Tweet

Top Three Mistakes Made in Selecting Referral Partners

Guest post by: Colleen Stanley

Article Overview: There are thousands of dollars invested every year in creating a compelling brand. Once created, well designed pieces of collateral hit the streets through different venues; email newsletters, direct mail, blogs and videos. All important strategies and tactics for generating qualified opportunities.

Top Three Mistakes Made in Selecting Referral Partners

There are thousands of dollars invested every year in creating a compelling brand. Once created, well designed pieces of collateral hit the streets through different venues; email newsletters, direct mail, blogs and videos. All important strategies and tactics for generating qualified opportunities. There is another strategy for generating opportunities that requires little money. It's called a referral strategy and the upfront investment is the willingness to invest time in people and relationships. In a world gone flat, everyone is bombarded and overloaded with information. It's more important than ever to develop referral partners and strategic alliances in order to push past the clutter and be considered for the next opportunity. Unfortunately, most salespeople and companies don't execute a referral strategy very well. The intentions are good, however, methodology is poor. Let's take a look at the top three mistakes made in building referral partners.

#1: No alignment.

When looking for potential referral partners, put on your sales hat. Good partners are like good prospects; they must be qualified or disqualified. One of the key qualifiers for referral partners is how well they align with your company values, goals and objectives. Ask yourself the following questions when qualifying potential partners:

• How does your potential partner treat their customers? Do they create ‘raving fans' or are they just in business to collect commissions?

• Who is your potential referral partner target customer? If you need connections in the Fortune 500 world and your potential partner calls on mid-market, there is not going to be a lot of opportunities for exchanging leads.

• Is there a match on the target prospects psychographics? If your company sells on value and your potential referral partners sells on price, you can be assured the only opportunities generated will be cheap and negotiated.

• Take a look at the relationship your potential partner has with their current clients. Are they treated like a vendor or trusted advisor? If they are treated like a vendor, chances are you are getting introduced into companies where there is not a values match. Companies who treat vendors like vendors generally have a corporate culture where people as a whole are not valued. As a result, relationships are not a value add in the selling proposition and you are now in the price game.

#2: No match on partnership philosophy.

Think about good friendships and marriages. They are grounded in trust, full of give and take and a real concern about the other person's welfare. Business partnerships are no different. The problem with most salespeople in building relationships is that they operate in efficiency mode and don't take the time to get to know their potential referral partners business. Go beyond the basics such as size, demographics and problems solved for clients.

• Why are you in business? (And don't settle for the money reason.)

• What's the number one reason clients do business with you over your competitor?

• What have you done or changed at your company to add more value for your customers?

Good referral partnerships are based on generosity and reciprocity. When a good referral partner walks into a networking event, they look for two opportunities; one for themselves and one for their partners. Good partners are willing to do the work in building relationships. Instead of shooting off an email off that says, "Call Joe and use my name," a good partner will pick up the phone, call Joe, deliver your '30 second commercial' and qualify or disqualify the opportunity for you. It takes time and it's the willingness to invest time that separates the salesperson that has a lot of contacts from the salesperson who has relationships. Here's a rule: processes and systems are efficient. People are not.

#3: No follow-up.

An introduction to a referral partner's best client or colleague is a gift wrapped with a nice bow. Research shows the increase in close ratios for referrals is double that of a cold call or leads generated by marketing. Don't be a stranger after receiving an introduction. Ask your referral partner how they'd like you to stay in touch regarding the account. Some partners like to be included on all emails, others a monthly progress report and others just a final recap. Keep track of success stories and share with your partner. It is important for them to know about the wins you are achieving for their contact.

Qualify your partners and be a good partner. It's a great marketing strategy.

Related Articles
  3 mistakes in selecting a right Web Development Company
  Is Your Networking Not Working?
  What Do Successful Small Businesses Do That You May Not?
  Revealed: the Ultimate Lead Generation Tool
  Business Marketing No More Cold Calling
  When Good Referrals Turn Bad by Keith Rosen, MCC
  More on Referrals
  Getting Referrals
  LaserSharp Networking
  How to Choose the Right Therapist for You
  Customer referral program
  Small Business Marketing - Finding Your First Customers through Referral Partners
  Referrals in Marketing Work When Your Actions Have This One Key
  Need More Client Referrals? Try This Tactic
  Educating Vs Selling
  Referral Program
  Stress-Free Selling® - Go After the Easy Sales First
  Top 7 Mistakes Made By Small Business Owners When Joining a Business Networking Referral Group
  The REFERRAL Pattern - Who’s REALLY Referring You and Why
  A Common Misconception About Generating Referrals thats Severely Limiting the Amount of Referrals You Receive

Article Tags: blogs, direct mail, potential clients, referral partners, sales leadership, sales training, thousands of dollars
Referred by: http://www.page1solutions.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Partnership questions - Thats a tough one. Partners are not my favorite. How much development do you have left and how much time and cost will it take to get you to a finished product?
Re: Win Prizes - The Triple Crown Contest! - Hi GT - if you log into your author account you'll see Referral Program as one of the options on the left side. If you click on that you'll get the link that will tie people to your account.
Re: HI EVERYONE - HI All, I'm back too.. Was on a hiatus creating an online product. Made myself accountable for that by getting customers to pay for it first while I created it with them.
Picking a corporate lawyer - Hi Everyone, I was just curious to know what's the most important criteria a small business owner should look at when choosing a corporate lawyer? -Cost/hr? -Location? -Reputation/Referral? -Experience? -Personality? How did you pick your lawyer? And what's a fair price to pay per hour? Thanks
Re: FREE Toronto Referral Workshop - Hi there, Indeed, I have never heard of a Referral Seminar. What a good idea. I guess being offered for free, there must have been a great deal of people attending. It is another way of saying: Do you want to increase your customers. Come along and we help and teach you. It has been said, that even in downturn of business confidence and consumer's caution, business will not come to a grinding halt. Please Andy, can you let us h ave these 14 ways of getting referrals. Thanks.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ten Ways to Make Blogging Work for Your Business

Death by Micromanagement

Download a template or see a lawyer?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.