Sunday, August 03, 2008

Get Noticed... Get Referrals: Relationships are King

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

In Get Noticed... Get Referrals, Jill Lublin, its author, lays out a very practical process for getting you into a very active lineage of referral relationships.

She goes through how to distinguish yourself (that intro statement that grabs people's interest), informing your clients and customers on what you really do, and creating your power referral program.

Look for networks that love you and what you do... especially those who enthusiastically like to tell others about you. Basically, they must trust you as competent in what you do, and know you are a person of integrity. Before leading you through how to get noticed. Lublin takes you through how to build your power referral program.

One of Jill's favorite referral systems is Dick Bruso's. Here's his process:
1. Create a list of 10 people you love and who love you.
2. Meet with each individually.
3. Tell them the types of overall markets you want to penetrate.
4. Then zero in to the specialty area you want to reach.
5. Know the positions of people you want to meet, ask them if they know people in those positions that could help you move forward. It's important to identify clearly who you want to meet.
6. Tell them about the qualities and attributes you specifically look for in a person.
7. Ask your contact for 3 or 4 referrals. Then get as much info about these three or four as possible.
Do you have good references? People won't give quality referrals without knowing others are really happy with you too.

People who work well with one person may not work well with another. Is there a personality, emotional, intellectual match, a philosophical and business match. Some referrals may not be good matches for you or good referrals for you. Some clients may conflict with other clients.

Help your connection group, referral group refer people to you. Provide them with a profile of the ideal client you seek. Equip them with vital materials that will help them, and make it easy for them to make referrals. Put your background online so others can link you to the person they are introducing you to. (Services like
www.linkedin.com work good for this.)

Keep your referral base advised on who you are working with, new developments that would help them keep up on what you are doing. It always gives a person fresh ammunition to use to tell others the exciting things you are up to.

Lublin goes on to talk about where to get noticed. Whether to join an organization, local group, industry group, structured referral network, or form your own network. Sometimes you may join a group not directly related to your field, but an area you would like to serve... who would be interested in what you do, and be a good contact group for your product.

When introducing yourself simply tell who you are, what you do, and specific (unique from others) benefits you can provide. Lublin encourages you to work on this and do it very well. She goes into greater detail on how you can.

What questions are you commonly asked. Be prepared to give your best answer.
Always keep it fresh with the latest news you are excited about, and be aware of protocol of those you are with. Be a good conversationalist and explain yourself by focusing on how what you do benefits others, and not so much of what you do. People like stories of how we are affecting others' lives.

Always be ready to meet new people while waiting in a line, where food is served, even in the restroom. Where ever you are always be interested in others.

Deepen your relationships. Regularly catch up on what's happening in others' lives and let them know about yours. Set a strategy to be an education marketer. People are bombarded with sales approaches of all kinds, but they like being informed on new ideas with information that makes a difference in their lives. Demonstrate yourself to others as a knowledgeable resource.

Lublin continues with how to cultivate the media, and ways to do it, and building on your passions. It's critical that you stay passionate about what you do, so you must constantly generate new energy for this. Do this by spending time with positive people, eliminating negative people, taking chances and keep yourself enriched by taking new programs that refresh you and expand you.

Stay focused (define your focus), schedule your time, solve problems with your products, test ideas in writing. Be real and stay in touch with past customers, rev up old business, stay on the good side of vendors who are great for telling others about you, and grow in knowledge and skills in your field so you are a consultant to others.

It's up to you. Create your own magic, adjust, alter, combine, be Dr. Proactive, take the initiative, barter and exchange.

Stay up will Jill Lublin at:
http://www.jilllublin.com/

Today the relationship factor is becoming the most important part of how well we get anything done in business and life. People just don't buy products but the people who go with them. We will listen to a friend on his or her recommendation more than any cleverly designed media slogans.

The greatest power is released through our relationships with God through prayer and the same relationships we have with others committed to interaction in prayer as well. These people, those who we pray along with and we pray together with are the most devoted. The love of Christ is the driving force in their lives, and it drives us to give to each other and assist each other. When love abounds, devotion, commitment action to help each other abounds to the intensity of how much our love is for each other.


What is prayer?
Oswald Chambers said this about prayer: "Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person's life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of Jesus in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer....We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the Spiritual purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself....To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'Prayer changes me and then I change things.' God has established things so that prayer changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature." (My Utmost for His Highest, August 28 reading.)


Dr. A. summed things up as two key areas for Jesus power...

--Prayer... existing in constant interaction in Spirit with God himself.
--Relationship... extending this "in Spirit" relationship to relating "in Spirit" with others.

It's so much about relationship... with The Spirit, within ourselves and with others. Prayer... then is who we are, not so much what we do. We are prayer... The Spirit is in continual interaction in us. In prayer, we connect in relationship with others of the Same Spiritual pursuit. We respond to others who are consistent with the same Spirit. (Spirit is literally One with everything in the universe).

So, when in this Spiritual relationship "in Spirit," we normally practice these people relationship qualities…
--loving others as ourselves
--giving freely to others needs
--forgiving when things go wrong
--tolerating what we can't change

Through Jesus Spirit, in prayer, we team with others' complementary gifts for increasing Power. Our Spiritual Gifts team with their Spiritual Gifts which create tremendous power.

With this in mind, as you pray and when you pray, relationships build between the two interacting in Spirit... it can be vocal or silent. It happens when those in the same Spirit are in uninhibited flow, flowing without emotional hindrances.

If, after we pray, there is disregard for the "relationship feature" of being One in Spirit, potency of prayer diminishes, digresses and lessens.

When we disregard the relationship factor, everything breaks up. The potential of prayer is drastically hampered and dampened. What is committed to in Spirit needs to remain consistent with the Spirit and the Qualities of Spirit within you, to God and to each other. But if respect for another one of God's creation is not there, prayer power, Spirit working power, is not there either.

Spirit honors its creation, we must then honor each other in the same way too.
Spirit that likes to give itself away, Spirit (prayer) flows in a natural manner between those with the Same Spirit.

It connects without effort... while loving freely.
Jesus Spirit flows back and forth like a stream circulating, refreshing, refueling, re-energizing.

In prayer, interacting in Jesus Spirit, we become bigger, much bigger than ourselves as this flow builds on itself. It is like putting two surging Springs together which form a mountain stream of great rapids of flowing power.

Potential for power keeps increasing steadily and compounding at Supernatural rates.
As we refine the process of this flowing Spirit of relationship among each other, power intensifies.

As you intensify Spirit in prayer… by interacting in Spirit constantly, and building relationships with others in Spirit, the magnitude of Spirit will live as a natural part of you. Cultivate prayer, build relationships.

Make Prayer and Relationships your emphasis in life.

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