Are you getting useful, worthwhile referrals? Or do you get referrals that rarely end up doing business with you—and worse, eat up a lot of your time too?
That scenario is incredibly common. A lot of people don't treat referrals as a strategic thing, because they've never encountered that before. But that's a shame.
A good referral can come to you almost ready to buy. A bad referral will waste your time and potentially damage your relationship with the person who referred them to you.
What can you do about it? It comes down to the people you choose to keep in your referral network. These should be people who understand your business, know who you are, know what your ideal client is like, and are connected to people who are within your target market.
Sound like a tall order? It is. You don't want referrals coming from just anyone. In fact, it's important to sort between people who might be referral partners—and people you will choose to keep within your referral network.
There are a few ways you can go about that. Feel free to choose the one that makes the most sense for you and your industry, or try a combination. The point is to find referral partners who are able to send truly qualified prospects your way, not just warm bodies.
Be blatantly honest
Be blunt. Tell potential referral partners that you're choosy about who you accept referrals from, and that referrals have to fit certain criteria. If someone isn't knowledgeable enough about your industry, or isn't connected with you enough to be able to send qualified referrals, they don't make the cut. That's okay.
Connect on social networks
If you've met someone at a networking event, connect with them on LinkedIn or Facebook to see if they would be a good fit for you as a referral partner. You can scan through their contacts to see if they include people in your target market (or existing clients you enjoy working with!) to see if they might be a good fit. Take a look at their industry experience. Looking at those elements can help you weed out people who would not be helpful to have in your referral network.
Several points of contact
Found someone who would be a great referral partner? Stay on their mind. Don't be annoying or promotional, but find ways to connect with them every few weeks for the first couple of months after you've met them. Introduce them to someone they should know. Send them a thank you card for meeting with you. Set up a time to meet for lunch to see how they're doing and how their business is going.
It's not easy to build a strong referral network. But it's also not easy to spend a lot of time chasing leads that someone recommended to you without understanding your business, is it?

Spend some time cultivating your referral network, and consider it an investment of your time. It will help you draw in more well-qualified leads in the future.
