One Tool for Hundreds of Referrals
Who here would like to know about one tool that can produce hundreds of referrals? I can’t hear you!
Who here would like to know about one tool that can produce hundreds of referrals? OK, I’ll share it with you.
It’s your Appointment Book!
It’s an amazing tool that predates technology but we all still use some version of it (paper or digital) to plan our meetings and days.
Of course, there is more to this than just your appointment book, it’s how to use it in your one-to-ones to generate 100’s of referrals for other members and in turn, generate referrals for ourselves.
So – how do you use your appointment book in a one-to-one? No, it’s not to book the next one-to-one. That is always a good idea but it’s not this idea.
It is about capturing the referral opportunities that already exist but need to be created.
How does it work?
In the one-to-one I would open my appointment book or calendar and describe to the person I’m meeting the next 10 places I’m going to be and people I’m going to meet, without using names for privacy reasons.
For instance;
• I’m going to meet this newly married couple and I’m going to meet them at their house.
• I’m going to meet this business owner, I’m meeting him on Zoom.
• I’m going to meet this couple, I’m meeting them at this restaurant. I would describe the Who and the Where.
And for each one, I would ask my one-to-one partner, “Tell me in that exact scenario, what am I looking for? What am I listening for that would tell me that these people might be a good referral for you? And if I see it, what do I say or do?”
Take notes next to the appointment in your diary, then when you have those meetings your reticular activating system (RAS) will be working to listen for or promote those referrals opportunities. And they will pop up.
Follow the Process to WIN
To get results from this method there are processes that must be followed to make it work:
1.You must have one-to-ones. Makes sense, right?
2.It can’t be the first one-to-one with the other member, you’ve got to build trust and build credibility with them before this will work.
3.It’s a numbers game. The success of finding a referral using this method is realistically 5%. So, the more one-to-ones a week you have where you share your diary and the more meetings (they don’t have to be client meetings they can be any meeting with other people), the more referrals you generate. But if you have 20 meetings a week and 1 one-to-one a week, you’ll find one referral a week. Or 5 one-to-ones a week and 20 meetings a week you’ll generate 5 referrals.
But here’s the bonus, the member you are meeting with will also get their diary out and then they will be finding you referrals… it’s a win-win.
5 One-to-Ones a Week – Is It Possible?
It can feel hard to book in one-to-ones at the moment, particularly if we feel the time invested has been wasted and unproductive.
But if you have the time and your keen to receive more referrals and therefore more business you may like to give this method a try! What have you got to lose?
Start with 1 one-to-one, build from there and see how you get on!
Book Some One-to-Ones
• By the end of the meeting book at least 4 one-to-ones for the coming month.
• If you know that there is a % chance that a number of those won’t happen, overbook yourself.. it works for Air New Zealand after all.
• You may like to time the one-to-ones for when you naturally have downtime.. over lunch for instance.
In summary:
We know from empirical research that members who have four one-to-ones per month (not even one a week) give and RECEIVE twice as many referrals as members who have none.
