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Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Plug-In
Profit Site
When you need an auto mechanic or an air
conditioning repairman, where do you turn for help? Sure, some people
turn to the yellow pages. But most will turn to friends and family and
ask if they know of anyone who can do the work.
The best place for your business to be
positioned is to be the business on the tips of the tongues of the
people asked to make the referral.
THE 300 RULE
Preachers, funeral directors and people in a few
other professions have learned "the 300 rule" through their own
personal experience.
"The 300 rule" states that the average person
knows 300 people on a friendly level. Wedding planners tend to make
reservations for 300 guests. Funeral directors tend to need to make
room for 300 mourners. You get the idea.
DOODLING WITH CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE
Imagine your circle of friends, family and
acquaintances, a.k.a. your circle of influence. Now, draw your circle
of influence as a circle on a blank piece of paper.
Next, contemplate the people in your parents`
circle of influence. Some people who know your parents also know you.
Therefore, you will share some influence with the people your folks
know. Now draw your parents` circle of influence on your piece of
paper.
Your circle and your parents` circle will
intersect in one area, although the larger majority of the two circles
will not intersect. If you are like most people, the two circles on
your page at this point looks very similar to the MasterCard logo.
Now imagine drawing a page full of intersecting
circles, each circle representing the circle of influence of the people
who are within your own circle of influence. Imagine trying to
encapsulate an accurate rendering of where your circle and the circle
of your friends will actually intersect.
Some circles will share a large area of space,
while others will barely cover one another.
Actually, you can only imagine at this point
what your piece of paper will look like. The actual layout of the
circles imagined in this analogy is simply too overwhelming for the
mind to comprehend.
THE BIG PICTURE
300 multiplied by 300 equals 90,000. By using
the analogy of doodles in the previous section, the average person can
actually network with up to 90,000 people! Even factoring in the
overlap, one can still probably network with 50,000 people through
their own circle of influence!
Simply amazing, isn`t it?
HERE IS THE SECRET TO YOUR SUCCESS
There are 300 people on this planet whom you
have a reasonable amount of influence. Take advantage of this fact.
Make darn sure that every person within your own circle of influence
KNOWS that you are in business for yourself, and make sure they
understand what your business offers.
When your friend is asked to make a referral,
they will recommend you.
PASSIVE VERSUS ACTIVE REFERRAL NETWORKING
When people ask your friends for a referral and
your friend mentions your business, that is passive referral
networking.
Active referral networking is when you can get
your friends go directly to their friends and say "Hey, I have a friend
who just started a business. If you are in need of what he offers or
you know someone who will need his services, would you please give my
friend a call or make the referral to his business?"
If you can get even a portion of the people in
your own circle of influence to actively refer your business, then you
have built the foundation to build an advertising campaign even more
effective than the average local television advertising campaign.
Think about that for a moment.
Most people only dream of reaching 50,000
potential customers with their television advertising dollars. You now
have the knowledge to reach 50,000 people without spending a single
penny.
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