As long as you are in constant communication will others, you will undoubtedly find yourself in a position to give a “reactive” referral. This opportunity will present itself on a silver platter because the person will ask if you “know someone” that can help with this or that.
Let’s say you are having lunch with a co-worker and you hear this: “Ugh, I’m so stressed out…we had a pipe burst at the house and it created some water damage that we have to repair, and now our insurance company is giving us a hard time! Do you know anyone who deals with that type of situation?”
Immediately you think of the public adjuster and the general contractor in your networking group, so you tell your co-worker, “Yes! You should speak with my friend who’s a public adjuster, he’s very experienced when it comes to water damage in the home. I’m also going to put you in touch with a trustworthy general contractor I know who can help you with the repairs.”
Great! You just gave a “reactive” referral. They first asked you if you “know someone” and you did, so it turned into a referral.
So what’s a “proactive” referral? That’s a referral generated by you initiating the conversation. Imagine picking up the phone and calling your friend Dave…
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See the difference? Dave might say “Sure, thanks for thinking of me!” or he might say “I just switched too, so maybe I’ll review things next year”, but either way you initiated the conversation which could lead to a referral.
You cannot control “reactive” referrals, they will come when they come, but you can control “proactive” referrals. Now consider this…if you help your insurance agent pick up a few new clients just by picking up the phone and asking around, do you think he might try to return the favor for your business? Hmmm…maybe this networking stuff works 😉