Plant Those Seeds!

By Kathy and Louis Emond, New England Bureau Chiefs
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Every once in a while, you get rewarded for your hard work and perseverance, and that gives you the energy to go forward with a renewed spirit. That has happened to us. Between November 1st and January 14th, we received 21 referrals. We don’t know about you, but that is a HUGE number of referrals for us. While we have certainly received referrals over the years we’ve been in business, we have NEVER gotten 21 in any 6 week period. Truly, it felt like every day we received.

We took a closer look at those referrals to see if there was any common denominator. We would love to repeat that 6 week period. So, we asked ourselves: how do we know the person making the referral? We network all the time. Was one group the source of the referral? As it turned out, there was really little commonality.

These referrals were from:

  • Three members of the Air Force Association. with which Louis has been active for years. gave us four
  • Speaking engagements we have had in different cities in New Hampshire led to two
  • A coach colleague referred us to a state agency for which she works
  • A Google search (that was a first and we thank our web people for that SEO update) led to another
  • Our contact with the NH Procurement Technical Assistance Center, which works with companies to find government contracts has led to five (if you are interested in working with either the State or Federal Government, check out PTAC in your state)
  • Our local Chamber has led to three prospects
  • Our personal network (family and friends) led to three referrals
  • One as a result of a donation we made to a fund raiser at a local college, and
  • One from a client.

Suddenly, contacts from nine different networking groups became aware of a need, and were comfortable approaching their contact, and were anxious to make the introductions. What’s the lesson learned? We need to remember:

  1. To plant those seeds everywhere we go; and nurture them whenever we can. Give and give and give however we can.
  2. Do not count on the seed sprouting in a week or two. Some of those referrals came from people we had met only a month or two earlier, but most came from people we have known for years.
  3. Our contacts may love us, and want to refer us, but they have to see a need in their contacts before they can do that. Be patient! Be VERY patient!

 

Contact Kathy and Louis or Post a Comment via TNNW Blog.
 

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