Keeping top of mind
When a fellow member is presented with a referral opportunity for you, you want them to automatically think of you and your business.
Question for the chapter… What are the usual ways of creating visibility and credibility with your fellow members, so they keep you top of mind for referrals?
Possible Answers:
• Attending the weekly meeting
• Great weekly presentations and feature presentations
• Regular one to ones
• Inviting visitors
• Referrals
• Participating in your power team
• Attending social events
• Joining the Leadership Team
Any others ….. ?
Looking for the “Fire Exit”
Are there other ways of staying top of mind? Yes, and it will work for some members better than others. It’s about creating an easy way for members to think of you when they are out and about, so it almost becomes a habit. As an example, a signwriter might specifically request that members look out for the fire exit signs when visiting a commercial building. As having fire exit signs is a legal requirement for commercial buildings, if they are missing then it’s a potential lead for the signwriter. Before too long, everyone is looking for the fire exit when they go into commercial buildings and therefore thinking of the signwriter.
It’s up to the signwriter if they accept just the building address as a referral (normally a lead) and do the follow-up to find the building manager themselves or if they want the other member to do more work in qualifying the lead. But the desired outcome is just encouraging members to think about you all the time which may also generate more and larger referral opportunities. Other examples are electrical equipment in a business that isn’t tagged, people in business using a Gmail address, slow loading websites, flickering lights, dripping taps, dust, jumbo bins outside houses.
What is your “Fire Exit Request”?
Optional Chapter Activity:
Pair members up and see if they can come up with “Fire Exit Request” ideas between them for each other. Give them a couple of minutes and get 1 or 2 to provide feedback.
In Conclusion
This strategy won’t work for everyone, especially if members only want well-qualified referrals.
If you are prepared to accept more leads to generate more referrals, then producing your “Fire Exit Request” can work well to keep you top of mind with members.
