Did you grow your unpaid sales force in 2008?

Savvy business people know how important networking is to building business. When done properly, it can be one of your most important marketing activities and a key component of a referral based business. Building a network of people who refer business to you requires an effective networking strategy and skills that typically need to be developed.

Are you a good networker?

The following are some of the most interesting truths and delusions about networking that came from Ivan Misner’s new book “Truth or Delusion?”

If you provide good customer service, people will refer business to you. DELUSION: According to Misner, good customer service is a prerequisite. It’s a minimum expectation. To keep the referrals coming you must provide great, outstanding and memorable customer service. People refer you because they expect you to do a great job that enhances their relationship with the person they are referring.

The person benefiting the most in the referral process is the person receiving the referral. DELUSION – SOMETIMES: According to Misner, it’s true the person receiving the referral has an opportunity to make the sale, but in many cases, the true winner is the person who provided the referral. The referral source walks away with enhanced credibility and a stronger relationship with both the vendor and the customer.

For networking success, when describing your products or services, you should try to tell people about everything you do. DELUSION: Misner says “don’t shotgun your message – sharpshoot it”. When you tell a referral partner a laundry list of services or products you offer, you are placing a burden on them to remember all the things you do and match them with people they know who might need one of those offers. If you stay focused on one specific product or service when you initially engage a referral partner, it will be much easier for them to learn and remember the specific value you offer and to make a referral to you. It may seem counter intuitive but according to Misner, casting a wider net will result in less referrals.

It’s not what you know, but who you know. DELUSION: According to Misner it’s not what you know or who you know – it’s how well you know them that really counts. It takes time to develop trust and all things being equal, people prefer to do business with someone they know and trust. Referral networking is more about farming than about hunting.

Customers generated through referrals have a longer “shelf life”. TRUTH: I thought I’d close with at least one statement that was intuitive. According to Misner, "Studies have shown that customers who come to you by referral do remain customers longer, all else being equal."


If you haven’t dedicated some of your marketing energy into building and sustaining a network of referral partners, you should consider making it a goal for the New Year. An unpaid sales force in the form of a strong referral network may be the ticket to reaching your business goals in 2009.

“In word-of-mouth or referral marketing, your integrity and your reputation are on the line all the time. You can't hide behind an ad.”
-- Ivan Misner, PH.D.