One of the best ways to get a referral is to give a referral.
When you give someone a referral, they are forever grateful and
will feel obligated to return the favor.
Before you can go ahead and give someone a referral, you must
know them and know their business, this much is obvious. You
wouldn?t refer somebody that needs their house sided to a
painter would you? Of course not.
There are many ways to get to know people within your business
community and a lot of places to go to meet them.
For starters you can attend networking groups, chamber
luncheons, Lions clubs, or rotary clubs, to name a few.
These organizations meet either weekly or monthly, and they
offer a great opportunity for people within the business
community to meet, network, and get to know each other.
I once had a friend that I worked with in the mortgage business.
He would attend networking luncheons religiously, but he would
often come back from his meetings disappointed.
One day I decided to ask him why he was so frustrated. He
replied by telling me that after all of the time he had spent
talking with people, exchanging business cards, and flat out
asking for business, that he had yet to receive any. The whole
situation had him completely puzzled.
I than said to him, well, have you ever given anyone at these
networking events you attend a referral? He replied that he had
not, but the light bulb over his head became a lot brighter.
He took me up on my suggestion, and before long, the referrals
started to come in.
This is not to say, that the only way to get a referral is to
give a referral, because it most certainly is not. But it sure
does help.
You may say to yourself, no one ever gave me a referral, so why
should I give anyone else a referral. You really don?t need me
to tell you that this attitude will get you know where, because
it won?t.
Somebody has to start the referral process, so it might as well
be you. This way you are working smarter and not harder.
One idea is to start a partnership with someone. If you are a
loan officer, you might consider partnering up with a realtor.
If you are a contractor, you may consider teaming up with a
plumber.
Like it or not, the process of referring business back and forth
to people in your business community can get a little bit
political. So it is important to establish yourself within the
business community and build as many relationships as possible.
Make sure the relationships you build are with responsible and
dependable people who you can count on to send you qualified
leads, otherwise you are just wasting your time.
This truly is one of the smartest and easiest ways to get
referrals heading in your direction, so give it a shot, and best
of luck.
About the author:
Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the
banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of
http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also
the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead
company.
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