Referral Marketing

When you become a regular reader of Referrals for Life, you will learn a lot about networking and referral marketing.  We will cover the powerful yet easy referral process. How the importance of networking is incessantly increasing.  Not only is referral marketing becoming more important, but it has always been and always will be a very effective way to market your company.  A recent study by the Bristol Business School found that 70 percent of the revenues generated by small business owners come from their network.

The key concept in referral marketing is relationships.  The system of information, support, and referrals that you assemble will be based on your relationships with other individuals and businesses.  Referral marketing works because these relationships work both ways: they benefit both parties.

A referral-marketing plan involves relationships of many kinds.  Among the most important are those with your referral sources, with prospects these referral sources bring you, and with customers you recruit from the prospects.  These relationships don’t just spring up full-blown – they must be nurtured.  As they grow, fed by mutual trust and shared benefits, they evolve through three phases: visibility, credibility, and profitability.  We call this the VCP model.

The VCP model describes the process of creation, growth, and strengthening of business, professional, and personal relationships; it is useful for assessing the status of a relationship and where it fits in the process of getting referrals.  It can be used to nurture the growth of effective and rewarding relationship with a prospective friend, client, co-worker, vendor, colleague, or family member.

Pro-active referral marketing is the systematic, planned and prepared process of managing your existing network and establishing relationships with people you are introduced to through the referral process.  The outcome: each professional can tap into their data base to reach their stated goals.

Comments

[James]

I don't know that it is true anymore that "referrals are about relationships." It may be to a certain extent, but there are an increasing number of referral exchange websites out there that are changing all of the rules.

For example, lawyers are now using www.LawRex.com to automatically increase their referral network to hundrends and even thousands of other attorneys. There are similar sites out there for other professionals.

The traditional very basic leads groups will no doubt continue to survive; however, techology is at a point that these groups will no doubt become less relevant to other superior referral networking services.

[Patrick Carney]

James,

I happen to be in New York meeting with one of the largest law firms in the city when we all read your comment as I introduced the firm to our blog. The law firm is working on a very important multi-million dollar case in Chicago and LA. The original referral was generated through a networking organization in NY City, and although they have received work from online networks they prefer an introduction from someone they know and trust.

Believe me, in-person networking is alive and well. BNI has opened 5 new countries this year alone. The BNI team opened more groups last year than in their first 12 years combined. Online networking is a great tool,as is direct mail, but it is not going to replace in-person networking in our lifetime.

Patrick

[Jay]

Speaking of referrals.....I have met a very bright individual, Andrew Ghalashahi. He has taught me the value of lead generation and web marketing. Search Engine optimization is such a powerfull tool when used the way Andrew Ghalashahi has shown me. I own a an indusrtial technology hobby site that educates people on the highly demanded technical repair instuctions for older hydraulic parts and systems. Andrew Ghalashahi has shown me that plain old advertising is not always the end all be all.

The SEO & Lead Generation GURU!

Andrew Ghalashahi Started lead generation at the tender age of 16. Andrew Ghalashahi has a talent that many do not possess. He is able to take a long boring sales pitch and simplify it into 2 sentences…..He calls it the “meat and potatoes pitch”. Techniques like these have given Andrew Ghalashahi a competitive edge throughout his career. Andrew Ghalashahi has a lead generation philosophy that many companies still to this day can’t adopt……..KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! I’ll leave out the “stupid”

Andrew Ghalashahi is the creative spark that ignites his progressive marketing philosophy. His natural fascination with business and advertising has been evident since high school, where he carried a dog-eared notebook, filled to the brim with his edgy business concepts.

Throughout high school, Andrew Ghalashahi continued to be an avid researcher of marketing and business trends. This impelled him to continue his education at a local business college, where he attained his degree in business management. With his keen eye for management and marketing, Andrew Ghalashahi proved to be a great asset during his career with many growth-oriented companies. But it was time for Andrew Ghalashahi to make his own mark in what had become his passion: Internet Marketing. Andrew Ghalashahi is now known a serious marketing WEAPON……His vast knowledge in Search Engine Optimization and creative marketing strategies have separated him from the rest

Some of the most impressive SEO work from Andrew Ghalashahi was on a hydraulic tech page that took the 1st on 1st page rank on Google.com before a website with that exact keyword as it’s domain name. If you go to google and type in SQUARE DUMP……You will see Eternal’s Tech page comes up before www.squaredump.com

Andrew Ghalashahi’s early concepts and vision, tempered by the maturity and experience he brings to the table from his corporate days—living proof of his outstanding ability to translate Concepts into Reality.

Jay
Marketing Consultant