How to Become More Referable

The secret to getting more referrals is to become more referable. Sounds easy enough, right? But how does one go about that?

As a Community Builder in the Denver Business Community, I have seen how networking, developing relationships, and communicating opportunities for mutual support, can improve one’s business skills and increase chances of receiving referrals. Keep reading to find out how you can become more referable!

The Power of Networking

The power of networking comes from developing meaningful relationships with others. Once a basic level of trust and agreement of support is established, there are many ways to reap the benefits of that relationship. A critical part is to communicate with each other opportunities for mutual support. Then identify a few action steps and follow through on them. Afterwards, evaluate and improve. Nothing is perfect...and that’s okay! Step by step, your network becomes stronger. If you want to dive deeper on this topic, check out this article.

Developing Relationships

If you want to develop a referral network, you need to create relationships with other professionals who you can trust—and who will trust you in return. This process takes time and effort, but it’s worth it in the long run. When you have strong relationships with others, you can rely on them for advice, help, and referrals when you need it—and you will do the same for them.

Communicating Opportunities for Mutual Support

Once you have developed relationships with others, it’s important to communicate opportunities for mutual support. This is probably the most overlooked aspect of becoming more referrable.

For example, if you know of an opportunity that would be perfect for someone in your network, let them know! By doing this, you not only help out someone else, but you also show that you are thinking of them and are willing to help—which will make them more likely to help you in return.

Believe it or not, it is rare that people go out of their way to introduce opportunities, or potential opportunities to each other. Most people are so caught up in their own world that they don’t recognize opportunities for others, not to speak of going out of their way to help “connect dots”. Seeing yourself as a connector, and consciously looking out for “dots” to connect.

The other side to this is that if you want to become more referrable you also need to communicate opportunities to the people in your network. Most people make the mistake to only ask for potential customer referrals, which limits the opportunity for collaboration.

Next time you work on a project, or one of your clients has a need with something they are working on, ask your network for help. This will lead to an exchange of insight, resources, and introductions. A byproduct of this is that it allows you to strengthen the relationships with others and it will be a lot easier in the future to refer potential prospects to each other. You are already used to exchange “value” with each other.

Time to Take Action

Becoming more referrable is a process and by following these steps, you can become more referable and increase your chances of receiving referrals. It takes time and effort to develop relationships and communicate opportunities for mutual support—but it’s worth it in the long run. If you are looking to tap into a new community of great people, come visit one of our Network in Action Groups here in Denver or shoot me a quick message.

Simon Zryd?is a Certified Value Builder at?Denver Business Coach?and Community Builder for?Network in Action Denver. His passion is guiding Business Owners to build profitable, scalable and sellable businesses. And, connect them to the resources they need to do so.