Thanks for reading and listening to the program.  I received many questions about last week’s topic on marketing through networking. The questions centered on how to structure what to do next. So let’s pause and provide some details.

I’ll be talking about these specific ways to integrate networking into your marketing plan this week on the John Adam Show, Friday at 9:00am, KFNN 1510 in Phoenix, or sign-up for the podcast at www.thejohnadamshow.com

Last week I suggested that small businesses start marketing with the people they know, with this plan:

1. Make a list
2. Start outreaching to them by phone or in person – one per day
3. Inquire how you can help them, and discuss how they can help you

Sounds simple, right? So who do you call first?

Try the people that know you very well. After you make your list, add another column that designates how close the person is to you and how well they know you. I modified a methodology that I learned from Victoria Trafton, Owner of the Arizona Referral Institute, to group everyone I know this way, from closest to furthest:

1. SRP – Strong Referral Partner: These are people who have a deep knowledge about your business and a propensity to convince others to meet with and consider using your product or services. This latter point is important - - - they need to be quite forceful to cut through the clutter. For me this is 1 out of 1000 (0.1%) or 15 out of 15,000 acquaintances.

2. RP – Referral Partner: These are people who know you and your business quite well and could be a good referral partner considering that they touch the people who should be your customers. But because people are busy, and it’s hard to get more than a small fraction of folks to think about YOU, this group will be less efficient than SRP’s. For me this is 1 out of 100 (1%) or 150 out of 15,000 acquaintances.

3. C – Credibility Established: These are people you have worked with, good customers, and those you have helped - - - and so you and your business are highly credible to them. They trust you based on direct, extended experience. This is not one meeting folks – they REALLY know you. They have interest in you (TCI: trust and credibility before interest!). For me this is approximately 1 out of 20 people in my database (5%), and 750 out of 15,000.

4. V – Visibility Established: These are people you have in your database that probably know you exist. They’re in your database because you like them or because they could help you someday. They may only know your name and may not even know where they know you from. They definitely don’t have enough experience to call you ‘credible’ or to refer you. For me this is over 90% of the people in my database!!! Don’t fret - - - there’s only so much you can do ;-)

5. T – Targets: These are people who don’t know you yet, but from the Business Journal or somewhere you’ve decided that you want to meet them someday. They wouldn’t know you today from Adam. For me this is about 1% of my total list (150 out of 15,000). You should be reading the Journal and writing down these folks. Attend one of Paul Sanders' courses through the Business Journal to learn more www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/.

Start with your #1 through 3’s, and build the #1’s. When you outreach, keep the discussion about the other person until the conversation comes back to you. My philosophy is that it’s your responsibility to find a way to help them first, and then, turn-about is fair play, hopefully you’ll get them thinking about YOU.

Have you ever done someone a favor or even two or three, and you get NOTHING back? Hey it happens. Maybe they are in a bad stretch. Use your best judgment and decide whether to bump them down (or up) your list. There are only so many hours in a day, so you should spend them on folks where you have great mutual synergy.

Keep updating your list once a month or quarter - - - bumping folks up and down the list based on referrals and the level of credibility both ways.

Find new people in local networking groups where you peeps hang out. Is your business looking for small business owners? Check out Enterprise Network, ASBA or AZIGG. Looking for tech companies? Try the Arizona Technology Council. Need larger company executives? Try the Arizona Chamber.

Automate your touch point to people you know through a regular e-mail newsletter. Start your own online groups on Linkedin, Twitter or Ning where you can reach out to your peeps and they can keep in touch with you.

We’ll have more in the coming weeks about how social media is a good thing for your small business.

Share the types of people and companies you're trying to reach with your #1's and #2's. Have them review your web site and marketing materials with these targets in mind. They're in the circle and so you should get some honest feedback.

Touching folks you know is the most efficient and quickest method to grow.

All the best, Doug

Doug Bruhnke
www.growthnation.com  
Scottsdale, AZ USA