Use a System for Making Referrals

[Michael Reynolds]

As a member of networking groups like BNI and Rainmakers, I have a strong commitment to producing quality referrals for members of my network. The "givers gain" philosophy is alive and well and I have seen it work wonders many times over for me and for my referral partners. Staying consistent is tough, however. It's easy to get busy and distracted and therefore forget to make referrals or even miss opportunities that come up in daily interactions.

For this reason, I am careful to capture referral opportunities in my productivity system just like any other action. It doesn't take much. All you need is a good todo list and capture mechanism. Personally, I use Things, because it the most GTD-like Mac application I have found and it syncs up with my iPhone. You can use a notepad, Jott, or anything that makes sense for you. The key is to capture opportunities as they occur and then process and actually make the referral later.

For example, let's say I am talking with someone and learning more about his business and I find out that he is not happy with the way his IT is managed. This immediately prompts me to mention Scott Sells at Zing Technologies (a fantastic IT company, by the way!). It would be very tempting to just say "Scott is great, give him a call!" and maybe give him Scott's phone number. However, I would want to take it a step further. I would capture an action that says "Do an email introduction between Scott Sells and Bob Smith. Bob is having virus problems on his server." I might write this down on my todo list or call Jott to speak a note to myself. Now I can forget about it and go on about my day.

Later, when I am reviewing my todo list, I can look at this note and take the time to craft an articulate email introduction between Scott and Bob. I would start off talking about Scott's credentials and why I trust him. Then, since I gave myself a specific need in the note, I could also write about a specific example in which Scott helped someone else with the exact same problem. I could send a link to Scott's website. This personalizes the referral and makes it that much stronger.

By capturing referral opportunities as todo items like any other action, I ensure that I don't miss opportunities to help my referral partners. It also gives me time to properly process and craft high-quality referrals because I am not rushed or distracted.

Whatever your system is, be sure you are using it to capture referral opportunities. Your network will thank you and your credibility and influence will increase.