The following happened at my own chapter some time ago,
but I recently told the story as a mini-education slot and it occurred to me
that the lesson would make a great blog.
For nine weeks in a row one of our members asked for an
introduction to a service manager at a garage. He changed around what he said
each week but at the end he always asked for the same thing: a service manager
at a garage. I would write this on our ‘Referral to look for’ sheet, racking my
brain for a Service Manager, while making sure I didn’t miss the start of the
next 60 Seconds. No one ever came to mind.
Between meetings nine and ten the member went to a
Referral Skills workshop. At the next meeting once again he did pretty much the
same 60 Seconds but at the end he changed it. He asked for the Service Manager
at Vauxhall in Chiswick. He was very specific. This time I instantly thought
"I don’t know that person" (it was easy) but, my next thought was, I
did know the Service Manager at my local Alfa garage. Because that’s the make
of car I drove at the time.
After the meeting I spoke to the member and asked if this
contact would help him. And of course it would; he said he had been asking for
just such a contact for 10 weeks. Obviously I contacted the service manager and
was able to pass the referral later that same week.
Now you might be thinking I’m a little, or maybe rather,
stupid, and that might be so, but by being specific the member made it easy for
me, and it led to a referral.
So my message is to be as specific as you can be. Don't
think by trying to cover everyone it will give you a better chance of getting
someone. If you can make connections easy for people you will get more
referrals.
