In my last article on understanding your contacts sphere (https://merseyside.asentiv.com/understanding-your-contact-sphere/) we looked at how to start identifying the key people in your network. In this post we are going to get really deep into your contacts and see how we can identify not only who your key referral partners are but also what actually constitutes a productive referral partner.
Once we have identified the people in our network (our contact sphere) and the level of referral relationship we have with them, our next task is to identify what we would call our, “Personal Power Team Members.” A Personal Power Team Member is someone with who you have a credible relationship, are in your contact sphere, and you are actively engaging in a referral relationship. This is someone who should have the same target market client as you and you already have such a good level of trust that you are happy to refer each other to your contacts and clients.
Our aim with these contacts, is to where possible, elevate our relationship even further into what we would call a referral partner. This is someone who we work really closely with to generate referrals for each other. When I have worked with clients on this topic there is often some confusion over what a referral partner is. A referral partner is not just someone who passes you work. The key word here is partner, as this implies an equal level of contribution to the relationship. A referral partner is someone with whom you provide consistent, proactive, and reciprocal referrals to each other.
When measuring whether someone would make a good referral partner there are six key criteria that define a great referral partner.
- You like each other and have the desire, or could be inspired to help eachother.
- They have the time, or are willing to make the time, to help you.
- They are coachable. They have the ability and temperament to be trained by you to do the things you want them to do.
- They have the resources necessary to help you.
- They have access to and credible relationships in your target market.
- They make good referrals for people you know.
Make a list of the people you currently have a referral relationship with and run them through the six criteria above and see how many names you have that truly hit all six.
In my next post i’ll expand on each of the six criteria to help you identify how strong your referral network is.
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To your continued success
Dave