours events. In the Kansas City area, we seem to have an embarassment of wealth when it comes to these type of networking opportunities. It would be very easy to consume a 40 hour work week just attending the various networking opportunities in our city.

Referral meetings tend to be much smaller and are typically comprised of business owners who serve similar target markets but don't compete with one another. 

Some other ways referral groups tend to differ from networking meetings include:

1. Expectations - there is more of an expectation that people who attend referral groups are looking for introductions. This expectations goes both ways, if you want me to provide you with an introduction, you must be clear about who (or what company) you would like to meet.
2. Introductions vs. Referrals - even though I refer to them as referral groups, I find that people in these groups are looking for introductions. They realize they may not be able to connect directly to the ultimate decision maker in one step. Rather, they are looking for a path to lead them to the decision maker.
3. Speaking of decision makers, many of these groups seem to form out of a shared frustration over the inability to connect with decision makers at the typical networking event. If you are not having any luck meeting the decision makers of your target customers at these events, you may want to explore forming your own referral group.
4. Because expectations are more clearly defined, these groups often feel more productive. They feel more like a business meeting rather than a social. This feeling of being productive often makes the experience more valuable to the participants, so attendance and participation tends to be stronger.

Those are some of the things I have been noticing. How about you? Do you have a preference between networking and referral partner groups?

Interested in starting a referral partner group but not sure how? Drop me a line or leave a comment, I'll be happy to help.

Building Blocks of a Marketing Tactic - Execution

We’ve been talking about the building blocks necessary for successfully implementing a marketing tactic. We started by discussing the importance of starting from a sound marketing strategy and using that strategy to help set our goals and expectations for our tactics. Next, we talked about examining the specific tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to implement the tactic. That bring us to the execution block of our model.

The execution block of this model may seem like a contribution from Captain Obvious, but I think it is important to point out that we must DO the activities related to the tactic if we are going to succeed. It is easy to focus on all of the shiny tools and read the books and go to seminars, etc., but if we don’t actually to the day to day work, our tactic will not be successful. When we look at creating a referral system, this means we have to  send our Perfect Introduction in Reverse Letters. We have to pick up the phone and make the follow up call to see if it makes sense to have a face to face meeting. We have to show up to the meeting and have an honest (structured) conversation to determine if it makes sense for you to partner with this person. You have to stay in touch, make referrals, send thank you notes, etc. We put tools and systems in place to make it easy for us to do these things efficiently, but they still need to be done.

Our own attitude plays a big part in the Execution block. The wrong attitude will hinder us from actually doing. If I have the attitude that strategic partner relationships don’t work because I always give referrals but I never receive them, then guess what, it’s going to be very easy for me to put off making calls or sending letters, or anything else that would help me get more referrals. This often leads to a downwards spiral until I just give up trying. What I should be doing is looking at the different parts of this model to determine why I’m not getting results. Am I approaching the right people? Do I have the right tools for the job? Do I need to acquire some new skills?

Our attitudes are also largely affected by the way we measure and judge our progress. I believe it is important to measure the things we have control over, our behaviors, rather than just the end results. For example, I can’t make people give me referrals, but I can do the behaviors that are likely to lead to getting referrals. If I am doing the behaviors but not getting the results, then I probably need to change my behaviors.

Planning is great. Systems are great. Education is great. Bottom line, you actually have to execute if you want to see the results.

Building Blocks of a Marketing Tactic – Knowledge & Skills

Each tactic that you use to implement your marketing strategy may require a different set of knowledge and skills for successful implementation. Determining the implementation knowledge and skills necessary before jumping into execution (or deciding to outsource) can save you a lot of frustration and money.

Sometimes the knowledge and skills we need are related to the tools we are using to implement this tactic. For example, if we decided to use a software program to help us stay in touch with our strategic referral partners, we may need to learn how that program works and how to use it effectively.

Learning new skills doesn’t only apply to technology. We know that we need to do things like network and have one-on-one conversations with potential strategic referral partners, but how many of us have been taught how to carry on a structured conversation that will move us towards our goals? Developing our skills in these conversations is often the difference between networking that only leads to “meeting a bunch of nice people” and networking that leads to business opportunities.

Once we have identified the knowledge and skills required to successfully implement a marketing tactic, we are in a better position to evaluate which we possess in-house and which we may need to learn or outsource.

Building Blocks of a Marketing Tactic - Tools

Continuing our discussion on marketing tactic building blocks let’s talk about the block labeled Tools and how it related to referral marketing, specifically, working with Strategic Referral Partners.

 

For this discussion, tools include items such as newsletter creation and distribution software as well as standard letters or your marketing kit.

What are some specific tools we need to successfully implement the tactic of working with Strategic Referral Partners?

Perfect Introduction in Reverse Letter – once we identify a potential Strategic Referral Partner, (someone who serves a similar target market that we do but solves a different problem for that group), we must approach them and learn more about them in order to determine if they are, in fact, a good match for our business. One of the tools we use in Duct Tape Marketing to help us approach potential referral partners is something called the Perfect Introduction in Reverse. Basically, this is a letter that helps open the door to a new relationship by asking your potential partner how you may be able to better help them. 

A Referral Kit – once you confirm that someone is a good fit for the role of strategic referral partner for you firm, you want to make it is as easy as possible for them to refer others to you. This is where your Referral Kit tool comes into play. This can be as simple as one page, but you will want to include educational material on how to spot your ideal prospect, how to communicate what you do, as well as an explanation of what will happen once you receive a referral. You may also want to include special appointment cards, gift certificates, or special passes to your upcoming events.

A stay in touch system – another essential tool to successfully implementing a strategic referral partnership is having a system in place to follow up. This system can be a sophisticated CRM (customer relationship management) software program or it can be a simple set of index cards. The important thing is that you systematically stay in touch with you referral partners so that when they do run across someone who has a need for what you do, they will remember and refer you.

Those are just three examples of tools that you will want to have in your marketing toolkit. Once you have these tools, you can leverage them across different contacts as well as different marketing tactics.

Next time, we’ll talk about the Knowledge & Skills building block.

Referral Marketing Programs for Professionals

Learn how to generate a flood of new business without spending one dime on advertising. Available as a Self Study Program as well as group and individual coaching programs

Make a Referral Wednesday, How Can I Help?

We are half way through Make A Referral Week, how are you doing so far? Personally, I need to step it up a little. I've made a couple of referrals, including connecting two people that I would like to do business with but haven't yet.

Sometimes, our biggest obstacle to getting referrals is getting in the habit of asking for them. I think the same goes for giving them- we have to remember to ask. So here is a quick tip to help you start the habit. Call up 15 people (that's only 5 per day for the rest of the week) and say "This is Make A Referral Week, who can I connect you with to help you with your business?".

Ask without the intention of receiving anything in return, but be prepared to answer when they ask how they can return the favor. Just as it is important to help others, it's also important to be able to graciously allow others to help you.

We are half way through Make A Referral week, who can I connect you with to help you with your business?

Make a Referral Week Starts Today

Today  is the first day of the 2010 Make-A-Referral Week. Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. 

One of the educational programs related to Make-A-Referral Week will be John Jantsch's session on Building A Referral Engine. John's session is scheduled for Wed, Mar 10, 2010 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST.

As you make referrals, be sure to update the Referral Counter page.

Do you need referrals for your business? Drop me an email or leave a comment below telling me who you would like to meet and I'll do my best to connect you with someone in my network.  

3 Metrics for Referral Marketing

I'm a big fan of regularly reviewing you marketing plan. I believe that regularly reviewing your plan is just as, if not more, important as creating the plan in the first place. Marketing plan review discussions generally include metrics. Here are three of my favorite metrics related to referral marketing:

Referrals Given - I always like to start with this one. I'm sure we have all heard sayings like "give to get" and "givers gain", but do you set goals and measure results related to the referrals you give others?

Stay in touch conversations - More often than not, referrals don't come from partners right away. It takes some time to nurture those relationships. Having a system in place to regularly reach out to maintain your "top of mind" status is a key to a successful referral strategy.

Referrals Asked For - more often than not, the biggest obstacle to receiving referrals is that we don't ask for them. You don't have control over how many referrals you receive, but you certainly have control over making requests.

Do you have a favorite metric for tracking your referral marketing process? Leave a comment and share it with us.

Looking for more referral marketing tips?

John Jantsch's lastest book, The Referral Engine, is now available for pre-order.