Hello my networking friend. Welcome back!

You’ve gotten over your fear of meeting new people. You’ve reached out to a prospect for a meeting, and your meeting is set.

Great!

You are nervous but excited too! Super, you should be! Our time is valuable, so if some dear soul is willing to give up an hour for you, you’ve already made a great first impression.

Let me be your tour guide to that business lunch.

You may be tempted to pitch, pitch, pitch.

STOP!

You are meeting with a person who has the potential to bring you referrals. Your job is to train this referral partner to ask enough thoughtful questions about her business so that she is convinced you are actively looking for people to refer to her.

After a few good meetings, phone calls, messages with your referral partner that build rapport and continue to convince her that you are trying to help her build her business, begin to educate her on the best way to find your ideal clients.

Would you rather pitch and make one sale with a prospect? Or build a relationship with a reciprocating referral partner who sends you multiple ideal clients over time? I've had great success building referral partners and following Dr. Ivan Misner's farmer vs. hunter strategy. Bring referrals to a referral partner first, and watch the reciprocity begin.

Four Strategies to Build and Nurture a Referral Partner

1. Ask your referral partner to tell you stories of how they have helped their ideal clients.

Stories are easy to remember, product/service descriptions, not so much. If you have a story to tell about how your referral partner helped their client, you will be much more likely to tell it to the people in your life.

2. Follow her on all social media.

What a magnificent way to show support! Take a picture together, if she is willing, and post it on your social media accounts, with a glowing description of her business, and tag her. Share her most recent post to your stories on Facebook or Instagram. Give her all the feels when, hours after your meeting, she sees you bragging on them to your friends online.

3. Tell your referral partner stories of how you have helped your clients.

The advantage of telling a story is that you aren’t pitching, but you are still getting to explain the benefits of your business. If you are sitting in front of your ideal client, they will put themselves in your story, and then may ask more specific questions with the end goal of hiring you in mind.

4. Try to leave the meeting with a referral in mind for your referral partner.

How impactful could you be if you were able to introduce your referral partner to a good friend who would be her ideal client, in an email, a few days after the meeting?

When you intentionally take inventory of the people with whom you have the most influence, and connect them with your referral partners wisely and strategically, you are farming. Your crop will yield great returns, as your referral partners reciprocate again and again.

Watch your meetings become exciting connection hubs, as you perfect the skill of bringing referrals to people with whom you align.

Imagine the goodwill you are foster, and the seeds of future business you plant, when you take the time to create and nurture referral partners instead of lining up pitching opportunities with a one and done approach.

Go network my friend, and remember;

Plant seeds with your referral partners, and together gather the harvest of referrals.

Faithann Basore and her husband Dave have owned Window Cleaning Plus (WCP) for 10 years. Growing WCP through networking has given Faithann the desire to guide other small business owners through the networking terrain so they can feel comfortable and build long lasting relationships in their business.

Got networking questions? Email me at [email protected].