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In the 12 years from 1966 through 1977, at Merollis Chevroletin Eastpointe, Michigan, Joe Girard was the undisputed kingof car sales. He sold 13,001 automobiles in all, more than anyone else in

the world, a feat that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records. When

asked to spill his sales secret, he explained: “I send out over 13,000 cards every month.”

Cards?

Joe G’s signature marketing strategy was to pelt customers and potential customers,

just about everybody he met, with greeting cards. He sent cards on Valentine’s Day,

cards on George Washington’s Birthday, cards on St. Patrick’s Day. Cards showed up

on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whatever the

occasion, the message was much the same:

The front cover was always emblazoned with

something unabashedly cheerful like “I like

you,” and inside would be “Happy New Year

from Joe Girard” or “Happy Halloween

from Joe Girard.”

In time, those relentlessly upbeat

missives snowballed into a big

honking wave of positive word of

mouth. Pockets of Joe Girard

groupies — people who enjoyed

getting the cards and talking about

them — began to spring up around

metropolitan Detroit. So when some-

body asked, “Where should I go for a new

set of wheels?” odds were you’d hear, “Go see

Joe Girard. You’ll just love him.”

What setGirard apart from your average

pitchman was a certain guilelessnessbacked by an ironclad commitment to

stellar after-saleservice. Hisfriendly littlecards sparkedone of the mostsuccessfulword-of-mouthcampaigns insales history,

and in 1978 helped launch Girard’s newcareer as a motivational speaker and best-selling author.

So if you’re wondering what an inde-pendent professional like you has in com-mon with Joe Girard, it’s this: No matterwhat you’re selling, nothing

builds business better or fasterthan good old word of mouth. When itcomes to garnering new work, savvy IPsof all stripes harness the persuasive powerof the personal recommendation. Andwhy not? Who in their right mind wouldsuffer the paroxysms of cold calling, forexample, when they can have new busi-ness flow straight to their front door?

Oh, it would be easy — but wrong —to assume that referrals just happen to

the lucky dogs who seem to have a knackfor being in the right place at the right

time. That sort of thinking can leave IPs— and their businesses — languishing.Referral marketing is better than luck.It’s a kind of Super Strategy, more po-tent than a ton of advertising and aslew of salespeople put together:One recommendation propels you toanother and then another; and prettysoon, you’ve got so much businessyou don’t even need a listed tele-phone number. What’s not to like?

Your Network NeighborhoodBefore you can unleash all those referrals,you have to do a little planning. Startby mapping out your buzz network —your own constellation of potentialreferral sources, people who can usetheir influence to spread the goodword about you and your businessto people in their own circles.Don’t go plucking names out ofthe blue; your network members

must always have a real and durableconnection to you, or they don’tmake the cut. They are neverstrangers. Try these for starters:

• Happy clients• Vendors and suppliers, the people

who get more business when you get more business

• Family, friends, and colleagues• Anyone you’ve given referrals to• Anyone who’s thrown business

your way

Since this is the core group that willgenerate most of your referrals, youshould lavish time and attention on iden-tifying who belongs here. Over time,these “founding members” will steadilyenlarge your network by linking you tonew people who, in turn, will bring younew work.

Relationships RuleOnce you’ve got a pretty good idea ofwho’s in your buzz network, focus someof that famous IP energy on beefing upthose relationships. Referral marketingworks because people trust you not tomake fools of them for recommendingyou in the first place; you’ll never have toworry about that if your relationships aresolid.

Don’t confuse relationship building —a long-term process that requires pa-tience and care and yields referralsnaturally — with hunting and hounding,which is just another form of the classic

hard sell. Consider the recklessfellow who showed up at mul-

tiple church services eachSunday morning like aheat-seeking missile.His idea was to speed-

schmooze the congre-gation, let fly a flurry of

business cards,and sit back

31 1 0 9 9 M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 0 1

Networking Dos1. Ask everybody — friends, colleagues,

suppliers, clients — for referrals.2. Use this exact phrase:“Who do you

know who …?”3. Ask people who are pleased with your

service to talk to other people about it.4. Always keep your brochures, samples,

or presentation book with you.5. Offer a special price or special services

to people in your buzz network.6. Keep track of the people who send you

referrals and of how those referralsturn out.

7. Set specific goals for meeting specificpeople.

8. Write and practice a short introductionto use when you meet a new group.

9. Volunteer for service-group assignments.10. Nonbusiness referrals count too.

Recommending a good vet, mechanic,or plumber can generate business foryou in the future.

TIPS

and take orders. The close-knit parish-ioners, of course, were unmoved, andthey weren’t about to fall for this gate-crasher masquerading as a member.

No surprise there, says Dr. IvanMisner, founder of Business Network

International,the largest busi-ness-networking organization inthe world, andco-author, withDon Morgan, ofthe best-sellingMasters of

Networking (Bard Press, 2000) and, withRobert Davis, of Business byReferral (Bard Press, 1998).

“What, you worship God so you canmake sales in three places? If you pulled astunt like that with Kiwanis or Rotary,they’d throw you out. The key concept inreferral marketing is building relationships.”

Relationships need at least three thingsto green up and thrive: consistent con-tact, conversation, and consideration.“People wonder why a lunch date sixmonths ago didn’t produce referrals,”Misner says. Sure, you can fire off a cou-ple of cold calls in two minutes flat, “butreferrals only come when people knowand trust you, and that takes time.”

People can’t get comfortable with you,let alone throw business your way, if theydon’t know the first thing about you orwhat you do. It seems obvious, but theproblem, according to Misner, is that“most people are cave dwellers! They sitin front of a big-screen TV and can’t un-derstand why nobody refers business tothem. Networking,” he insists, “is a con-tact sport.” This is a numbers game: Youhave to get out there and meet people,lots of people.

If you want to get noticed, one of thebest ways is to join one or (at most)two community service groups(chamber of commerce, Kiwanis,Rotary). Whichever group youpick, live up to the responsibilitiesof membership: Show up for meet-ings, serve on a committee, help organizea charity drive. Heaven help you if you letthe members down. The quickest route toservice-group oblivion is to give the im-pression that you’re a showboat who’smore interested in making a fast buck offthe membership than in contributingsomething of value. You’re not foolinganybody if you try to infiltrate a close-knit group to milk it for all it’s worth. Thepoint is to get to know new people and letthem get to know you; that’s the downpayment referral marketing requires.

Another way to pump up your visibil-ity is to give a little something away, atechnique practiced to perfection byPamela Lee, a San Francisco-based IPwho’s known by her many fans as TheBakelite Lady. Lee sells gorgeous vintage

Bakelite jewelry and accessories, some ofthe hottest collectibles around. Sheconducts much of her businessfrom her booth at antique showsaround the country. If you thinkthat’s bush league, think again:Lee’s average sale is a whop-ping $500; and at a recentshow, one of her eminentlycollectible bracelets went for a cool $18,000.

Lee is a word-of-mouthmarvel. She makes sure thatall who visit her booth —even if they’re only oglingthe bangles, brooches, andbeads — take away her business card,

which she packages in

a tiny plastic bagwith a piece of candy. “You can alwaysfind something to give away,” Lee says.“At my last show, I gave away See’s candysuckers and barrettes, and people remem-bered me.”

Of course, even the world’s best lol-lipops don’t sell jewelry. Nobody knowsBakelite better than Lee, and it’s thatknowledge about her in-demand waresthat clinches sales: “In antiques, mostpeople are generalists, but I sell the onething I really understand and like. I do ashow a week, and that’s how I got to bevery well known.”

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TIPSNetworking Don’ts1. Don’t use church or service groups for

target practice.2. Don’t forget to thank the people who

send you referrals. Do it the same day,in writing, and keep it short.

3. Don’t bombard your referral partnerswith phone calls or your promotionalmaterials.

4. Don’t brag about every achievement,and don’t drop every name.

5. Don’t send out form letters asking forreferrals.

6. Don’t promise to serve on a committeeand then back out.

7. Don’t ignore your friends and familyand all the other people who alreadyadmire and respect you.

8. Don’t just wing it; take the time to craft aformal word-of-mouth marketing plan.

9. Don’t assume everybody knows allabout your business already.

10. Don’t allow more than 24 hours to goby before you follow up with peopleyou meet at meetings or mixers.

Credibility CountsYou’ve landed on other people’s radarscreens. What now? What people reallywant to know is whether they can trustyou to deliver what you promise. In otherwords, do you have credibility?

To gauge a person’s credibility, most ofus gather opinions from a range ofsources — clients, longtime associates,friends — and do our own kind of reck-oning: Does he keep his promises? Will shecome through in a crunch? Is he honest? Is her work top-notch? Given the chance,would people work with him again? Or, toput it another way, if investors could buyshares of you on the IP stock market,

would they? Or would they sell?The net result of all this is

what you might call yourcredibility quotient. Sayyou give yourself 1 credi-bility point for every posi-tive rating and subtract 1for every less-than-glow-

ing report. Add up thepositives, subtract thenegatives, and take ahard look at the result.The higher the num-

ber, the easier it’s goingto be to ask for what you want . . .

and get it.

Your Business in 25 Words or Less Finally, you need a marrow-deep under-standing of what you do and how you doit. This is more than a description of yourwork: It’s knowing how youwant to work and what youwant your work to repre-sent. The idea is to makeit easy as pie for people to(1) understand what youdo and (2) remember it.Shoot for 25 words or less.Mike Ryan, an independent

financial plannerin Pasadena,California, rec-ommends start-ing with an“outline of thebusiness phi-losophy you want towork by andhow you wantto get it across topeople. Then you canpick up the phone, callpeople you alreadyknow, explain what youdo, and candidly ask fortheir help.” Today, Ryan, who didn’tknow a soul when he started out in 1968,does absolutely no advertising; he nevereven travels out of his office for meetings.“All my clients come to me,” he says.

Ask NowOkay. You’ve made yourself visible, you’veearned credibility, and you’ve thoughtlong and hard about your business. Nowwhat?

The ground rules for asking for refer-rals are actually pretty simple. First, makea habit of it. The more you ask for refer-rals, the easier it gets. And if the very ideaof asking for a referral makes you palewith panic, limit your risk by startingwith someone in your buzz network,someone who knows and likes you, who’smore likely to listen and come up with aname or two.

Pick somebody — the printer you’veworked with for years, an old college

professor, your brother-in-law thezoologist — and call. If you’reclueless about what to say, referralguru Misner suggests memoriz-

ing, practicing, and using thisopening phrase: Whodo you know who …

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Be an Active Part of Your CommunityYou want people to think of you when theyneed help? First, they’ve got to know thatyou’re capable and reliable . . . and alive.Joining a service group introduces you topeople in your own backyard, and it can bethe ultimate showcase for your distinctiveskills and talents.

● The Association of Junior LeaguesInternational (ajli.org) is an alliance ofwomen’s volunteer organizations thatworks to develop the potential ofwomen and to promote healthy com-munities.

● The Benevolent & Protective Order ofthe Elks of the USA (elks.org) helps chil-dren in need, honors veterans, and re-sponds to the victims of natural disasters.

● The International DowntownAssociation (ida-downtown.org) bringstogether nonprofit and for-profit busi-nesses with civic groups to revitalizecities. Independent professionals arewelcome to join in the community.

● The Kiwanis Club International (kiwanis.org) is a community-based serv-ice organization that works to promotechildren’s welfare and developmentworldwide.

● One of the oldest business-led serviceorganizations, Lions International(lions.org) has chapters all over theUnited States, and as the name suggests,abroad.

● The National Exchange Club(nationalexchangeclub.com) is a volun-teer organization that focuses on im-proving local communities anddeveloping leadership skills.

● Rotary International (rotary.org) is analliance of business professionals thatpromotes high ethical standards and un-dertakes humanitarian projects.

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Needs accounting advice? Is thinkingabout starting a Web site? May wantsome help designing a brochure?

“Laser-specific is what you have tobe,” Misner says. Don’t worry aboutmissing some colossal opportunityby making your referral request too

narrow. If you’re a meeting plannerand you need a contact at the Four

Seasons, ask, “Who do you know at theFour Seasons?” not “Do you know any-

body who works in the hospitalityindustry?”

And don’t worry about devisingfancy rewards for the people whorecommend you. You don’t need

elaborate incentive schemes or prizesfor the one who funnels the most referralsyour way. A simple thank-you is good —even if no work comes of a specific refer-ral — and a thoughtful referral in returnis even better.

Develop an ear for the music of refer-rals. If a business colleague happens totell you, “I don’t know how to get thisproject off the ground” or even “I can’tfind a good veterinarian to take care ofmy Brittany spaniel,” recognize the po-tential for referrals in her confusion. Thisis your cue to take up the coveted role ofgatekeeper, the one who opens doors andmakes all-important connections. “Hey,”you might say, “I know who can help youwith that project” or “I know a great vet.”

Supply the particulars, and leave it atthat. Don’t keep bugging her to see ifshe’s followed your advice. And whateveryou do, don’t tack on a commercial foryourself at the end of theconversation (“Oh,while we’re talking,how’s your insurancecoverage looking?”).Always keep in mindthat the morereferrals yougive, the more

you’ll get; and that one day that womanwith the successful project or the newveterinarian will tell you what a great re-source you were and ask, “By the way,what is it that you do?” Be patient andtread softly. But by all means, keep ontreading.

Over time, as referral partnerships ma-ture, referrals become a natural andhugely profitable way of solving problemsand doing business. Gone is the angst ofcold calling, the high cost of advertising.Referrals have the ability to reshape yourwhole business landscape (and free youfrom cold calls forever). They representthe kind of personalized recommenda-tion that peopleare starved for,and all you re-ally need toget startedis a singleword:hello.

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