How well do you know your referral?

9/7/09

Most of us when given a referral thank the member who gave it to us, check what it is about, confirm the contact details, and then off we go.

We then contact the person concerned, say who introduced us, and talk about the referral, hoping that this will lead to a meeting and then the opportunity to do some business. And, with a good referral this is exactly what happens.

But, how about this for an idea? Tim Cook, one of the National Directors of UK and Ireland, suggested the following as a great idea for increasing the chances of turning a referral into a valuable piece of business. His idea is really simple, but I wonder how many of us have had the same idea?

Before you contact the person referred, go back to the member who gave you the referral and ask for some background information on the person. Not too much, just enough to give you a better chance of making a connection. After all BNI is all about liking and trusting each other and building relationships. So why not get some additional facts that might help you bond more quickly with the person referred?

So, if you want to increase your conversion rate of referrals into actual business why not give Tim’s idea a try?