Looking For New Referral Sources? Don’t Overthink It — Take Action Now!

{Time to Read: 3.5 minutes} Recently I was helping a client get all of their “ducks in a row” for what will be a well-planned outreach to possible referral sources. They had decided to limit their outreach to people that could potentially have a synergistic working relationship with them.

In preparation, my client created a list of names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. of potential referral sources, but hit an obstacle when prioritizing that list.

• Should I email them, call them or send them a letter?
• Should I try to find them on LinkedIn?
• Who among these colleagues is a center of influence — in other words, who should I contact first?
• Who should I consider the highest priority?

My client found themselves stuck, trying to figure out who to contact first and what was the best way, rather than just doing it.

While these are all great questions, they were overwhelmed instead of inspired to take action. If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t get stuck in the paralysis of analysis. As soon as you identify someone that you’d like to meet on a professional level, reach out to them, whether it be on LinkedIn, an email, or better yet, pick up the phone.

The fact is, in professional services, a lot of people need to know you before you’ll see a stream of referrals. Potential referral sources need to get to know, like, and trust you before they send you clients, so don’t wait until you have all of your ducks in a row before you start. By the way, phoneBlogger’s editorial, publishing and social media best practices are designed to help you grow those relationships and stay on your referral source’s radar screens. But you need to be introducing yourself to these potential referral sources in the first place.

There are all sorts of software that can help you build & maintain a contact list, but don’t let those tools get in the way of your taking action. Meeting new people at a networking event, or sitting down with someone over coffee, is likely to be more valuable to your referral marketing efforts.

Just like writing a handwritten note and face-to-face meetings make powerful impacts, there are other ways to stand out in the cacophony of messaging, like:

• Regularly updating an informative blog & emailing those articles out to your contacts
• Engaging with your audience through social media
• Remember – Take an interest in those who you want to take an interest in you.

I’d love to hear what methods you’ve used to successfully reach out to those that can and do refer you business. Please leave a comment in the Leave a Reply box below.

Mark Bullock
Telephone: (631) 754-0800
Email: Mark@phoneBlogger.net
Website:phoneBlogger.net