I’m not sure if it’s a result of the dog-eat-dog society we are in but I’ve had several experiences recently that are perfect examples of how NOT to get business referrals..

Example 1 – Person that I had met BRIEFLY… in APRIL… calls me out of the blue in August, and calls and calls and calls… And starts leaving messages on my voicemail point blank asking me to promote her services to my business woman’s group… She continued to call over the next week until she caught me on the phone. I politely let her know that there were already several people in my network that provided the same services and that if I was going to refer anyone for that, it would be to them..

And then, she had the nerve to try to convince me why she was the better candidate to give the referrals to.

Now, this woman has never attended one of our meetings, never made an effort to get to know me or minimally ask me how could SHE help me… and was very offensive in that she had horrible breath and terrible gas when I sat next to her…

Morals of the story:

1 – PERSONAL HYGIENE is not optional – I meet WAY too many people with breath issues in networking. Let me tell you , I never forget it and have a hard time getting over it.

2 – Before having the gall to try to flat out solicit business referrals from someone, at least make SOME sort of an effort to get to know them… Minimally ask them what kind of referrals are they looking for and try to engage them before expecting them to refer you.

3 – Never try to convince someone to refer you when they have been so blunt as to say that they have other people they will refer to. It’s just rude and comes across as inconsiderate and desperate.

I have several other true shocking referral-solicitation examples to share so stay tuned for the next post on Monday!

Have you ever experienced something like this?

To network or not to network… That is the question!

It has been shown that people will buy based on word of mouth referrals or personal recommendations approximately 80% of the time.

There are various ways of getting your message out there to ideally cultivate referrals. How do YOU get your message out there? Aside from traditional marketing and online marketing, if you are not networking, you are missing out on an enormous and potentially FREE marketing opportunity…

On a daily basis, I hear woes of businesses losing market share, reporting losses, struggling and unsure as to how they are going to stay in business. When asked about their networking efforts, they reply with “I don’t have time to network.”

NO TIME TO NETWORK? Networking is easily the lowest cost, highest form of marketing available.

If you are choosing to bypass networking opportunities, you’re making a choice to not try and grow your business thereby  reducing your potential for success in this economy.

During these challenging times, many are finding themselves with more time and less money… Take advantage of the many networking opportunities available and make a decision to take control of your business NOW. Get out there, plant the seeds for your business today and cultivate those relationships for business in the future.

What are YOU doing to grow your business as a result of the challenges the economy has posed?

(This post was also a guest blog on the High Velocity Blog)