Success Through Referrals with Tim Roberts

This week we discuss how the story in our head will ultimately dictate our level of success.  As I travel around speaking with business owners about word-of-mouth marketing, referrals, and success, it amazes me how many people have already told themselves it is impossible.  They have this story in their head telling them they cannot achieve what they truly desire.  So I ask: What is YOUR story?

This week we discuss some key lessons we can learn from the movie American Sniper.  We detail 3 points that will help you become as effective as a sniper when networking for referrals!

I am very excited to be back in 2015!  We are starting this year talking about what else? Goals!  This week we discuss what goal setting really is, and all of the parts you need to think about, plan, and strategize for in order to reach your desired end results!

When it comes to our results there is always a good excuse.  The truth is though there is no one to blaim but ourselves.  We need to OWN our results and become solely responsible for getting them to where we desire.  What excuses have you used to justify the lack of results you may have been seeing?  Who have you blamed for your lackluster referrals?  Are you at a 10 on the Referral Responsibility Scale?  This week we discuss the 14 points author Matt Anderson discusses in his book Fearless Referrals.

What is the right approach when asking for referrals from clients?  This week we discuss two articles that provide vastly different advice on how to ask for referrals from your customers.  We will discuss which is one is best suited for success as well as some tips of our own.

Are you taking the same approach to your networking, and referral production, as someone buying a lottery ticket?  Are you currently letting your success be dictated by chance?  In my experience there are a lot of people who are and they don't even realize it.  We discuss the similarities between networking and playing the lottery in this week's episode!

When you customers and clients are in need of a service you personally don't provide do they call you or are they relying on Google?  How about your friends and family members?  What would it mean to your business and referral production if they did always call you instead of going online?

Want to make your business more effective, effecient and enjoyable??  Want to see your average closing ratio over 80%??  It starts by focusing on QUALITY REFERRALS! The word referral is often over used.  It is commonly confused with the word lead or even confused with cold calls.  Just because someone gives you a name and phone number does not mean they are giving you a REFERRAL.  In this week's episode we discuss why this is AND how not all referrals are the same.  We discuss focusing a little more on the quality of referrals we give and ask for we can increase our closing ratios from 5% to 80%+!

We have all gone to networking events and collected a bunch of business cards, met a lot of people, and invested a lot time.  The question then is "What now?"  What do we do after the event? The simple and obvious answer is:  .  This is obvious but now the question is what is the right approach when we follow up with these people?  How do we follow up in the appropriate way that helps us develop a profitable relationship?  We answer this question in this week's episode!

One of the most valuable skillsets when it comes to referral production and word-of-mouth marketing is the art of Listening Well.  We discuss the rules to listening well that we found in the book Sun Tzu For Success by Gerald Michaelson.  

One of our greatest resources for referrals could be our very own customer base.  While most realize this to be a fact, very few people know how to acctually get the steady stream of referrals from their customers that they desire.  In this week's episode we discuss what the correct approach is to start achieving this goal!

We often fall into the trap of only focusing on referrals and business when we talk about networking.  In this week's episode we discuss the importance of investing some social time with key individuals within your network, and how it can lead to even greater results!

Did you know that in a 60 minute professional football game the ball is only in motion for an average of 12 minutes? Think about how much time these players, coaches, and teams are investing in preparing for that game!  In reality all of those hours are in preparation for only 12 minutes.  This is because they know that it is the time they INVEST in preparation that will lead them to either succeed or fail in those 12 minutes. The question is: are you investing time preparing yourself for success when it comes to networking and word-of-mouth marketing?

This past week someone in my network shared the amazing video below of an incredible dance team.  I watched the video and was blown away by how insync this group was and the amount of work, and practice, it must have taken them to get these results.  The video is throughly entertaining, but it is also inspiring.  It made me think about how this great team of dancers can also represent some key lessons we all need when developing our own team or network. Our focus when doing the activity of networking is to ultimately develop a Success Team around us of other professionals who are like minded, and share a common goal.  Just like this dance team in the video.  In order to do that we must learn these 5 Key Lessons:

Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult for people to find referrals, or business opportunities, for you when you seem to see them everywhere you go?  This is a very common challenge and frustration for professionals.  In this week's episode I give you some tips to help you understand why this is happening and how to start training people to see more referrals for you!

Think back to your first date.  Where you ready to propose marriage, or except such a proposal?  I bet the answer is NO WAY!  However I would bet you have done the equivalent when networking for your business.  We discuss this and the the 5 Key Elements to a Business Relationship in this week's episode!

Could Disney World actually be costing your company referrals?  While this may seem very far fetched it could actually be happening.  Did you even know that you are competing with Disney World everyday?  No matter what your business is we are in competition with Disney and every other company in the world in one key factor of our business.  We discuss this topic in more detail in this week's episode!

John Lee Dumas is the Founder and Host of EntrepreneurOnFire, a top ranked podcast named "Best in iTunes 2013". John interviews today's most inspiring and successful Entrepreneurs 7-days a week and has been featured in both TIME and Inc. Magazine, and is the founder of Podcasters' Paradise; a community where Podcasters can create, grow, and monetize their podcast. EntrepreneurOnFire generates over 550,000 unique downloads a month with past guests such as Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Barbara Corcoran, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Guy Kawasaki. Recaps of the 500+ episodes and MUCH more can be found at EOFire.com.

In this week's Networking Tip epsidoe I discuss the flaw in being a "Go Giver".  Too many people take the Law of Reciprocity to literal and we discuss how this is an ineffective approach to networking and relationship building. Are you truly a Go Giver?

Shifting your focus from “getting to giving” ” is far from just nice…it’s also very financially profitable! When Bob Burg, coauthor of the international bestseller, The Go-Giver, speaks about “giving,” he’s talking in terms of “constantly and consistently providing value to the lives of others.” When you can take your focus off yourself and shift it onto how you can be an asset of value to other people, you’ll plant seeds of goodwill — of great will — that will come back to you many, many times over. And, not because of some magical, mystical type of thinking, but because it makes absolutely practical sense.