Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Are you a B2B business owner or leader who attends conferences and networking events, but struggles to translate those opportunities into meaningful connections and qualified referrals? Do you wish you could genuinely expand your professional network without feeling transactional or overwhelmed?
Welcome to Mastering Conference Networking, hosted by Catherine Brown, founder of the Good Humans Growth Network. Catherine, an accomplished entrepreneur, community facilitator, and author of How Good Humans Sell™, is here to transform the way you approach in-person events.
Move beyond collecting business cards and discover how to truly engage, create reciprocal value, and make your time at any business event incredibly productive. If you're ready to master the art of strategic networking and elevate your business development through genuine human connection, this podcast is for you.
MCN_Ep05
===
[00:00:00]
Catherine Brown: Welcome back to Master Conference Networking. I'm Catherine Brown, and this episode will be a little bit different than some of our others. You are going to hear members of the Good Humans Growth Network community as they share how referrals have impacted their business. You'll also hear our podcast producer Bryan, as he [00:01:00] conducts these interviews.
So thank you, Bryan. Stick around for some great tips on the difference between referrals and introductions as I'll do a little bit of teaching at the end. Talk to you soon.
Bryan Steele: All right. Got a guest here today with me.
Alyssa McGinn: Yeah. My name is Alyssa McGinn, and I'm a managing partner at Info Fluency.
Bryan Steele: So, Alyssa, tell me a favorite referral story, either one you've received or one you've given to somebody else.
Alyssa McGinn: So one that I received is from someone who's here with us at the conference Lawrence Hackney.
He is really good at making referrals and he went through the whole process with me, the whole sales process. He introduced me to the client, came onto the first call with the client 'cause he was actively working with them. Joined. Every call and you know, we work together with them for a few months and so that stands out to me because not everyone, a lot of people send an email and then are just, you know, you guys take it from [00:02:00] here, good luck.
Talk to you. Yeah, right. But he really went the extra mile.
Bryan Steele: Thank you so much for joining me. You're welcome.
Alyssa McGinn: Thank you.
Bryan Steele: I'm here with another interview with Sasha. So tell me about a little bit about yourself and your business.
Sasha Crabtrey: Awesome. Well, thanks for having me. I am Sasha Crabtrey with remote COO, and we help business owners and entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders to focus on the work that they love so that we handle all of their operations, admin and a little bit of marketing. So we can help them build kind of a strong foundation.
I think giving referrals really just helps you grow your network and, you know, by giving, you also receive and I have received, you know, several phone calls about, wanting to know about our services or refer someone to us and really kind of hearing about it.
I've been able to refer them to other people who might be a greater fit for what their challenges and needs are. And I think that's kind of, you know, my greatest blessing is to be able to. [00:03:00] Refer out someone or give business to someone else when I know that that's not a good fit for me, instead of trying to make something work for my business, I know that there's others who are more skilled in that particular area.
Bryan Steele: Do you get to see that and watch that over time, and how that relationship then prospers as a result of the referral you've given?
Sasha Crabtrey: Yes, absolutely. Because they will follow back up with me because they're in my network. It's not just kind of a, a take for them. It's like, oh my gosh, this led to this.
Thank you so much for thinking of me. Mm-hmm. Here's how that's making, you know, this is exactly what I needed or how it's making my business flourish. And for me, I'm like, check, check the box. Like, that's exactly what I wanted to happen. And I was glad that it was a really good fit for them.
Bryan Steele: Thank you so much for joining me.
Sasha Crabtrey: Thank you.
Sarah Sears: My name is Sarah Sears and I I have a company called S Design Incorporated. And I work with companies going through major transitions like mergers and acquisition or changes in leadership to help them get alignment and clarity around their brand and their culture, and help communicate that [00:04:00] out to their internal audiences and external audiences.
Bryan Steele: And tell me a favorite referral story that you have.
Sarah Sears: I've known Catherine for 20 years. And so I had been working with a guy named Justin McCollough. And it is just been super transformational and he's such a good human that I just thought, you have to know Catherine.
I introduced him to Catherine. I told him about the Good Humans Growth Network. I felt like he's a perfect fit, and now they're doing some big things together and it's really exciting to see. And so that just makes my heart feel really good. Getting, people in the same room that I know are going to are.
Just really be able to change each other's lives for the better and, and support each other. So it's, it's pretty fun. And you get to watch that all happen, right? Yeah. You get to watch it. Yeah. And I love it. And I'm, you know, like Catherine, I think I'm just kind of a super connector. Like when I'm listening to people, I'm always thinking, oh, you need to know this person.
It's just part of who I am. And I didn't really know that was such a superpower until I start to see things. Coming to fruition and that, that makes me [00:05:00] feel really good. So.
Bryan Steele: Thank you so much.
Sarah Sears: Yeah, thank you.
Julia Rock: So I'm Julia Rock, the founder and CEO at Rock Career Development, and we are a leadership consulting firm that helps organizations to retain their best talent and get the best out of them, but through leadership transformation, so speaking, coaching, training and consulting services to close leadership.
Gaps.
Bryan Steele: Tell me a little referral story, like something you've given received something fun, and how referrals has impacted your business.
Julia Rock: Referrals have been just a godsend, honestly. I think of one story where I met someone on a podcast and we talked and connected. Then two years later, two years later, he referred me for a speaking engagement in New York to talk about my favorite topic, which was sports and sports leadership.
So it was absolutely amazing.
Bryan Steele: It's amazing how many years later just those connections can pay off. Right?
Julia Rock: Exactly. Not that, not that same day or year,
two years later. [00:06:00]
Meg Rentschler: Hi, I am Meg Rentschler. I am an executive coach in a focus on results coaching and also the host of the Star Coach podcast.
My favorite referral story is actually one that I received and I'm also grateful that I did.
I was doing a critical incident debrief, which is something I used to do when I was a therapist and I got a call from one of my instructors in my coach training school, and he said. I have a client in an organization that I'm working at in Wichita, Kansas Hawker Beachcraft. And this leader just isn't a good fit for me, but I think she's gonna be a fantastic fit for you.
And that opened the door to working four years with Hawker Beachcraft, with so many of their leaders. But what was really special about that is he said, I've never invited another coach to work with me. And it was just this great. Partnership for four years. Not just that organization, but that was sort of [00:07:00] the opening door to it was because, you know, we met through my coach training and, and I invested in myself and my growth and, and he believed in me.
Lynn Tickner: My name is Lynn Tickner. I own a creative branding and marketing agency, and we are called Ink and Key I-N-K-A-N-D-K-E-Y, Ink and key.com. We specialize in naming and branding. I have an 18 person naming team that would love to work with you if you need to name something, name your business, name, your product, all those things.
And I'm also a StoryBrand certified guy. Meaning I help people get their words right.
Bryan Steele: What's been a meaningful referral experience for you?
Lynn Tickner: Okay. Well, it's a story since I like stories. So, I met someone probably five years ago.
I live in Columbia, South Carolina. Met this person who was kind of like a big name in the city, very successful business owner. And I myself had never gotten involved [00:08:00] locally. So fast forward five years, I met this person again because I decided last summer I'm gonna get myself involved locally.
I opened up a new story loop for myself and decided I'm gonna go get involved locally and started showing up. To networking events. And I ran into this person that I'd met several years ago and reintroduced myself. We took pictures together. I posted pictures of myself and her on LinkedIn. And several weeks later she invited me to come and speak to her group.
She runs a group of women business owners. So she asked me to speak to her group along with someone else who I really respect the president of a big marketing firm in Columbia so we got to speak and it went really, really well. And at the same time, so this is kind of like one thing leads to the next, to the next, right?
So at the same time, because of my efforts to get involved locally, I decided, okay, I'm gonna join the Columbia Chamber, [00:09:00] which people said, oh, you shouldn't join the Columbia Chamber. It's too big. It's really too hard to get involved. But I was like, all right, let's just see. And spoke to one of the people that's in charge of networking there.
And after several emails, she got on a call with me and I just said, what? I always say, Hey you know, how can I help? I'm here to serve, you know, I can do some workshops that could be helpful to business owners. She basically said, we'll keep you in mind. And I met her again in January, asked again, Hey, you know, I'm happy to pre present a workshop.
Kind of got a, oh, our schedule is full. Mm-hmm. This is kind of a, there's a happy ending to the story. So then another week or two went by and she invited me to be on the committee that makes the decisions for the chamber events. I showed up to the committee and they said, we don't have a speaker for April.
And so I was like I can help. And someone that someone was there who [00:10:00] had heard me speak and gave a good word and said, Hey, this was great, this sounds, and I thought I had it. The next day I got an email that was like, Hey, we'll keep you in mind. So, oh, you know the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, right?
Mm-hmm. So I got disappointed and, but then literally yesterday, the day before I came to this conference, the Columbia Chamber person emailed me and. Asked would I speak with this other person that I spoke with before the president of another marketing company? And long story short, I am now speaking to the Columbia Chamber in April.
And so that's exciting meeting this one person five years ago, and remeeting has led to this big opportunity for me.
Bryan Steele: So let me ask the person who vouched for you Yeah. In that, in that meeting, were they at the previous presentation that you had done? Yes. So all of that over time, ups and downs.
Yeah. Now leading to this next opportunity, one thing at leads to the next. To the next.
Lynn Tickner: Next to the [00:11:00] next. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So I, I mean, I don't know. My whole piece of advice now that I'm giving to people, if anybody asks, is just show up to serve and meet as many people as you can and offer to be helpful.
I mean, that's what I learned from Catherine Brown, you know, the queen of referrals. So, yeah.
Bryan Steele: Great. Well thank you so much for joining me.
Lynn Tickner: My pleasure.
Bryan Steele: I'm here with our next guest. Would you introduce yourself? Tell us a bit.
Justin McCollough: Of course. Justin McCullough, rocket Leap, that's the name of my company. Been in business two years and it has been an incredible experience of serving others.
Bryan Steele: Awesome. Tell me your favorite referral story.
Justin McCollough: Oh, I've got a good one.
So this is, if you could think of referral in the concept of a chain of events. Okay. Okay, let's go. So I was talking to a young lady, turns out we go to church together. And she's telling me a little bit about what's going on in her business. And I said, Hey, you know, I do these workshops and I help folks who are a little stuck trying to figure out what they wanna do next.[00:12:00]
Why don't we just talk about it? And there was some hemming and like, I don't know. I don't know that I need that, you know? And. Pressed on it, pressed on it, and finally she said yes. So we got together, we did a three hour whiteboard session, and I love sticky notes and sharpie markers and all that, right?
And so, and I have a, a process, I call it the four core questions. And so everybody starts with the four core questions. So we break out the four core questions and really very quickly start to develop momentum and understanding where the blockers are, where the opportunity is. Well, let me just fast forward because she's.
Okay. Been a huge client. We've been working together for a year and a half, but through this one conversation, really in passing and doing one white boarding session, this one person has brought me three different clients. Oh, wow. And behind that, the people that have been referred from her have also referred.
So it's like this, what's the thing where it just branches out? Like a lightning bolt, like an exponential ripple or whatever. Right. And from. A solopreneur, [00:13:00] maybe one or two people on staff. And she's just an incredible person, and she's so generous. Tells everybody she knows about me. And then I've been fortunate enough that those people are such high quality people.
They also tell others about me. And so from her, I would say six, seven clients. Wow. It's pretty incredible. From, from one, one whiteboard session, one whiteboard session, one whiteboard session. Yep. That's exactly right. That's awesome. And I, and, and at that time I just said. Why don't we just do this and then you can see if we ought to work together.
Mm-hmm. Like it was, I just was like, we don't even need to figure out if you need to be a client, let me just try to help you, let's start there. And it's been incredible. And one of her very good friends who is, is now a client, she's been a huge success story who's a nurse practitioner. She went out of town, met somebody else that's a physical therapist, and she came back and she's like, Justin.
I met this great person. She's a PT in Jersey. She's a real Jersey girl. You're gonna love her. I told her she's gotta work with you. And I said, she doesn't have a choice. She has to call you by the end of the week. [00:14:00] So I don't know when she's gonna call you, but she's gonna call you. And she's been an excellent client too, so, oh, that's awesome.
I have some wonderful people who have advocated for me, but I'll tell you, people who think that referral marketing or referrals isn't a good way to build your business because you need to be doing marketing, marketing. Cold marketing doesn't work for me, but referrals, talking to people, being relational, being connected, like it's the best way to do it.
And so as a result though, I try to refer as many people as I can, because why not? Yeah. It's a better way.
Bryan Steele: Thank you so much.
Justin McCollough: Of course. Thank you.
Catherine Brown: So that was wonderful. I love to hear stories of how people make a difference in each other's business, and this is why we love referrals so much in the Good Humans Growth Network. Now, speaking of referrals, let's talk for a minute about the term referral and the term introduction. I want to start out this section by saying that I understand that there are different ways that people use these [00:15:00] terms, and I'm not even arguing that I'm right.
I'm arguing that you have to pick what you want to work toward and stick with the word that you pick. So what I mean by that is, in my world, an introduction is not as helpful as a referral. Now you might reverse these. That's fine. This is what I mean when I say an introduction. So you receive this message and the message goes something along the lines of person A, this is person B, I think you should connect. When I was talking with them, I thought of you have fun. Now, being a little bit facetious, but that is in general what the messages can sound like.
They're not that helpful. You don't really know why you're supposed to talk. And it's not teed up very well as compared to a great referral. What I would call a great qualified referral is when someone who is a trusted [00:16:00] advisor to a buyer, it could be the owner of a company, it could be a C-level executive, it could be a director level executive who, whoever is their buyer, that buyer listens to your front.
That buyer has a relationship with your friend and your friend who is your referral partner, has learned to qualify for you. So what do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about things like do they have a sense. Of urgency and timing. This is a real need that the client has shared and they have an opportunity as your friend to say, I know someone.
Just for that, may I introduce you to this person? Now I'm using the intro word introduce there. What I want you to notice is that we're talking about understanding that this is a sales lead and not a marketing lead. They also, if it's a well-qualified referral, will probably be able to understand if the person can afford you.[00:17:00]
And so there's a little bit of selling for you that's happening because that referral partner has learned how to listen for what is a good opportunity for you. So when they say, you should meet my friend Catherine. I think she can help you. What we've learned in the Good Humans Growth Network is the chances of closing that work with a qualified referral, like what I just described, is 50 to 90% likely to close.
50 to 90%. In fact, there's often not any competition because your referral friend is a trusted advisor of that buyer. They're going to them or expressing their problems so that they don't have to shop around. They're just saying, would you solve this for me? So there's a range of introductions that could be better or not better.
There's a range of more or less qualified referrals in general. I want you to understand those two categories. And understand that all of our goal is a more [00:18:00] qualified referral, which happens when you learn to listen for one another and you understand how to describe the people in your network. We'll have more about that in upcoming episodes.
Thanks so much for listening to this one. Would you please leave a review on the platform where you found me and we'll see you next time.