Last week I was invited to participate by calling in to a teleconference for attorney’s who have a need to generate leads, how to convert those leads when you get them and then how to handle the business that is generated. The advance selling point of the teleconference was that it was going to change the lives of those who participate (buy) in the program and would become the most powerful marketing tool that the attorney’s on the phone would ever learn.
I was taken back by one of the first statements that the facilitator spoke. He said that he didn’t believe in referrals, didn’t really want referrals and would only accept them if he was forced to. It became obvious that networking has a negative connotation to the facilitator and he was passing this on to the attorney’s listening. This struck me as a disservice to the 80 plus professionals on the call. This might work for the facilitator’s law office, but should not be a blanket statement that the attorney’s on the call take for face value. As a trainer you should never knock other means of finding leads, whether it be the cold call, telemarketing, internet marketing, direct mail or referral marketing. In fact I believe you should never be programmed to stop a process that is working just to try something new.
In my mind networking (Referrals for Life) is about farming and hard selling is like hunting. The main difference between selling and networking is that in a sales process the goal of the interaction between two professionals is the sale of a product or service. When referral marketing, this sale is the consequence of a contact that is built with respect and care. It should be clear that the sale is not the goal of networking. Networking is the goal of networking. Making the appointment is all about making the appointment. Selling process is all about the sales process. I believe hard sellers that focus on the sale during the networking process are focused on the short term.
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