5 Ways to Easily Obtain Referrals

Posted by Kenrick Chatman at 5th January, 2010

You have set up informational interviews with individuals in your professional and personal networks. Likewise, you plan to acquire valuable information, hidden job leads, and/or referrals to decision makers. However, some of your contacts may not provide you with referrals for several reasons. Maybe they do not know you well or do not know anyone to refer you to. Maybe they are uncomfortable with the idea of introducing you to their contacts. To increase your chances of acquiring referrals, you must earn your contacts trust and establish your credibility.

Below is a five step process you can use to accomplish this and generate referrals.

Demonstrate Courtesy and Establish Rapport

You must call or show up on time and complete your informational interviews within the agreed upon timeframe. Next you need to establish rapport via an ice breaker or by discussing a topic of similar interest. Your goal is to get your contacts talking. You will accomplish this when you are listening more than talking at this stage of your meetings.

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Exhibit Active Listening

You should take notes, ask clarifying questions, and resist the temptation to interrupt your contacts. You must show interest in what they are saying even if you do not agree with all of it. Most importantly, do not criticize or argue with your contacts.

Establish Your Credibility

When the meeting shifts to you, give each of your contacts one of your job search business cards. Also provide them with a copy of your job search marketing plan. This plan should include your desired profession, job title, industry, elevator pitch, targeted companies, and names of potential hiring managers. Also bring your portfolio (just in case you need it) which could include resumes, work samples, awards, publications, white papers, published articles, performance reviews, and so on.

Make sure when you present your elevator pitch, it’s simple enough that anyone off of the street can understand it. Also talk concisely and intelligently about your career up to this point, where you think you want to go, and how you created value for your previous employers.

Ask For Referrals

Ask your contacts for referrals and provide a few reasons why your requests should be granted. For your contacts that comply, ask them to endorse or introduce you before you contact your referrals. If they refuse, ask your contacts if you can use their names once you reach out to your referrals.

For your contacts who refused to provide you with referrals, ask them for the reasons why. If they provide you with this information, try to overcome their concerns (if feasible) and again ask for referrals. If they refuse, thank them for their time, ask to stay in touch, offer your assistance, and move on.

Nurture Your Network

Finally continue to strengthen the relationships in your network by offering your assistance whenever needed. Stay in touch with your contacts, provide any useful information, and invite them to lunch on occasions. Likewise, in the future your contacts may be more willing to assist you.

Remember the wisdom of a crowd is richer than the wisdom of a few. So actively participate in the free online community at JobRadioUSA.com and encourage fellow job seekers to do the same.

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Category : Career

Robyn Williams

I enjoyed this post. I thought the readers might appreciate this white paper which describes an interesting customer follow-up strategy which, if done correctly, can generate customer referrals. Below is a direct link to the white paper which bypasses the name and email collection web pages. This link should work until IT decides to change it.

http://www.frequentfollowups.com/whitepaper.aspx

- Robyn Williams
http://kenrickchatman.com/ Kenrick Chatman

Robyn,

I'm glad you liked the article. Also thanks for the white paper. I enjoyed it.

-Kenrick
http://kenrickchatman.com/how-to-quickly-develop-a-list-of-targeted-companies/ How to Quickly Develop a List of Targeted Companies | Career Catalyst

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