Most businesses in the $1M–$10M range chase new leads instead of building referral partnerships. Start with a clarity conversation so partners know exactly how to refer you, then demonstrate tangible value and fill gaps in their business to build reciprocity and momentum.
We really do think that the two main pieces of the referral puzzle is the person needs to be equipped to refer you and they need to be energized to do so. We call that a clarity conversation. Once you've had that clarity conversation of how you can work with this person as a referral partner, then they're on your runway. They haven't taken off into flight of a referral partner first. What do you need to do in the interim to get them to do so? And it really stems from how do I demonstrate value into them and their business so that reciprocity is built. Through that conversation, you learned a lot about them, their family, some gaps in their business. Maybe they need a new website, right? There's a gap that you could fill there and demonstrate value of how you want to see them win, even outside of the partnership that you guys are physically creating. Really just making sure those demonstrations of values are happening, those conversations are happening.
