What's the Red Ferrari in your business?
It’s a truism of networking, but the more specific you are about who you want to speak to, the more likely you will get referrals to them.
This sounds counterintuitive. You might think that ignoring a whole swathe of potential customers to focus on one specific target is ridiculous: you wouldn’t be the first. Go to any networking event, and listen to what people say when trying to get referrals:
· “I help people save money on their phone bills, so a good referral for me is somebody with a mobile phone.”
· “As an accountant, a good referral for me is everybody that wants their business to be more profitable.”
· “I clean cars, so a good referral for me is anybody with a car.”
In all three of these examples the business owner is being too general. Who do you know that has a mobile phone, wants a more profitable business, or has a car? Everyone.
But does this make it easier to refer them? Unfortunately, not. Using the words anybody, everybody, somebody tends to lead to nobody. Let me give you an example.
I’d heard John say ‘a good referral for me is anyone with a car’ many times. He runs a car cleaning business – but not your average car cleaning business. He focuses on detailing high end cars: Ferraris, Rolls Royces and so on. Owners of cars like these want them kept in pristine condition – car cleaning to a whole new level.
John ran an okay business, but he wasn’t getting referrals. The issue was he was asking for anyone with a car. However, because he wanted high end cars, his prices reflected this. This meant that while he could cater for customers with a standard car, people like this didn’t want or need high end service, so business was slow.
He thought he was making it easier to pass him a referral because he was including anyone.
I asked John to tell me about a really good customer. He’d recently cleaned a red Ferrari – so I suggested the next time he went networking, he shouldn’t ask for anyone with a car: ask to be referred to a red Ferrari owner. He looked unsure, but I encouraged him to use those exact words.
Guess what? Someone in his network had a friend with a red Ferrari. An introduction was made, and John had a new client.
The story doesn’t end there. It turned out that John’s new client was in the Ferrari Owners Club of Scotland – and referred John on to other members. Now, he was cleaning and detailing lots of Ferraris. Owners of Ferraris also have other high end cars – so he got more Lamborghinis, McLarens and so on.
All of that came from a change of language. He thought he was trying to be helpful to his network by asking for ‘anyone with a car’ – but he wasn’t. He had good relationships. This meant people wanted to help him – but he wasn’t giving them the tools to do so.
The change of focus also allowed John to get the business he really wanted. This allowed him to build a better business. Promoting your business effectively isn’t just about getting new clients: it’s also about improving the quality of your clients.
Your network will be the same. You’ve built good relationships, so your network will be happy to promote you, and want to do so.
So what’s the red Ferrari in your business?
