Specialists Win More Referrals

By Ivan Misner of Entrepreneur.com



You may perform a variety of services or offer a range of products, but if you want a referral, your description of what you do should be detailed and focused on a single aspect of your business.

Your referral sources will find it much easier to get you an appointment with a prospect if your sales message addresses the prospect's specific needs. You're an office-furniture wholesaler? No help. You specialize in custom-designed, made-to-order desks, shelves and file cabinets in large lots? Bingo. You've snagged an appointment.

It seems counterintuitive, but in reality the more specific your description, the more likely you will receive referrals. People tend to say they do everything because they want to throw as broad a net as possible, catching everyone.

The problem is, a really broad net has big holes in it. When you say, "I'm a full-service printer; I do everything," that doesn't mean anything to your prospects, or to those who refer you to them. What they're thinking is, I don't need a full-service job. All I need is a particular kind of print job.

If I've come down with a serious illness, it doesn't help me much to know that there are three hospitals in town. What I really want to know is which hospital employs the specialist who can cure me.

When you tell a referral partner you're a full-service provider, you ask her to mentally sort out all the people she knows and cross tabulate what they do against all the things you do. That doesn't work; people aren't computers. A referral partner needs to know the full range of your products or services -- eventually. She needs to know, immediately and with some precision, the specific needs you can fill, because that's what the customer focuses on in any given instance.