How You Could Be Hurting Your Referral System

Firms invest thousands of dollars every year in creating a compelling brand. Once created, well-designed pieces of collateral hit the streets through different venues: email newsletters, direct mail, blogs, and videos. All are important strategies and tactics for generating qualified opportunities.

There is another strategy, however, that can generate opportunities but at a much lesser cost. It’s called a referral strategy, and the upfront investment is the willingness to invest time in people and relationships.

In a world gone flat, everyone is bombarded and overloaded with information. It’s more important than ever to develop referral partners and strategic alliances in order to push past the clutter and be considered for the next opportunity. Unfortunately, most salespeople and companies don’t execute a referral strategy very well. The intentions are good, but the methodology is poor. Let’s take a look at the top three mistakes firms make when building referral partners.

1. No Alignment

When looking for potential referral partners, put on your sales hat. Good partners are like good prospects; they must be qualified or disqualified. One of the key qualifiers for referral partners is how well they align with your company values, goals, and objectives. Ask yourself the following questions when qualifying potential partners: