The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.15

 

Chapter 15 Video and Referral Networking & Conclusions

The video is the new trend in digital communications. It is used as an alternative to telephone calls, multiple member meetings, conferences, and marketing. It is the gold of digital media, and when used correctly, and efficiently, can add a lot of strength to a referral networks growth. 

Let’s take a look at the different users for video in a referral network.

1.      Video Calls

This is the standard use of video for communicating today and comes in many apps such as Viber, Skype, Whatsapp, Google Hangouts and more. Video calls reduce the cost of talking to anyone when used over a WiFi network. They enable us to see each other, which opens the way to view body language and facial expressions. It also allows us to use the camera to show what is happening in specific locations. Video calls are more personal, and as such is a great tool for creating a personal touch in a referral network. Video calls are global but are limited to the bandwidth available.

2.      Video Conferences

Like video calls, these are for including multiple participants in a conversation. A video conference allows us to create a group discussion, where brainstorming issues, as well as basic meetings, can take place. VC’s include boardroom discussions, multi-disciplinary meetings, referrer-client-consultant meetings, and just about any constellation that enables many participants to see each other in an online conversation. VC’s allow for participants all over the globe to meet in one conversation.

3.      Video Meetings

These are organized professional meetings, unlike conferences, these are alternatives to organized conferences, where participants are called upon to make presentations and discuss their findings in a group. Video meetings use technologies that enable participants to make presentations and share files of data. These are a powerful tool when making an online presentation to a new client.

4.      Video Presentations

Unlike meetings, these are focused presentations in video form. They allow the presentation to be set in a format that can be downloaded and shared, such as retaining a pptx format. Video presentations are a great way of saving professional presentations that are used to convey slides of data for future use.

5.      Video Advertising

There are two types of video adverts, the professional advert that is created by a PR and, marketing company and a personal upload. Professional adverts can range from small shorts to full-length featurette films. The personal videos are usually used by professionals to showcase an issue or item; they are usually taken by smartphones and posted in a YouTube category or uploaded into a personal web page.

6.      Video Education

e-Learning is split into two methods, the online person to person method, where a live teacher is training a student or students in a virtual classroom. The second is training videos uploaded to a site, even into a social media forum such as YouTube. The main difference is that an online school is a scheduled affair and requires organization and management, the educational videos can be spontaneous or produced, but also provide a detailed explanation of the subject the cover.

7.      Video Support

Similar to video education, there are two versions, the live support where a person will take the call and aim to help the client, or an explanatory video that is used to describe a process or how to mend/fix/repair a situation.

A video is a powerful tool in the right hands, and when a combination of all seven types are used by a referral network, they increase the impact of the message, the content, and the service that the individual or the company wants to use to increase their referral networks power.

There are three issues to contend with, and once you overcome these issues, you will be able to maximize the use of videos in your system.

1.      Bandwidth: not all users have access to large enough bandwidth, this leads to erratic conversations, slow downloads, and frustration. When you have a client in a bad internet area, try to circumvent the use of video, unless it is for educational or support purposes.

2.      App compatibility: make sure you use every app possible, that means using iPhone and Android apps so that every client you are in contact with will have the appropriate app. Many times, we are faced with a situation where we use one app and the client another.

3.      Pre-call testing: Many times, we set up a call or schedule a conference, and find out that the audio is not working, or the video is bad. Take your time to set up the call at least half an hour before it happens. Check your equipment, even if it's only a smartphone. Make sure your audio and video are working properly. If not, make sure you have an alternative available.

Bottom Line

When using video, make sure you understand your own message and get it across fluently. Video calls have one downside, if you mess up the presentation you don’t have a second chance to edit it out. So, make sure that if you choose this medium you are ready for it. Treat a video call and conference as if you were going to be in the actual presence of the other person or persons. This includes your personal appearance as well as how you convey the message. A successful video call will always outdo a successful audio call.

Conclusions

Thank you for downloading and reading my book. There is so much more to write about, such as negative feedback marketing and shock graphics. With so many variations in building up a referral network as well as a complete and comprehensive presence, online and offline, you can effectively reach billions of customers through just 100 quality referrers.

What I have tried to present to you in 15 chapters are the basics that can be used to maximize efficiency and reach optimum results. You can reach a lot of people, succeed in marketing yourself and increase your income as well as web and offline presence if you are ready to take that step.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.14

 

Chapter 14 Quality and Quantity; the Referral Utopia

If you have a linked in profile, then you most probably came across the acronym L.I.O.N. This stands for Linkedin Open Networker. This is a group of people that are not interested in the quality of their network; they are only interested in quantity. This came out of a response to Linkedin’s policy that members should not link to people they do not know, which is sort of defeating the object of the site. However, it did become obvious when people started to amass tens of thousands of links and started to mass mail them, or create mass groups without the linked member's approval. The only exception to this rule are “influencers” these are people in positions that make others want to be linked to their knowledge, such as CEO’s of large companies, Educators and Opinion makers, or Politicians.

Bottom line, a true network would only contain connections that have one of the following attributes (categories) to the linked profile:

1.      They are family

2.      They are personal friends

3.      They are school/college friends

4.      They are co-workers, employers, or employees

5.      They are peers in the same profession

6.      They share the same professional or personal interests

7.      They have a business relationship

8.      They are HR recruitment personnel

9.      They are satisfied customers

These are the types of people you want in your referral network, and anyone that does not fit into one of these categories is not an immediate requirement to your network. A good network is based first on quality and then quantity, where the quantity aspect will grow out of the quality base. (It rarely happens the other way.)

The Growth of Quality

When you start to build your initial referral network list, you should categorize everyone you know in the above list of 9 categories Depending in your age and experience; you will find that the network populates in preference as the above list of nine is presented. Where family and friends are the starting blocks of the network, and professional connections take up the second level leading to the third level being taken up by work-related friends, the final level is satisfied customers.

Over time, as you gain more experience, the categories shuffle around, similar to shifts in a Pareto table. You will find your professional connections growing more than your family and friends lists and your work-related and satisfied customers coming in second place. This does not mean that the categories are shuffling their importance, it just means that they are growing in number.

The satisfied customer list will grow differently when you are a service provider or a product manufacturer or retail seller. The service sector has fewer clients, while the retail business can have millions. The type of referral differs between the two, where a service referral network is based on a customer’s experience and will provide a steady growth line. The retail customer will either be a returning customer and write a good review, which will automatically generate more clients and the growth pattern will increase and decrease according to your marketing capabilities.

The family list will remain static, as it invariably does unless you marry into a tribe.

The professional network will grow according to your participation in your profession. Forums, conferences, and publications will add to your popularity, as well as increase the number of peers you meet.

The hobby section will grow if you cater to hobby issues (chess, yachting, cooking, etc.)

Critical Mass

There is a moment in every referral network where you reach that critical mass point that either tip to automatic referral or implodes. If you are a retailer, then your network will most probably reach an automatic infusion critical mass, and your products will be bought through market inertia created by your marketing and customer satisfaction levels.

It is rare that a service network reaches an automatic infusion critical mass. Usually, when a service network reaches critical mass it is due to overpopulation, and the individual loses control over their network, mismanaging connections and taking on too many jobs. The fall out is an implosion of quality, where the clients end up being frustrated and leaving the network or providing negative feedback.

The Quality Quantity Ratio

Finding that special ratio, where the network works for your benefit, is the key to a successful referral network system. The ratio is very simple; it is based on your ability to provide a quality service 100% of the time. Even if you expand your services, increase your exposure, and use partners or add employees, the network should grow to accommodate the changes in size.

The same goes for a retailer, where the network needs to be supported by an efficient CRM. We discussed the critical mass issue favorably with retailers, however, if the CRM is bad or lacking in strength, the effect will also lead to implosion.

Bottom Line: Maintaining control over your network is key, it requires skill in knowing how to categorize your network and how to manage them as you grow.

Quantity is not quality, and good quality will always lead to increase in demand for quantity.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.13

 

Chapter 13 Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Referral Networking

Emotional intelligence was first mentioned back in 1964 in an article published by Michael Beldoch, but it was not until 1995 that it gained fame when the psychologist Daniel Golman published a book titled” Emotional Intelligence” now abbreviated to EQ.

The common consensus identifies Emotional intelligence as a person’s ability to understand and control their own emotions and the emotions of others.

There are three subsections associated with EQ

•                    The ability to connect to emotions and use them for thinking and problem-solving tasks;

•                    The ability to control emotions, which includes regulating your own emotions

•                    The ability to promote happiness and relaxation in other people.

Why is this different to the Empathic approach? It isn’t the empathic approach is about attracting another person’s notice through understanding them. EQ is about understanding their strengths and weaknesses and controlling them! However, before you can control another person’s emotions, you need to know how to control your own emotions, once you control them, you can then begin to control others too.

•                    Your worst emotion to control is fear! Once you can overcome this, the rest is easy.

Just like a yogi teaching you how to meditate in order to understand your body better and develop mind control skills or a karate teacher teaching you “kata’s” to develop immediate physical reactions to certain situations, EQ also has certain procedures and tests to advance your abilities. 

Remember, there are no real negative emotions; there are only negative applications or dominance of emotions on your actions. Fear is your hardest emotion to control, it is your worst enemy, whilst it is important to have it since it is a survival based emotion, it must not be allowed to dictate your other emotions. An instance when fear is useful is when you are standing on the edge of a cliff, without fear you would take an unnecessary risk that could lead to your death. So, in this instance, fear is a positive emotion. Anger is also an emotional response based on how you accept information; you must be able to control your anger completely. Once you have taken the necessary steps to control these two emotions, the others will come into line. Another important issue is over-excitement of emotion, such as happiness or awe. If you become excessively happy, you can become hysterical, and if you become excessively awe-struck, you become a moron. All your emotions must be in check in order for you to truly appreciate every-one.

Redirect your focus

This means projecting your desires onto the object of your desire. Imagine, in your mind, the target you wish to acquire; now you must prepare yourself both mentally and physically to attain it.

How is this done?

Tip 1. you must negate all negative thoughts, concentrate only on the positive. This means you must only think in terms of creativity and productivity.

Tip 2. Focus on your self-awareness, try to imagine watching yourself from the outside, how do you look and act? Then concentrate on how you feel from the inside, how are you reacting, feeling?

Tip 3. Start to self-regulate your emotional response, don’t let others regulate your actions. Instead, you decide how you will react to any situation.

Tip 4. Improve your motivation by thinking of ways to increase output, reduce the time and generally improve your work environment. Think positive, optimism is as addictive as pessimism, but with much better results.

Tip 5. Increase your empathic abilities by trying to help others solve situations. Show both compassion as well as actual aid in solving the situation.

Tip 6. Increase your social network and skills, basically, continue to attract new friends both online and in real life. Increase your circle of influence through the number of people you know and relate to. (Don’t try to suck up to bosses! Try to talk to them and to those in lower positions; you never know who has influence or access to information)

Tip 7. Revenge is for losers. Instead of applying your time and efforts to seeking ways to make others suffer for indiscretions done to you, concentrate on attaining your target. Too many companies have fallen, too many lives have been lost, and too much pain has come from revenge. The very thought of “getting even” is infantile, the hardest thing to do is to ignore. By ignoring (not forgiving), you replace your valuable time and energies from concentrating on THEM to concentrating on the real target, YOU! How YOU succeed, how YOU progress and how YOU reach your goals.

Redirecting your focus onto YOU is what you must do every day when you listen to how other describe their lives, what they like and what they do, it does not mean you must like it or do it too. You are not a sheep, neither are you a wolf, you are just you. You do not need to listen to jibes and meaningless criticism; you must listen to your inner voice, look at your goals and continue to aim for them

Live your life, not theirs! Remember you only have one life, don’t waste it by living according to how others think or tell you. On the other hand, there are certain social norms that you will need to adapt to maintain your focus.

Socializing

Whilst there are golf clubs and fitness centers that are actually social gathering sites, like watering holes, they bring many types of people together. There are also winter sports sites which are considered a major defining sport as well as museums and art centers; every country has a different social gathering point dependent on the weather, culture, and religion of the country. In all countries charity work is considered great social interactivity since it connects you with other minded people but also has a productive outcome, it helps those in need. So, you must find out what are those social network centers that best suit your lifetime desires and join them. This is not being a sheep, its being goal minded, focusing on advancing yourself through every social media available.

Once you have joined one, your work is far from over. Now you must start to get involved in the daily activity, increasing your reach by occasionally volunteering, find out about the board, is there a “friends of” unit, such as in a museum. Go to this and join it. Start to get involved in their schedule, become an integral part of their activity. Over time you will find you are a member of a number of boards, and occasionally you will find certain people like you as members of more than one. You don’t need to be rich; you just need to have time and energy. You will suddenly find yourself being invited to all kinds of parties and meetings. Use this to advance your career, map out who is who at each board, and start to build a map of influence.

Remember by using your new-found control over your emotions, you can easily adapt to any new environment, and can easily control how others perceive you.

Boardroom tactics are also very important. When sitting in a boardroom meeting you will find many types, but they can be categorized into four groups; the quiet ones, these try to hide and generally don’t talk, they are scared that if they talk and upset their boss, they could lose their position. The over-talker, this is the exact opposite, they try to take over the discussion at every point, trying to prove how brilliant and irreplaceable they are, then there is the fact spouter, they usually aren’t inventive and rely on a mass of data and percentages to prove how capable they are, and are mainly ”yes men” and finally there are the visionaries, they tend to constantly come up with new ideas but don’t actually offer much data to back their ideas up. All these people are important as a group; they interact to create cohesion (except for the silent ones, they are useless in a boardroom and waste space.) The ideal boardroom executive is someone that combines data and facts with inventive and innovative thinking, and does not talk too much but speaks exactly what needs to be said. They must also argue when necessary; true leaders don’t want yes men, they want someone that will make the company go forward, that will manage their department properly for the benefit of the company.

Leaders Vs. Tyrants

There is a very interesting fact about great leaders, as opposed to tyrants. Great leaders were all sympathetic, perfectionists, original thinkers, very patient with those that needed extra help but impatient with those that didn’t. They were all witty, funny and highly intelligent. Another interesting fact, not all successful businessmen are leaders, some of them are merely great businessmen. Now, unless you have an original idea, or access to venture capital, or have a cousin that is CEO of a major corp. that wants to employ because his mother told him to, I suggest you learn EQ so you can start to stand out at work and evolve.

Professional Networking

Like socializing, the business sector has its own groups to belong to. In some industries, they come naturally to medical societies. Basically, you chose the society or societies your profession and experience is best suited to. Join and become an active member. Go to chapter meetings, national and international conferences, if necessary work on articles, abstracts, and presentations. Become a known speaker. Or perhaps apply for voluntary board role, although it helps if you are well known, and that happens through your application and appearance. Once you start to advance in the society, don’t stop, use business networks to build up more presence, start to link them. Befriend peers from other companies, mingle with peers of all levels, but also try to meet with those in higher positions, it will help you advance. In some instances, being elected to and voluntary executive position in society will help you advance your application for a new job. Everyone wants a leader in his or her profession, and there are two ways to gauge a leader, either through his or her fame from publication or inventiveness or through his or her popularity online and in the society. Remember, if you are President of a Society, you can be called upon to give an official opinion in court or on TV…it always helps to be in that position.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.12

 

Chapter 12 The Empathic Approach to Referral Networking

There are many approaches to successful management as well as to successful sales. However, there is only one approach to successful referral networking, the empathic approach.

Empathy

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Note that there are two functions in operation here, understand and share. They are two separate functions, and we will explore both as well as layout the way empathic networking is achieved.

·        Empathic Networking is a Science

The Definition of Understanding

To understand is to perceive the significance, explanation, or cause of something as well as be sympathetically or knowledgeably aware of the character or nature of something or someone. Note that there are two distinct meanings to Understanding. The first definition uses the word perceive; this means the ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses. The second definition uses the word sympathetically which means in a way that attracts the liking of others. So, what do we have?

In an empathic context; understanding someone is about using all our senses to comprehend what we are sensing, and we do so with an intent to attract the other person.

The Definition of Sharing

Sharing is defined as using, occupying, or enjoying something jointly with others.

When we combine Understanding with Sharing we get:

Understanding what we are sensing with an intent to attract another person’s attention, so we can share our knowledge with, or sell our services, or products to them.

Now that we have sorted out the meaning of empathic networking let's look at how we can build a successful empathic system for our referral network.

Remember, empathy is not about being kind and nice, it is about attracting attention with the intent to make a sale. It's basically fishing with a juicy worm and not an empty hook. Having stated this “cold statement” we do not intend to use empathy for false pretenses, however, remember, not every waiter that smiles at you might actually like you. They are smiling because they want to retain their jobs and get a big fat tip.

Empathic Partnerships

Empathy is about understanding the other. Using all your senses to comprehend what makes them produce the best results for your needs. It is about observation and patience. A referral network is built on partnerships, where one person is willing to refer another to a third party. By nature, a referral network is binomial, where one person requests the aid form another and creates a reciprocal dependency based on trust. One person will vouch for another expecting that other person to perform according to the vouched reason. This binomial attraction is strengthened when an empathic approach is used to strengthen the attraction between both sides.

Empathic Responses

Most businesses and deals fall due to a misunderstanding of intent or content. Language can be complex, especially when different cultures are involved, or when the time you take to explain your position is not enough to fully deliver the message, or you delivered it, but it was misunderstood. This means you need to deliver it again, in a different way.

In some instances, the other side will state quite bluntly that “You don’t know what you are talking about.” In instances when you are misunderstood, you will need to be extremely patient and use an empathetic approach, which means you will need to persuade the other side of your good intentions by deflecting their attack in an empathic manner. Teach yourself to smile, and to maintain an air of indifference even when under attack. This means that you have to smile, even when being insulted. In response to the above retort, most people would react either by getting on the defensive or attacking. Empathic masters smile, don’t reply for a few seconds, giving them time to say, “Then I have not yet made my self-understood, let me explain again.”

Communications is all about listening and observing. It is not just ears; it is eyes too. You have to look at the body language of the other person, comprehend where they are coming from. What is their cultural, educational and professional background? For instance, a military background leads to impatience with waffle, military personnel like short and concise messages, that deliver the core of the subject in a structured manner. In contrast, a theoretical scientist would want as much information as possible about every possible source of information that deals with the main issue as well as its collateral issues.

Empathy is about understanding which person you are talking to and aligning your approach accordingly. This will automatically attract them to what you have to say.

Empathic Dialog

There are two kinds of people that make up partners in deals. The personal type that seeks to discuss details not relevant to the issue, they are usually interested in hobbies, culture and small talk. The second type is the all business type that is focused on the job at hand and is not interested in making small talk.

The empathic approach will be able to discern which one of these types is sitting opposite you, and you must adapt your approach accordingly. However, there is one “contingency” approach that can soften the “all business type,” and that is when health, financial or other problems invade their lives. This affects their performance, and when they are to communicative, you should send a message asking when will they be available, and if they are all right.

For example, when you are working on a project, and you need a reply to a question, and there is no reply for a period of time that is unusual for the other side, you would write “Hi, I haven’t heard from you in a while, I hope you are feeling well and that your silence is due to a holiday. If you are on holiday, I wish you will have a great time, and please contact me at your earliest convenience. If, however, you are unwell, I wish you a quick recovery to the best of your health.” This statement basically shows the other side that you care about their health. A typical response could be “I was to busy on another project.” Or, “Thank you, I was on holiday.” No matter the response, your message was an important empathic approach that makes the other side consider you in a more “personal” manner, even if they are all about the business and not the person.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.11

 

Chapter 11 Establishing a Focused Practice

When setting up a referral network, it is important to concentrate on what is important, and that is focusing your network on providing you with increased income.

There are a number of ways to focus your practice, and they start by focusing on the building your referral network which will help you increase your reach and get you more introductions to work contracts.

What is Focus?

The focus is a method to concentrate on completing a specific task. However, it is not just about eliminating outside influences from taking your focus away it is about perfecting your task and continuing to perform future tasks in the same manner.

The focus is found in manufacturing industry quality and production cycles, it has other names, such as Kaizen and 5S methods. These are methods used to organize the workplace and make a production process efficient.

The same is with setting up a referral network and environment to increase your income.

The Five Pillars of a Focused Practice

Plan:         This means that you must first create a plan, a project outline and define your objectives.

Define:    This means you must define each task according to its relevance to the success of the objective.

Organize: This means you must organize out your objectives based on the tasks to be performed.

Act:           This means that it is time to stop planning and begin producing.

Evolve:    This means that you must continue to evolve your process by adapting to problems and issues as well as to research and change.

Let’s put each pillar into practice, for example; you want to set up an operations engineering consultancy for manufacturing plants. You have a specific set of skills that enables you to perform expert factory layout for high workflow efficiency. Here is how we would focus your approach.

Plan:           Planning is about managing your referral network and work environment to create successful work/employment contracts. You will define what you can do and how you can do it, write it down and create a message. Explain why you can do this, what is your experience as well as your success stories. Now plan out your e-presence requirements, what do you need to reach as many clients and where will they be able to read up, order and converse with you online? You will need a website, a forum for Q&A and links to references and citations of your work as well as links to conferences and presentations that you have made or will make. Your plan must start with your target and only then start to build up the tools and resources you need to reach it.

Define:      Start by defining which market niche you want to attack. Manufacturing covers every science known to humanity, so you should decide what your strongest sectors are. Are you a specialist in liquid (chemical) facilities or in Automotive? Perhaps Aerospace and Defense? Or FMCG and Hospitality? By defining your sectoral scope, you are setting your market and referral network to a specific range. Now you begin to create your network of connections, where you concentrate (focus) on people that are directly connected to manufacturing companies. You don’t need to make the location local, you can go national, which will broaden your marketing reach. This is the stage you define who will help you reach your specific targets, such as which online company will help you design your website, create an online marketing campaign, and help with SEO issues.

Organize: Once you had a plan and defined each section, you will now organize all the activity to work in a cohesive manner. You are building up your referral network using all the tools at your disposal (as discussed in the article – link here). You are managing all the companies and people that are helping you define your e-presence, and you are managing the budget used to pay for each activity. You are also scheduling your time between building your referral network, developing your e-presence and actually working with clients as you do so. You are also active in conferences, trade shows, and practical research.

Act:             This is when you have started to receive requests for information or been given leads from contacts to open negotiations. This is the moment you have been working hard to reach; it is the focus of your endeavors. The path you chose and tools you used to get here was the means, not the purpose. This is the purpose, closing the deal and starting to work with new clients, all the time maintain and evolving your network to produce more. You will be visiting clients on their site, giving quotes and trying to seal the deal. If you are overloaded with acceptance quotes, it is time to grow, and employ engineers to represent you, or to build partnerships and collaboration with other freelancers.

Evolve:      All the time you are focusing on your business and increasing your potential, you are also evolving. You. are adapting your style, changing the nature of your business to match your progress and keeping your edge over your competition.

Bottom Line

A successful referral network is built to expand, and a successful practice is designed to increase income and enable the individual to grow from a self-employed individual freelancer into a company providing services to many clients. With growth comes a change in personal focus, where at the outset you focused on every detail, you will find that you will start to delegate issues, and focus on larger pictures. Just remember one important fact, no matter how big you grow, never lose sight of your roots.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.10

 

Chapter 10 Growing a referral system step by step

A referral system is a network of relations that are built through various methods. While there are many supporting methods to help develop a solid network as well as creating an online presence. The actual referral system is about creating that elusive list of referrers that can be reached efficiently and managed easily.

A referral system is like any other organizational construct, it has a head, yourself to manage it, a database of connections organized into categories and stored on your mobile device, business and social networks that contain different connections you are in contact with, a web presence for a dropping zone to market your services or products, and a message that is targeted to increase your income through direct sales or professional collaboration.

To build a referral system is to plan ahead and then work according to the plan. In other words, project management. Do not approach referral networking a laissez-faire manner; you will only end up confusing yourself as well as creating an extremely inefficient system that will tax your time and produce bad results.

Project management

When it comes to project management, there is a lot of hesitation by people thinking that this is some kind of management science, where Prince2 and PMBOK reign, demanding you become adept in their nomenclature. This is far from true. Project management is all about organizing yourself, creating a budget and setting milestones.

Metrics

If you want to complicate matters, you can add key performance indicators (KPI’s) which are metrics to evaluate the performance of a specific task. These KPI’s can come in useful if you want to evaluate a specific task you have set yourself, such as setting a date and deciding what result should be reached by that date. The KPI will be a % performance based on this. Writing has great KPI’s where you can set a 1,000-word article to be written in 60 minutes as a KPI, if you reach that target in 30 minutes you are successful producing a 200% performance rating, if you only complete it after 2 hours, you are underperforming by 50%.

Organization

The organization is the core of project management; it is keeping organized control over all activities. It does not matter how many tools you use to manage the project, whether you create critical paths or decide in Gantt’s. At the end of the day, it is all about organizing and managing your time and performance.

The Referral System

A good referral system has four attributes:

1.      A list of reliable contacts

2.      A comprehensive e-presence

3.      A powerful and meaningful Message

4.      Constant Maintenance and Evolution

The step by step process

The four attributes of a good referral system have to be created, and working on them in parallel is to advisable. There are some stages that come first, and others second, etc.

The First Step

Create your message. We have an article on this subject, here is the link, any good referral system will start out by defining who you are, what you can offer and how you will deliver it. Before you start to build any network, you have to know what you are doing it for. While you are building up your message, you should perform initial population of contacts.

Step 2: Creating the Initial List

An initial list is the first one you create when starting your referral system. It is populated with your closest and most reliable contacts and will grow over time. Your contact list is constantly changing, but it has to start somewhere. As you create your message you start to build the initial contact list, this leads you to start building a web presence.

Step 3. Developing a Web Presence

Once you have created your message, it will include your color scheme, logo, and actual worded message. It is time to open up social media sites, business networks, referral sites, HR sites, web pages, blogs and vlogs and define your target audience so that you do not waste your time “selling” yourself to someone that does not want or need you. In other words, if you are a UK based plumber, you don’t need to sell your services to an Amazon bush tribe. Or if you are a cryptocurrency trading consultant you do not need to sell your services to the IRS.

Step 4. Marketing

Now that you have a web presence, you have a message and an initial referral network it is time to start marketing yourself. This does not mean you have to immediately create a major Google campaign or buy space at the next super bowl. It means you have to start contacting your referral network and get them working for you. Start moving your fingers, and heat up the keyboard. Start to develop online relationships, develop new contacts and partnerships. Plan to attend conferences and trade shows. Schedule daily meetings and discussion groups.

Step 5. Maintenance

Once you have set the ball rolling it is time to maintain your hard work. This means updating your online presence through blogs, vlogs and answering emails, forum messages and discussion groups. Maintenance is when you maintain your connections, strengthening your referral network through continuous and active participation.

Step 6. Sealing the Deal

Bottom Line: a referral network is a means to an end, it is the path and tool to increase your income through the sale of services or products. Don’t fall into the trap of turning the referral system into your private universe. It is not home nor a life; it is a set of tools delivering you a way to reach clients. Which means that the final step is sealing the deal and getting the contact to become a client. Buying your services or products.

Step 7. CRM

As with any business model, initial sales are great, but returning customers are greater. Maintain a customer relations system to back up your referral network, is the final step in the process. It is important since over time the CRM will become a major part of your referral network system. Sort of like a perpetual motion machine that will slowly take over the inertia of your business and drive clients to you without you having to expand your referral network actively.

The Ultimate Guide to Referral Networking: Ch.9

 

Chapter 9 Creating an e-presence for referrals

The internet brought about great opportunities for business to expand in one easy access route; a keyboard and a screen. The internet is all about eyes and culture, the psychology of the internet is similar to the psychology of body language.

The first rule of engagement in body language as well as in e-presence is persuading the viewer within the first three seconds.

A web presence is a combination of web-pages, networking, advertising, and search engine performance. Let’s take a look at all the different modes of internet application to create an e-presence for referrals.

Building a web presence also has rules, and they are:

1.      Focus on your objective

This means that the objective is to increase your income not your contact list. One of the biggest mistakes in creating a referral network is that many users end up transferring their objective to creating a large network of connections and forget about the real reason they are building their web presence. Loosely translated this means “don’t turn the path into the objective.” 

2.      Build an interlinked network of pages

Make sure you cover every possible angle of the internet. This means that you need to build web pages (more than one) that are linked to each other. You must open social media pages that you are capable of updating on a regular basis. Build a profile on as many referral networking sites as possible. Create Blogs (and Vlogs if necessary) to update information on a constant basis. Use feedback on other sites as a means to convey personal messages.

3.      Create an effective SEO campaign

For every web page and presence, you have, create an SEO campaign to show that site on as many first search pages as possible.

4.      Make sure you can update information easily

Do not fall into the mistake of building up static web pages that you cannot update. If you cannot find the time to update your presence, then do not open it. On the other hand, having a lot of dead-end pages that link to active sites is one type of viral advertising, but only do that if you are ready to “know” where every dead end is located.

5.      Schedule your maintenance

Maintaining sites and social media requires time and patience. Make sure you create a schedule where updating information is performed on a daily basis. Also, remember that some sites require feedback, such as forums and social media. Be prepared to answer questions and chat with people online at set moments that you decide.

6.      Balance Work and Pleasure Hours

Remember, the internet does not sleep, eat, and have a family. You do. So, you need to think of the internet as your physical office. What are your office hours? When do you want to open your office for work? If you don’t set your routine, you will crash under the constant weight of demand, the same way you would crash if you stayed in your office 24/7.

e-Presence Pages

There are many types of pages to choose from, so let’s look at most of them here.

1.      Web Sites

These are either personal pages, company pages, e-shops or other information processing sites that are tailor-made to your specific needs. It is sometimes good to have more than one site addressing your services or products. However, this is dependent on the type of product you sell. The retail sector should have more than one site (e-shop) to sell products and should have multiple products being sold on other e-shops such as Amazon and e-Bay. Service professionals should have one main site and possibly a site for every specialty that are linked together, a production/manufacturing/fabrication company should have one main branded site and e-shop pages for their products.

2.      Social Media

Don’t fall into the trap of “needing” social media presence on every social media site, unless you are capable of supporting each and every page you open. There is nothing more off-putting then hitting a dead-end Facebook page. Set up social media pages only if you can update them regularly and are willing to interact with all kinds of unusual people. Instagram is a photo site where you can showcase your services or products, as well as photos of happy clients.

3.      Business Networking

Unlike social media, business network sites are aimed at “referral” networking. Linkedin is the world leader providing a number of opportunities and membership plans. There are many online business network sites, don’t fall into the trap of joining everyone, most are dead ends, and will confuse searchers seeking a serious service. When you do decide to use a business network site, make more than one page for yourself and your business, but send the same message.

4.      Blogs and Vlogs

These are extremely important sites; you can join a community or create your own using WordPress, which is the leading blog method. YouTube is the best option for Vlogs, and creating a subscription and personal page on YouTube will enhance your presence only if you are willing to commit and create video content. All blogs should be maintained on a regular basis, allow for comments to maximize their potential as well as pull discussion and interaction your way.

5.      Professional Associations

Societies and organizations have personal member pages; these are extremely useful for promoting your professionalism and academic stance. Try to join as many organizations as possible; it will help build up a professional image.

6.      Wiki sites

There are a number of “Wiki’s” out there, they are all peer-reviewed, but if you can create pages on them, do so. Wiki’s tend to be believed, and they enhance or solidify a reputation.

7.      Google app sites

Google has a number of “app” sites such as “travel” which is useful for supplementing your network. These pages are used to enhance your Google+ profile, which you should create and maintain for professional as well as personal reasons.

8.      Academic Alumnus

If you have a college/university degree, create a full profile on the alumnus page.

9.      Mobile Messaging and Chat

Supplement all your web presence with many ways of reaching you. Viber, Skype, WeChat, Whatsapp, Telegram, Google Hangouts and more. Make sure you create as many communication options as possible. It increases your presence as well as offers free communication services to cut down costs and speed up discussions.

10.  Journals and Citations

If you are an academic, or a professional that writes about your services or products for trade or peer-review Journals, make sure your journal and citations links are accessible from all your various pages.

11.  News Feedback

Some news sites allow for feedback to articles. Use this chance to reply to articles that are linked to your profession or product. Don’t hide behind an anonymous profile, create a real profile so that it can be linked back to you.

12.  Customer Reviews

All e-shops worth they're while having customer review sections. Make as many customer reviews for products you have bought and used. These also help build up an image of reliability.

13.  Search Engine Adverts

Create a campaign using site advertising such as Google AdWords, Linkedin Adverts, Facebook Ads, etc. Make sure all your web pages are SEO compatible with your campaigns. You will find that as you create more campaigns, you will be editing your sites to become more compatible.

14.  Site Adverts

Some online marketing companies provide site-specific ads, unlike search engine ads which aim to promote your site over search engines, site-specific ads are aimed at using Google AdSense which is how you set adverts on your site, so too do other sites allow for adverts to appear on their pages.

15.  HR Resume Pages

Go to as many HR sites and open a resume, you don’t need to open an active search, just open a resume page so that your professional data is reached here as well. It also helps when companies do seek someone like you and can lead to contract jobs, not just part-time or permanent positions that might not interest you.

16.  E-Books

If you are willing to take the time to write up informative e-books about your service or interstates, it is worthwhile creating 10,000+ word e-books and publishing them online. You can post them on business networks, or sell them via Amazon or other media companies. E-Books add to your professional credibility, especially when you make “how to” books. Supporting them with a Vlog increases their potential exponentially.