In my last article, I said we would discuss the WHAM! BAM! WOMM! of networking. Next, to connecting with people, Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is the most crucial part of building a business that is a referral based. Word of Mouth Marketing is a strategy in which you engage customers and get them talking about your services or products. Wommapedia.org has a great definition for Word of Mouth Marketing, Put simply, it is 'any business Marketing action that earns a customer recommendation.' Here are some tactics for implementing a successful WOMM strategy… It starts with providing excellent customer service! When you receive a referral from one of your referral partners or another connection, you have to provide a customer servicing experience that speaks for itself. When someone refers business to me, I have the mindset that I am working for my referral partner because I am an extension of them. One of the things that I tell my team when they get referrals from a

In one of my last post , I wrote about how to have the "Proper FORM" when having a 1-on-1 meeting. On top of having a genuine conversation with someone and learning about them personally and professionally, you should also ask them these two questions: Who is your ideal client - "If you could only work with one type of client in this restaurant, who would it be?" Who is your ideal referral partner - "Who is someone that is working with your clients that could be your partner and not a competitor?" I tell people, "These next two questions are the most important questions that I can ask you because this is how I am going to help your business." The reason why I ask these questions is that whenever I am meeting with someone, I am thinking, "Who can I introduce this person to?" Either during the meeting or after, I will look through my database and/or journals to see if I can find any commonalities between this person and someone el

I recently got into a debate on Facebook about Business Cards and their importance. Surprisingly, it was my 2nd most commented and liked Facebook post in months. — 1st being the announcement of my wife’s pregnancy 😊. Most people agreed with me and some did not. Which is okay! One person’s comment really resonated with me and I have been looking forward to writing this article in response to their comment. They said: ...it’s not the card that counts, it’s the connection. A card shouldn’t determine how professional a person is or how serious they are.  I have given out hundreds of cards to people who say they are going to contact me and never do. That is more of a sign of not being serious or professional. I take more offense to that than anything else. Action and connection count A LOT more than a little piece of paper. I love the ending when they say, "Action and connection count A LOT more than a little piece of paper" because after all, the title of my blog is ca

In my last post, I talked about how people I met during a 1-2-1, mentally chased me away because of their “commission breath”. In today’s post, I am going to give you a tip on how to have a conversation with someone, especially an introvert, that will not make them run to the nearest exit. Because they didn't have the PROPER FORM. If you Google, "proper form" you will see hundreds of thousands of different results on various topics. For example, showing football players on how to tackle someone without injuring themselves. In baseball, infielders are coached how to quickly field a ground ball and throw the advancing base runners. In school, children are taught how to properly hold a pencil to write. Personally, as a water-skier, my dad coached me on how to have the proper form while skiing a slalom course. Most of those search results are beneficial because they are typically geared to show people how to prevent injury, or to show a technique to master a skill. When

Have you ever had coffee with a person and 5 minutes into the meeting you are looking for the nearest exit? It's not because their breath wreaks of garlic or coffee but because of "Commission Breath" and the sale that they are trying to make. In my previous article, I talked about how sales and marketers need to be careful to not have commission breath. Since January 7th of this year, I have attended 38 networking functions, have met over 140 new people and scheduled over 50 one-on-one meetings. There have been multiple instances of when I meet with people at an event or over coffee and they are so focused on trying to earn a commission that they forget the purpose of networking. One of my favorite books is Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey. In the book, Covey talks about how people do business with people that they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST. If the people that I had met with, had taken the time to have a genuine conversation so that I could KNOW who they are... lea

In my last blog post, I said we would discuss referrals vs. connections and since that post, someone has asked me about leads vs. referrals. Think of "Lead vs. Referral vs. Connection" as a type of sales funnel. If you have ever gone to a networking function you will likely hear them talk about business passed and referrals given between the members of the group. The reason why they talk about referral is that the person referred is likely expecting a phone call or email from the person given the referral. This is a “warm introduction” and should result in an easier sell. (Frank’s client, Chris, is purchasing a home and needs financing. Frank recommends Danny a local mortgage lender. Chris is now going to be expecting Danny’s phone call.) I love the definition of referral in the Collins Dictionary: “Referral is the act of officially sending someone to a person or authority that is qualified to deal with them.” The problem with a lead is that it is considered, “non-qu