Connecting Your Way to Small Business Sales

Guest Contributor: Albert Luk
Albert's Posts - Albert's Site

In the last two posts on the effectiveness of referral marketing and on building a small business referral network, I made mention that referral marketing is the most effective strategy to selling to small business and that building a referral network is more of a function of personalities than job titles. Today, I wanted to provide some brief comments on finding the "right" connectors into the small business world.

At the risk of embarrassing the host of this blog, and to reiterate last month's post, Evan Carmichael is a Connector to the small business world. However, Evan is not a member of the Big Three (defined last month as an accountant, lawyer and banker). Evan is a connector because of his personality and not something he puts on his resume.

I met Evan through cosmic accident; as I recall, he was on an advisory board for an organization I was a member of which had taken my annual membership dues and not provided me any service. Evan was the poor soul who fielded my complaint. In a round about way, bad customer service was the impetus for our initial meeting.

As my brief story indicates, finding Connectors is more of happen-stance than by design. There are no databases of Connectors (and one would be leery of anyone who advertised to their world they were connected). You cannot buy a list of Connectors in North America. You cannot join a group of Connectors (they probably know each another anyway so forming a group would be redundant). Instead, you will most likely meet them through some other contact rather than finding them yourself. They are Connectors after all- eventually, they will know someone who knows someone that knows you. As Woody Allen says, 90% of life is just showing up.

Most good salespeople I know end up meeting a Connector because they socialize a lot. In order words, Connectors are found more by chance than strategy. If this conclusion is not extremely analytical, it is because the basis of human interaction is by nature emotional and good people end up finding other good people by circumstance and accident rather than by some strategic and conscious decision.

We tend to downplay the human aspect of business but, in a world where choice has become nearly unlimited, it is this facet which truly binds people together in commercial enterprise. For example, Warren Buffet could donate his multi-billionaire empire to hundred of charitable foundations but chose Bill Gates'. It is not because Gates knows how to sell software. Instead, Buffet and Gates are bridge partners, share common world-views and are friends.

To continue this thread of un-analytical thinking, Connectors help "nice people" get ahead. Thus even if one were, by strategy, end up meeting a Connector, it is not conclusive that a Connector would be your champion to the small business world. I am by no means a Connector but I will champion someone who I feel is a good human being and will make a difference. I am sure most of you would do the same. With a Connector, such championing would be increased a hundred times what I could remotely provide.

At the end of the day, Connectors help you for the same reason that a client buys from you: you articulate a client problem you can solve and you are a trusting individual. Thus, connecting your way to small business sales comes down to the fundamental basis of why anyone would want to buy from you in the first place: will you help your clients in an honest and trusting manner? Can you build a long-lasting and trusting relationship?

If you can, the Connectors will find you. They are Connectors after all.