Marketing Tip of the Week: Setting up referral meetings

Last week, we talked about buying mailing lists to find the right people to contact. Now we will address what to say when you get their information.

A short email to start
I like to start with an introductory email and then follow up two days later with a phone call. My emails are brief and include a link to our website, as well as a little bit of information about our company. The main thing I am trying to do with these emails is to set up face time. I ask if they would be willing to have a short meeting or cup of coffee so that we can get to know each other's businesses.

In-person meeting
Once I do get the meeting, I try to keep it short and to the point. I also make it a point to get to know about their business and how we can help them. People are a lot nicer when requests go both ways rather than just one way. I ask them to first explain in detail what they do and then see how we can help them
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Only after that do I mention that we would also love to work on water features for them if the need arises. Most times nothing comes of the meetings right away, but they do pay off. We have one landscape designer who was very elusive. We could never pin her down. Finally, I sent my husband to meet her one day as she was weeding a garden. He helped her and they talked. That was three years ago. This year, she referred over $20,000 worth of business to us.

So keep trying. It may take three emails to get a response, or even ten. I usually expect to hear back from 1/10 of the people to whom we have reached out. It can be discouraging, but when it works, it really works.

Good luck!

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