DESCRIPTION OF WEEKLY ACTIVITIES BELOW:

• LinkedIn referral group is a full on networking like a referral group using Purposeful Networking© with LinkedIn Connections.  Four people are joined in an area with Internet access.  Each participant brings a lap top with their LinkedIn Connections, a profile of their perfect client, and the willingness to share their LinkedIn Connections.  Each participant will collect nine new business prospects and/or referral partners from this networking meeting.
• LinkedInALive Training will dive into the details of how to get business sooner than later.  At INTEGRITY Institute we want you to grow your business with people you know, like, and trust.  We want you to learn how to build those relations quickly so you can go on to doing business today.
• Advocate Training works with clients and their guests on how to get others to bring clients to you.  Using strategies of connecting with a method of anticipating what your deliverables are we will develop a recipe for getting your phone to ring off the hook.
• Presentation Training will teach what to say, how to get in front of the right people to say what they need to hear, and create offers that your target markets want.
• Communication is more than just talking and blogging.  It will show you how stay in touch with those who say, “I want to think about it.”  It will turn those into more pay days!
• Website is about more than SEO and AdWords.  Getting people who want your product and service to your website is an important key to your business success.  Incease your knowledge for how to get more prospects to your door.
• Networking is seen by many as a have to do when growing a small business.  Learn how to network with anticipated results to move your business results to profits.
• Business Exposition strategies often include ‘give a ways’ to increase the yield on contact gathering.  It would be great if when gathering those business cards that all those people wanted what your business has to offer.  You will discover the little known secret for how to create that offer.
• Golf Strategy allows our clients to play golf while doing business.  This system allows our clients to golf more frequently with their target market to deliver guaranteed results.
• Tennis strategy is for clients who like to play tennis while developing more prospects.  If it is with your children or a single club membership, learn how to connect in this social environment, have fun, and get referrals.
• Little league strategy helps keep the family together.  Rather than compromising around the summer season between family sports and work combine both to increase the fun.
• Pop Warner Strategy develops the togetherness that can come from supporting your child’s team.  This is above and beyond team sponsorship.  It is less costly and more rewarding with predictable financial results.
• MILLION DOLLAR MASTER MIND GROUP Develop and implement  strategies to grow your business to $1,000,000 in the next 12 months.
• What Can I Do Today to Help You Grow Your Business? A group of business men having been asking this question for the last five years getting exceptional results.  Find out why and how.
• The 25 People You Need to Know to Get Your Phones to Ring will teach you who you need to know to ring the referrals to your business.  90 minute interactive presentation.
• How to Turn Passive Marketing Tools into Proactive Marketing Tools will deliver the ideas that will strengthen your brochures, website, and billboards to sell what you have to offer. 90 minute interactive presentation.
• Advocates and Power Partners, How to Grow Our Businesses Together will multiply your sales force without increasing your expense side of the business.  90 minute interactive presentation.
• How to Effortlessly Stay in Contact with Your Target Market so that They Will Buy Only from You is designed to put your competition in the rearview mirror.  After this session you will look at completion as friendly collaborators.  90 minute interactive presentation.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

Exclusive referral groups allow the networker to meet with one or more referral partners with the idea that referrals from their industry category will be exchanged with/to only them.  The classic example is the realtor and mortgage agent.  In exclusive networking groups the exchange seems very obvious.  When a realtor sells a home, the real estate agent refers the mortgage to their exclusive mortgage agent that is a group member.  A problem occurs when the realtor gets a listing with a pre-assigned mortgage agent, not a group member.  In many cases, a mortgage broker approaches a realtor, referring the listing to the real estate agency.  The realtor assigned to list the property can now only use the referring mortgage agent.

Exclusive referral groups can also get tricky when it comes to the issue of know, like, and trust.  Frequently, quality of character, work ethic, and work performance become an issue.  If a member of the group is a hair stylist and does a less than satisfactory job on your haircut, the opportunity to refer that stylist is limited.  Having the ability to be able to use multiple referral partners comes in handy.  Using the example of the hair stylist, coloring of hair, type of style specialty, and cut can all be considered as to who one chooses to use.

Personalities are often different.  There is an entire industry that does personality profiling.  Exclusive referral partners frequently find that they lose an opportunity to refer because personalities are different from the person being referred to their prospect.  Some people like working with the opposite sex.  Others will only work with the same sex.  It is hard to admit, yet true, race, creed, and color do matter even as we would like to see it as different.  Some work hard.  Some work soft.  Some are aggressive.  I could go on and on with analogies.  The point is, people are different so we need to have different referral partners to be affective connectors.

Quantity of work can also become an issue.  The mortgage agent who wants to sell multiple deals may need more than one realtor to refer business.  The other side of this issue is when referral partners get too busy that they need another referral partner from the same industry to handle the overload.

Non-exclusive networking groups give us the opportunity to mix and match.  When we have the ability to develop a know, like, and trust relationship with three or more professionals in one industry, we can then refer more than three to a referral partner in need.  Then each of the three candidates for the referral can do what they can to sell themselves to our referral partner.  In this example, differences are good for the opportunity of selecting the best fit.

As they say in real estate, “Location, location, location,” is important.  Where we live can become an issue when it comes to answering the question of exclusive or non-exclusive referral groups.  In some cases, as with the insurance industry, insurance agents are licensed to do business in multiple states.  Other agents are limited to a single state.  A realtor may want to only sell to a select market in a select community.  This must be considered when choosing between an exclusive and non-exclusive networking group.  In one case, an insurance agent discovered that business benefit sales professionals are the best referral partners.  Therefore, the insurance agent is looking for five business benefit sales professionals to develop that know, like, and trust relationship.

There are many answers which largely depend on where you want to take your business.  As a start-up company an exclusive networking group may get you on the road to success.  As your success blossoms, a non-exclusive group may be your ticket to increased success.  Just remember, evaluate where the business is coming from and adjust your networking referral group to meet your business growth and development.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

I have noticed a trend now that I have been involved for more than a year.  After each meeting it is usual for many of us to get together.  After the meeting we set a time and place in the future to meet. Most often the meeting is scheduled in the next 30 days.  We exchange cell phone numbers in case something comes up where we cannot get together at the appointed time.

The trend that I am noticing is that once the first appointment is broken, rarely is a second one set.  Even when the second meeting is set, frequently it is broken.  What are people thinking?

Joining a networking group is done so we can become trusted advisors then and refer business.  These advisors are the people that I could refer my clients.  Therefore, the goal is to build a referring relationship by developing trust over time.  The only thing that I can trust from individuals who break multiple appointments is that they will do so with my client referrals!

I am happy to meet with people a second and third time if the reason for the missed meeting is a good reason.   Please be the judge of one of the recent reasons given to me by a fellow networking member, “My husband wants to go see a house.  I do not want to see this house, but he is making me do so.  I would like to wait at least six months.”  Now I agree that family comes first.  My question comes to, “How will this type of reason fly with my clients?”  Will my credibility fall if I was to refer this person and they came up with a similar reason for postponing or cancelling a meeting with my client referral?  Will my client think that I referred a loser if they canceled/postponed multiple times?

Many of these people are the biggest complainers when someone does something wrong.  One such individual keeps telling me, “We still need to get together.”  Then in the next breath, he tells me how someone in the group did him wrong by allowing someone else to pass out their flyers, but he was shut out.

I am sure some will read this and say, “Your values are too high.”  To those I say, “Thank you.”  Your time is valuable, and so is everyone else’s time.  When participating in a business networking community, be careful what you commit to.

On a final note, when it comes to professional organizations, be careful for what you volunteer to do.  Often people evaluate you in those volunteer roles, comparing it to how you will do business.  People will judge you by your performance as a volunteer.  Many will not understand when you “bag” an assignment because “it is only a volunteer job.”  I have frequently had others say to me, “I will not hire them (or refer them) because they dropped their commitment to our volunteer organization.”

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Suite 100, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Fax to (760) 439-5043; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

There is a need to be careful with the words we select.  As I re-read what I just wrote, I am impressed by how deep and at the same time shallow those words can be received.  I will let you judge how deep or shallow they are.  This goes beyond the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  Words can hurt us in business.

It seems like every meeting I engage in lately, social media or Web 2.0 is mentioned.  Everyone is blogging.  My concern with blogging is word selection and correct spelling.  I have discovered some very capable professionals forgo credibility because they use there when their should be used.  Some have gone so far as to turn their spell check OFF.

Beyond credibility, social media also trains our associates and audience of consumers.  The goal of a blog, at its best, should attract prospects that can be converted into clients.  Provide enough information in your blog to encourage the reader to want more.

As businesses are formed, ideas are shared, and products/services are created.  Words are used to tell our story.  This sounds overly simple.  Yet, time and time again, I see business owners/developers lose their audience due to poor word selection.  A number of ideas to improve in this area include:

• Read, re-read, and hire an editor.  Read other people’s books, blogs, and articles.
• Join a Toastmasters Club (www.toastmasters.org).   Participating in Table Topics at a Toastmaster Club meeting will teach you how to think on your feet while learning to select the correct words for what you mean.
• Use Internet tools to check spelling, correct word use, and create freshness with a Thesaurus.  Use the online dictionary.  It is free and easy to use.  Yes, it takes time to select which there or their you use.  When thinking about the time invested I think of this, “I am writing this blog with the idea of attracting people to me.”  When I use the correct words, I have a greater likelihood of people seeing me as a valuable hire.  When I use the wrong words, I have less value and might be perceived as someone who would provide the wrong information when guiding my client.
• Convey ideas with short bullet points versus long sentences and paragraphs.  This short quote from Abraham Lincoln tells a full story, “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my mother.”
• Tell meaningful stories, including real people who have real life experience.  When telling a story in front of a live audience or in a blog, it is important to connect with real life stories.  Telling is not selling.  Connecting with personal stories is selling because you are connecting by what other people have experienced.  I was recently told that, when telling a story, if I can make my grandmother seem to be your grandmother we are connected at that point.

Time to decide.  Is this deep or shallow or somewhere in between?  Whatever you decide, selecting your words wisely is important.  As the old saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  (Yes, I went to the Internet to check that this was an accurate quote.  I had substituted will for the word may.)  In the case of the words we select, the choices we make can add credibility to our cause, or cause our cause to break and hurt.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

I asked a business associate, “How can I help you?”  He told me that he needed a distribution network for his existing product and some new items he was adding to his offerings.  That same day I had breakfast with a lady who works in the area of advertising specialties (logos on coffee cups, knives with a message, letter openers, etc.)  I mentioned my associate’s need during casual conversation.  I was so surprised by her response that it caused me to write this article.

When I was asked to connect my associate with a distribution network, I immediately thought of transportation and existing conventional distribution (trucks, rail, and airplanes.)  I immediately sent out a request to my distribution network asking who they could refer my client.  I targeted my request to professionals who work in conventional distribution for referrals.

The lady who works in advertising specialties asked me, “Why did you not think of me?”  When I told her of my client’s needs, I was shocked at her question.  How could she help fill my associate’s needs?  The answer is that she distributes products and distributes those products worldwide.  I had never thought of her or people who do what she does as distributors.  I have known her for 10 years.  I see her at least once per month.  I was receiving words with inside the box thinking versus receiving words using outside the box thinking.  Thinking outside the box when it comes to problem solving can be helpful and leads us to new/better solutions.

Another lesson learned is that sometimes answers come to us from places that are least expected.  Just putting things out to the universe will allow answers to come to us.  My associate, who needed the distribution solution, asked me at the appropriate time for a solution.  I asked him at the right time how I could help him.  Engaging people with concern for being of service to them can often deliver positive results that can be measured, yet not anticipated.  Doing good delivers good deeds.

Had I been a more active listener it could have led me to a different distribution answer.  Active listening can be the key to receiving information.  As an active listener, we listen first to understand, rather than listen to be understood.  There is a slight difference between the two.  When listening to understand, we want the person speaking to us to get their message to us clearly.  When listening to first understand what the other person is saying, we digest the words in our thought process.  Then feed back, in our own words, what we think we understood.  This gives the generator of the idea the opportunity to correct our understanding.

When listening to be understood we are generating information for a listener who we want to understand our words.  We can see if the listener is getting our message by looking at facial expressions, body language, and checking understanding by the listener.  This is especially effective when teaching a class, working with a subordinate, or delivering a presentation.  In one such case I was delivering a lecture to a class of college business students.  I was using the word networking as in interaction with people.  Five minutes into the lecture I noticed blank stares on the faces of most of the students.  This class was hearing the word networking as in computer networks.  With both listening to understand and listening to be understood, asking questions can help us when receiving/delivering words.

Most would agree that in the case of the distribution associate, I might have been a little hard on myself.   I pride myself in being an open minded, outside the box thinker.  In this case, I felt like I was getting stuck.  Some might correctly say that the person in advertising specialties should make it clear when marketing their company that they can also serve as a distribution source.  I, in turn, could have asked myself an outside the box question such as, “Is there another solution besides conventional distribution?”  In either case the message is to be an active listener, putting our best offers received/delivered out in the universe, so that “How can I help you?” can always be answered.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

Mainly, I have worked with Vice Presidents of banks.  They range from branch managers to those whose main responsibility is to bring new business to the bank.

For any business it is first most important to understand where the business comes from, second, what type of business you are looking for, and third, who is your target market.

Regarding where the business comes from for the purpose of this article I will assume that this is a given.  Understanding the title of this article Double Your Goals in the Banking Industry makes it clear that you (who are already reading this article) are already experienced in banking.  Should you want to gain greater clarity as to where the business comes from go to www.integritysd.com.

The type of business you are looking for can be a stumbling block for even the most experienced banker, especially when considering doubling goals.  The first place to start is obvious, your existing clients.  Looking at their industries, their families, their demographics, and incomes are all keys.  Discovering ways to gain greater market share can always be considered.  Two areas that are often over looked are diversification into other related markets and up selling of new products.

Identifying your target market is frequently seen as a known.  I challenge the banker who wants to double their business to describe in detail their best customer.  I often discover that in this step, when making the effort to increase business, people in business will settle for anyone who can write a check.  When considering doubling your business, it is important to go after your pure target market.  In general terms, I will use an example from real estate.  It takes the same amount of paper work and time to sell a $250,000 condominium as it does to sell a $2,500,000 home.  The difference in profit is approximately ten times.

All of the above are worthless until the banker employs a system to evaluate success.  I encourage my clients to create tools that will allow them to track where the business comes from,  record what types of businesses they are getting, and then evaluate that they are attracting their pure target market.   When a banker does this with a daily, weekly, and monthly system, they will gather data.  They will then have information that will describe in every instance where the business comes from.

When the banker completely knows where the business is coming from, the answer to the questions, “How to double business?” is clear.  The banker needs to double intentional activity to turn a prospect into a client.  When you know where the best business comes from (your pure target market,) and can double the activity it takes to get what you already are getting, you will double your income.

If you are already maxed out on your time investment, you may have to reevaluate where you are investing your time.  As in the real estate example, it will always help to go after prospects that have more money.  I frequently see this with money managers who have been in the business for five years and longer.  When they first get into the business, they are very altruistic.  They want to “help” everybody.  This is great until they realize that the time invested with someone who can invest $1,000 per month to start is nice, but someone with $500,000 of liquid assets takes a similar amount of time with a much greater return.  Therefore, going after wealthier prospects will allow the banker to double their income sooner than later.

Fallout from all this activity can come down to a simple discovery.  Bankers often invest time in activities with a long history of little or no return on the time invested.  When asked, “Why they invested time in activities like sponsoring golf tournaments?” the answer is always, “exposure.”  Ask the naked gentleman wearing a raincoat in Time Square, New York.  Exposure can get you arrested.  Large banks can afford to use advertising exposure.  Vice presidents of small banks responsible for bringing in new business need to hit the pavement with a plan that will give them a proven return on their time investment.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

 Below are seven simple tips to bring more business to the tax professional’s door.

1. Be clear on what you say to attract prospects.
2. Stay in contact with your referral resources.
3. Hangout where your target market hangs out.
4. Develop value-added resources (speaking, articles, and books.)
5. Put a proactive approach onto passive marketing tools.
6. Find a public way to promote your business (shows, expositions, and industry events.)
7. Develop a support system to track your progress.

1. Being clear in your message is important. The easiest way to define this is to determine what your target market wants and needs. Be specific. Look at the concepts and results that they are looking for, rather than your products or services. A house is a great thing to sell, but living in a home to raise a family is the outcome desired. It is true that we buy on emotion. Emotion is based on outcomes, ’the feel, the smell’ the response of our senses.  Find those items that stimulate the senses. Then, be consistent. Use them again and again.  For the tax professional, security sells.

2. Develop a plan of communication with your referral resources every 30 days. How about a monthly meeting with 10 to 12 of your best referral resources? Meet for coffee.  Do you send thank you cards, birthday cards and anniversary cards? When was the last time you called just to say, “Hi?”  You will be amazed at the results. Try it!  Consistent touches will deliver huge rewards.

3. Understanding who your target market is and where they hang out can be a significant step to success. If you ever say, “everyone can use my product or service” out loud, STOP!  As a tax professional you will find your target market hanging out where they are most comfortable.  They hang out with their peer group.  By example, if your target market is real estate professionals, go where they are.  One tax professional client found that getting in front of new real estate professionals could be accomplished by speaking to them at the Small Business Development Center.

4. Value-added resources keep on giving. These resources allow you to invest your time, energy, and creativity once. Books and articles are especially so. What about creating a CD or DVD. Out of your cost range or maybe you think you lack the talent? Nonsense. There are many self-help books in all these areas. Speak to a respected coach or consultant.  They can tell you how to get started. Ask enough people and you will find that they know someone who can show you how to develop a speaking presentation (Toastmasters, www.toastmasters.org), write a book, or compose a monthly article.

5. We have been taught to use passive marketing as a ‘wait and see approach’ to the sales process. This is acceptable if you have the time to wait. A proactive approach drives your potential clients to your passive marketing. Our websites are positioned by key words to get website browsers to look us up, and maybe even do some business. One way to get buyers to our website as a proactive approach is to create a value added resource (see #4 above), attaching that to your website. When meeting someone for the first time, who has an interest in your product or service, direct them to your website for a ‘complimentary’ article. While on your website, they can view the services you offer as well as your article. Now you will have a reason to follow-up with this new acquaintance. Check if they have any questions about the article, your website, and your service. This is the start of building relationships.

6. Look for industry specific events where your target markets hang out. Rent booth space. Do a display of your product or service. Create an offer for the show that relates directly to your business. Be sure the offer mainly uses your time, energy, and creativity. Use as little financial reward as possible to attract new contacts. Create prizes that relate directly to your business. Have follow-up scripts created prior to the show congratulating the prospect on their winning. Schedule your follow-up calls prior to the show’s beginning.  Some of the big tax companies are doing this exactly.  They offer clients who have used tax professionals in the past a reward for bringing in their last tax return to find them additional savings.

7. A colleague of mine always says, “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth measuring.”  Are you writing down what you are doing? Is each activity creating the end result you want? What is your return on investment? Is your biggest investment the out-of-pocket dollars for the activity/event or is your greatest investment your time/energy/creativity value? Evaluate daily your time/energy/creativity value. Look at your total investment of time/energy/creativity every 30 days.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439

Let’s first focus on the word helping because I believe this all starts with each member doing their part rather than waiting for the group.  I know of a young man who came to a referral group around 1995.  He understood that “input equals output.”  At the time, the group he joined had only six members.  He invited other business professionals to join the group.  In six months there were 16 members.  After two years there were nearly 40 members.  It is up to each member to do all that is necessary to make the group active.  That includes looking for referrals for other members, recruiting new members to participate, and using member business as your resources.  These activities create action.

The way to get new members is rather simple.  Most of these groups are breakfast or lunch meetings.  Remembering that “Telling isn’t selling,” we need to have another way to have people realize the value of joining your referral group.  Here is a simple script that works 90% of the time:  “I meet once a week for breakfast with a group of business professionals.  We spend our breakfast time discussing how we can help each other get more business.  I think you would be a good fit.  Can I buy you breakfast next week?”  Here we are asking a business professional to meet other business professionals for breakfast.  Their only investment is time.  For every four guests who visit your referral group, one will join.

When it comes to age it has been said, “Everything happens after 45.”  I think in the case of age it depends on how old you are at the time!  In the case of active referral groups, “Everything happens after 20.”  When a referral group has 20 or more members it is active.  More important is that things start to happen.  More referrals are exchanged.  Excitement is created.  As you track the dollars that are brought through the club on a weekly basis, you will see the value of each meeting.  Your guests will see that as well.  Successful/active referral groups track and report weekly the dollar value of referrals.

When it comes to active referral groups, bigger is better.  For those who have a unique offering, bigger is best!  Every referral group has a realtor, mortgage broker, insurance professional(s), and an investment advisor.  Other common positions held are business attorney, handyman, and chiropractor.  When you are a landscape architect, interior designer, or optometrist, you have a greater likelihood of being able to pick a club that will have a large population of referral partners.  Do your research to find the largest club that has your business category open.  Join that club.

It is important to identify your referral partners and be able to ask the tough questions.  When visiting a club, identify who are your referral partners.  As a realtor joins a club where there is an existing mortgage broker, the realtor wants to know if the mortgage broker will refer business.  Before joining the club be certain that the mortgage broker will refer business to you.  As you have multiple referral partners, ask questions and receive acceptable replies from each.  Acceptable to you might be that it is okay if a potential referral partner tells you they already have someone in your category that they currently refer all their business.  You may ask that referral prospect to use you as an alternate when two bids are required.

It is often said that, “The referral business is a numbers game.”  When we put our name out there good things will come to us.  Statistically, that is true.  What we are doing here is shortening the odds so that you can get business sooner than later.

Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA.  He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals.  More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.

Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability.  Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.

His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.

Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses.  He is a networking dynamo.  Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.

Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.

Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals?  If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information, call (888) 584-7073.  You can contact Gerry by mail at 2103 Wedgewood Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056.  Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com.  For more information, go to www.integritysd.com