1. Join BNI – http://www.bni.com/
  2. Make sure your sphere of influence – your friends and family – knows what you do. Tell them you rely on referrals. When you get referrals, send a handwritten card immediately – regardless of the quality or qualification of the referral. You want to reward the action of the referrer, not immediately judge the person they referred. Once you have developed them into a reliable referral source, you can begin to help them find you better quality referrals. Note: The handwritten card is really important – because the more high tech our world get, the more special an old-school handwritten personal card becomes. Furthermore, the more high tech our world gets, the less time most people spend connecting with other humans – especially americans. We live in caves, drive a cave to another cave, stay insulated by voicemail, email, text messages… cards matter.
  3. Advanced tip (don’t start with this, cut your teeth on “one-offs” first: Create deals with Business Opportunity Providers or Master Franchisors, who every week help people start a new business. One good referral source can easily refer you 2-5 deals a month, which means many thousands of dollars a year from a single source in your pocket.
  4. Advanced Tip #2: “Fish Upstream” by creating relationships with local banks (i.e. SBA Small Business Bankers)

Tracking Your Leads

To track your leads, just add "?agent=YOURCRMLOGIN" to the end of any URL. This is most often your first initial, last name - anyone who registers through that URL will automatically show up in your CRM pipeline. Example: http://SwiftWebDesigner.com/free/?agent=rvetruba