Probably the most powerful referral tool that you have at your fingertips is what I call your “digital Rolodex.” Most people under the age of 40 aren’t familiar with the term, but back before everything we do went “digital,” we all used something that looked like a contact list and desktop file box in which we alphabetically stored contact information. Think business cards… Sometimes these cards we’re attached or transcribed onto cards that could be inserted into a rolling desktop device (a Rolodex) to allow us to quickly retrieve a persons name and contact details.
Well thanks to the arrival of cell phones, CRMs, and other elegant contact management apps, the Rolodex system has become obsolete yet it is still descriptive for most of us of one of the ways we maintain our files of contacts and key people in our lives.
Now this contact list “asset” has all kinds of value to us… but I want to focus on the value it has as a referral tool!
For most, it’s just sitting there awaiting your deciding to put it to work and then just watch… I’ll guarantee it can fill your pipeline of new referral opportunities.
You’re got a powerful referral asset Already in your hands
Let me tell you the story of a time when I sat down for coffee with an attorney who really needed to focus on practice building… aka client acquisition. He wasn’t unusual as my surveys done for a State BAR Association showed getting new clients to be the #1 challenge facing most attorneys.
As we talked and I learned what this attorney really needed was some new clients, I reached for my “digital Rolodex,” which then was an early version iPhone. While we had coffee, I said “let’s together go through my contact list and you tell me if there’s anyone here that you’d like me to introduce you to…”
Well, can you imagine the response I received to that unexpected offer?
In just a few minutes, we had identified a few key introductions that I could make to him which I then proceeded to do over the next couple of days.
However, because that specific act of generosity by me was so unusual, “out of the box” and different from what anyone normally does or ever did for this attorney, it triggered all kinds of wonderful follow-on benefits back to me!
it began to rain referrals!
Specifically, I illustrated a core referral-winning behavior by “giving first” and I also created an unusual level of openness by letting him see my contact list and then “pick through it” with me. This immediately catalyzed the desire in the attorney to give back, and to proactively think who he could introduce to me. That’s desire describes called the deep human need or motivation to reciprocate.
Next, because the “give” or action I took was so highly relational on my part, it triggered a start to two-way openness and a friendship that carries on to this day nearly 10 years later. We still exchange gifts of various types, remain in touch from 800 miles away and encourage each other in all kinds of ways.
As things emerged after the initial exchange at the coffee shop all kinds of amazing results were seen by us both. Yes, the attorney gained some new clients and went forward in a very successful career and to this day credits me with getting him on to a better practice-building footing.
Yet, without expectation, I also began to get an amazing number of key introductions back from the attorney. He was setting me up to meet with companies and CEOs who as his clients already had the highest trust in whomever he could possibly refer.
From that start with my “digital Rolodex,” I can directly trace receiving introductions to at least 6 new clients from this little act of “giving-first” that over the years resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and training fees for me.
Begin today see how quickly this produces results
So the message is clear… inside your “digital Rolodex” are names that would look like gold to someone who you’d like to form a trusted win-win referral teaming relationship with.
If you’re trying to make a break-through leading to such a relationship with a key influencer simply ask something like “Hey Bill… I know a lot of people who could possibly benefit from your services. Would you be open to sitting down for coffee and we go through my contact list to see who I might connect you with?”
This is a game changing approach to getting more referrals for yourself. As I say “give first, give early, give big and don’t stop!” I believe givers always come out ahead and if its more clients you’re looking for, then here’s a great way to get some “early wins” for yourself.
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