Now you see me, now you don't...

Lack of visibility will cost you business.   

We often speak about the importance of the Know, Like and Trust factors in referral marketing. But the formula is not complete without Visibility.

"Where did he go?"

There is a common misconception that just by belonging to a business networking group you should get referrals.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

The members of your networking group still need to get to know you, like you and trust you. They can’t do that if you don’t show up on a regular basis.

One doesn't generate trust without consistency. In fact, your referrals will begin to decline the minute you start missing meetings, even if you have a substitute fill in for you.

There will be times of sickness and other emergencies that cause you to miss a meeting. That’s understandable.

However, when attendance is poor, the trust factor begins to deteriorate. The missing member will seem unreliable and will lose credibility. Fellow members may wonder...

· “Where is she?”

· “Is this how he runs his business?” 

· “Will she show up for my client or send someone else?”

· “I manage to get to the meetings on time, why can’t he?”

· “We must not be very important to her.”

· “Is there something wrong? What’s going on?”

As for profitability, empty chairs can’t give or receive referrals and there is always one of your competitors in the wings ready to take your business.

10 Irrefutable Laws of Referral Building

Listed below are some of the fundamental truths about referral building. 

These laws, without question, outline absolute truths about referral relationships.

1.  If they don't like you, they won't refer to you, even if your price or quality is better.

2.  Without a follow-up note or a meeting, most new referral sources will forget about you in less than 10 days.

3.  In order for your referral network to consistently refer to you, they need a crystal-clear understanding of what you do and the problems that you solve.

4.  Technology will never replace face-to-face relationships and personal chemistry.

5.   A lead is not a referral. A referral is when you connect someone you know, like and trust to someone you care about who has a need. A lead is barely more than a cold call.  

6.  A few quality referrals are better than a larger quantity of leads.

7.  Referral sources are based on relationship building, not networking.

8.  Many people that you may consider referral sources are actually just social contacts, networking buddies and good-time charlies, who have rarely, if ever, sent you a referral.

9.  Lack of visibility is the top reason why referral relationships falter. If they never hear from you or see you, even if they know, like and trust you, they will forget about you.   

10.  You should be able to close a well-endorsed quality referral 85% of the time.

My Definition of a Good Referral...

THE DEFINITION OF A GOOD REFERRAL

      I once heard Joe Stumpf, the founder of the real estate coaching program, “By Referral Only,” put it this way:

“A referral is when you give someone that you know, like and trust to someone you care about.”

I agree with him. Although, I think a good referral is when you pave the way with a connection to someone who has a need.

           

WHAT IS MY DEFINITION OF A GOOD REFERRAL?

           

A good referral is when you connect someone you know, like and trust to someone who has a need.

      Statistics soundly prove that the more you know, like and trust a business person, the more you will refer them to your friends, associates and family. In fact, I did a survey a while back and found that 95%, of the hundreds of participants, would NOT refer to someone that they didn't like. 

      A good referral opens the door so that you can walk right in, get past the gatekeeper and talk to the person making the decisions.

TRUST- How do you get there?

  TRUST is an important piece of your business

The road to referrals is built on integrity, strength, ability, surety and confidence. Simply put, it's built on TRUST. 

People will do business with and refer businesses that they know, like and trust. 

In Gold Star, we expand that to "Know, Like, Trust and Visibility." Let's face it, how many times has someone said to you, "Oh I forgot that's what you do?" So it's easy to say that visibility should be a critical part of your referral strategy to increase business. 

However, the MOST critical part of that formula is plain old TRUST.
We use businesses that we trust. Trust is when you believe that a business has your best interests at heart, that they wouldn't do anything to hurt you and that they wouldn't take advantage of you for selfish gain. 

As a business, you earn trust by consistantly proving and re-proving to your customers, clients and referral partners that their belief in you, your service, your product and your company is not misplaced. 

That trust is earned based on your actions. Words alone cannot build trust. In fact, just saying "trust me" will set off alarm bells for most people. There is no other way to earn people's trust other than with actions. Everything you do or don't do will either build trust or tear it down a notch. 

Like they say, "Actions speak louder than words."
When trust is broken, all referrals from that individual or company will stop. Once trust is violated, you may never be able to regain it. They might smile and act nice when they see you, but they may never do business with you again, much less refer someone that they care about to you. 

Regenerating trust is a looooong process and not an easy one. It doesn't matter if you are a small company or a billion dollar corporation, the only way to re-generate trust is the same way you earned it in the first place. You can re-earn trust through actions that demonstrate integrity, strength, ability, surety and confidence. 

Here are some actions steps toward building TRUST: 

Education: Tell your customers and your referral partners, in a sincere way, who you are and what you do. Educate them through one on one meetings. Help them to understand the whole story of who you are. 

3rd Party Credibility: Use videos on Youtube of customer testimonials as third-party credibility. Impress them with testimonial letters, videos, statements and online recommendations through LinkedIn and other social media sites. 

Show, Tell & Demonstrate: Find ways for people to see, feel and use your products and services through free trials, samples and demonstations. Let them experience your excellance first hand. 

Share Your Fame: Use various methods of sharing your moments of recognition. Do a PR piece on your company for the newspaper, post online pictures of the award you received and show off the skill of your employees. 

Tests, Surveys and Data: Run a taste test, get in front of a focus group, or send out a survey. Find ways to gather data and empower your company statements with exciting facts. 

Offer A Guarantee: Jump start your customer's confidence in you by offering a guarantee. What do they have to lose? 

A study of 12, 750 workers done by Watson Wyatt showed that organizations that had a high-trust factor had a total return to shareholders that was 286 percent higher than low-trust organizations. 

Few can argue that trust is a huge determining factor in your referral marketing strategy. Trust cannot be assumed. It must be earned over time. Take time today to review your business plan. Do you have actions in place that will generate and build trust? If not, make it a priority to do what you need to do so that people can learn to trust you and your company.