If you want to receive high quality referrals from other business owners on a regular basis, the first major ‘obstacle’ you have to overcome is trust.
If people don’t trust you or see you as credible, they simply won’t be motivated to find or send you business.
Here’s a couple of suggestions to help speed up the trust building process in your business networking:
1. Send them referrals for their business/service
If you feel confident that the person you’ve met is worthy of a referral from you and will make you look better as a result of referring them…
… then go ahead and make that referral.
There’s simply no faster way to build trust than to trust first and show that through your actions.
2. Offer them resources or connections
Often times you meet someone, and even if you like them and have a good feeling about them – there’s not an immediate opportunity to refer them directly.
But what about helping them out with some of their other business challenges that go beyond just what your product or service can help them with?
What other professionals can you connect them with that would be great referral partners for them?
These introductions, when done right, make you an instant hero and resource.
3. Help them with something personal
Maybe there’s nothing business related that you can offer or assist but you hit it off personally and learned about something you had in common.
Maybe you have the same hobby, or share a common history.
Whatever the case, it’s possible that you can offer information, resources, or connections that would genuinely help the other person out.
It could be as simple as sending them a blog post or article with helpful information.
Notice the common theme among everything listed above… each one starts with you GIVING FIRST. That’s the recipe for networking success.
If you liked this video you’ll love Episode 17: How to Organize Your Sales & Communication Followup
