Recently, I was the lucky beneficiary from a generous referral source. Her approach was admirable, and I’d like to share it. She sets a great example of how I hope to be in my own business dealings.
Karen, a fellow AEC marketing consultant, decided to accept a full-time, in-house position at an engineering firm. This meant she would no longer contract with individual firms. Yet, she has a pipeline of opportunities and relationships that she has built with prospective clients.
Karen had options. 1. She could simply stop pursuing the consulting work, with no closure whatsoever. 2. She could just inform her contacts that she would no longer be available to work with them, and leave it at that. Or, 3. she could take the extra effort to carefully consider what each prospect needed, and to try to match them with appropriate consultants. As you can surely guess, Karen did the latter.
She contacted me to let me know about a prospective AEC client with a ripe and very real opportunity. Not only did she take it upon herself to give this prospect my contact information, but she also took further steps:
>Wrote a detailed description offering her assessment of what the AEC prospect needed (based upon several meetings with them).
>Shared a bit of competitive intel about the firm’s status in their selection process.
>Proactively offered to talk with me by phone about the opportunity to describe further nuances that might assist in closing the sale.
>Invited me to contact her client contact directly, using her name.
Why did Karen do all of this? Clearly, she is a consummate networker who truly wants to connect people. She strives to find the ‘best fit’, and puts in extra effort to educate people on why they might benefit from knowing one another.
Karen is starting an exciting new position, and her plate is full. Yet she took the time to take care of others. Kudos to this exemplary networker!
Last fall, I delivered a talk on this very topic, entitled: So, you say you do good work, hmmm? Prove it. Strategies and techniques to increase your refer-ability. The presentation expanded upon the content from this published article: How to generate referrals and testimonials for your business.