Referral Partners + You

We had a well-attended meeting this morning, where we discussed potential rewards and pitfalls of referral partners.

The group included seasoned small business veterans, non-profits, some freelancing n00bs (newbies in internet speak), and more. Some of us have not found formal referral partners or leads groups all that helpful, while others used them to grow their business from scratch.

Here are our takeaways:

If you are in a service/consulting business, a formal leads group like BNI is probably not going to work well for you. There aren't going to be that many referrals for marketing strategy or security audits. At least in the Williamsburg area. However, if you're a bookkeeper or trade smith like a plumber, a leads group will most likely generate a ton of leads for you.

Informal referral partners, just folks who you like and like you back, are common. Having a formal arrangement might not be the right social move if you want to keep this relationship happy.

Sometimes you need to be creative when you think about who would be a good referral partner for you. Hairdressers are an under-tapped referral source for MANY industries; folks tell their hairdresser all sorts of things. Look to unusual and underserved communities; one Cobbler is making a name for herself in the RV/Vanlife sphere.

If you'd like to dig a bit deeper into this, there is an excellent checklist from Hubspot on this topic. And there’s an interesting take on training and helping referral partners from Unstoppable CEO.