(The Referral Guy) End of Season Wrap - Steve Sweeney

The Referral Guy
S5 Episode 12
Episode Title – End of Season Wrap

Introduction
Yep… I know! This is one week early.

That’s because next week I have a very special guest. Laura Vanaga is a speaker coach who makes a serious difference in the lives of her clients. She was unavailable this week but I knew I had to get her on so listeners could benefit from her skills. With that in mind, I’ve moved the End of Season Wrap forward a week.

This show is a highlights package of season 6. From all the material covered, this show will review the four standout points all referral marketers should know and practice to grow their networks and attract referrals.

Of the dozens of topics and sub-topics covered, it is vital you master the four below to maximise your ROI in your referral group. 

Show Objectives
To reinforce knowledge already transferred because repetition is one of the most powerful teaching tools.
We will rediscover the critical elements of – 

• Own Your Niche and Attract Referrals
• Presenting Like a Leader
• The Follow-Up – Just Do It!
• Retention in Referral Groups

What You Need to Know
Below is a brief expansion on these 4 factors. Familiarise yourself with these so your ability to attract referrals gives you the ROI you expect.


Segment 1 – Own Your Niche and Attract Referrals

Specialisation scares some business owners. They believe that if they focus their efforts in a single direction they will miss out on other opportunities. 

They’re right!
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However, what they receive is the opportunities specialising creates. And these are far greater than the ones they miss.

In the segment, we’ll rediscover – 

• The importance of developing a meaningful Unique Service Proposition. (USP)
• Reputations Create Referrals
• How specialising helps your marketing cut through the noise.
• How to own your specialty niche.

Segment 2 – Presenting Like a Leader
Presenting in front of a crowd scares many business owners. Many believe they do not have the ability, stage/screen presence to hold an audience’s attention or anything of value to say.
Most are wrong on all counts.

Additionally, they miss the opportunities presenting creates. And these opportunities are substantial.

Why?

Because the opportunity to present one-to-many is marketing gold. The chance to deliver an unfiltered message to an audience is the birthplace of business leaders, thought leaders and anyone wanting to make a name for themselves and their business.

Mostly, it just takes a little practice, a few stories and some knowledge of presentation techniques.

This segment show is devoted to this topic and inspiring the bravery that’s in you to come out and make the most of this under-utilized medium. 

Oh, and presenting like a business leader is a very effective method of stamping your authority on your subject and that’s great for attracting referrals.

In this show we covered – 

• Presentation Basics
• Presentation Techniques that Inspire
• Themes of a Leader
• The Importance of Stories

Segment 3 – Follow-Up – Just Do It!

How many times have you waited for a prospect to call you back but the phone never rang?

How many times have you procrastinated about following someone up, finally mustered the bravery, then said, “Well it’s too late now!” and done nothing?

And how many times have you had someone follow you up and felt a little special because they made the effort?

Following prospects up is considered by many to be trying-too-hard or worse, pestering people. So too few people do it and even fewer people do it well. 

Worse… too many people see it as an opportunity to sell. Whoa there tiger! Rein it in!

The follow up is a necessary artform that enables the continued contact that can leads to the partnerships, collaborations, introductions or clients that can change your business. It’s definitely not an opportunity to sell.

So listen in and learn the follow-up techniques and tricks that remove the feeling of, well… ickiness! 

You see effective follow-up is about one thing and one thing only… making someone feel special.

In this show we covered – 

• Why follow up
• Why follow up (It was a big topic so was worth 2 segments!)
• Who to follow up
• How to follow up

Segment 4 – Retention in Referral Groups

Member retention levels are the best indicator of the overall health of your referral group. Low retention levels mean your group is an unattractive place to be and the reverse means members want to stay and invite their networks to the experience.

So it’s vital you understand the following 4 elements that will help keep your group’s retention rate around 80%. This is the sweet spot and indicates 4 out of 5 members have the confidence to renew their membership because of their anticipated ROI.

There are many factors affecting retention in referral groups.
In this episode of The Referral Guy, you’ll learn a little more about four of the most important of these.

They are – 

• The President
• Selection Committees
• External Management/Internal Leadership
• Training

To access the other elements affecting retention, contact Steve.
info@referralacademy.com.au

What You Need to Do
This episode scrapes the surface of these huge topics. To gain a deeper understanding so you’re able to maximize your ROI, contact Steve at info@referralacademy.com.au for further information. Specific training is available for all topics mentioned in this show.

Whatever you do, don’t remain in a group that is not delivering the ROI you expect. Members of a referral groups have a reasonable expectation that they will have these elements under control and delivering benefits to the members. Solutions are available so make contact and address these issues.

Previous Show
Season 5 Show 11 – Give, Sure… But Only to the Givers!

In this show, we discussed why giving to the givers is the best policy in referral marketing. You learned how to identify the givers that are best placed to help you and how to move the relationship forward quickly so you’re all helping each other.

Whatever you do, don’t be the next victim of Givers Give… Again!

Next Show
Season 5 Show 13 – Meet Laura Vanaga



Your Host and Resource
Hey, I’m Steve Sweeney… The Referral Guy.

Being a Specialist Referral Marketing Trainer provides me with wonderful opportunities to help business owners attract more business by referral. This is one of the most cost-effective methods of marketing as it relies 100% on the quality of relationships you have with people in your network. Once trained, your skills last a lifetime and continue to pay dividends.

The Australian Referral Training Academy (ARTA) exists to teach business owners and sales professionals the art and science of attracting referrals and helps them build their own Strategic Referral Teams (SRT)
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Shoot me an email if you’d like to learn more info@referralacademy.com.au

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