EDUCATION – All It Takes Is One

I think we can all agree that the reason we are here is to get referrals for our business. The more the merrier. But while you are working to get lots of referrals, I’d like you to keep in mind the power of one referral. Especially the “right” kind of referral for you.

To illustrate my point, I’d like to tell you about a referral I received from Slidell Magazine  May 6th of 2013. I hadn’t been in this group for many months at that time. I had gotten a few referrals up to that point, but I hadn’t yet landed any big restaurant clients.

Something I heard that day in the Education Moment was destined to change my life and put me on a path to where I am today. I heard “SPECIFIC IS TERRIFIC” for the first time. That’s the idea that the more specific your referral request is, the better results you’ll get.

I really tried to ask myself, “What specific customer do I want, besides just to work with restaurants?” And the answer that popped into my head was “Southside Cafe.” I had never considered being bold enough to ask for help landing a dream client. So when it was my turn for my 60 second presentation, I went into my normal sales pitch about restaurant marketing. At the end I asked for help getting a meeting with the owners of Southside Cafe.

Kendra immediately said that she knew the owners, and would give me a referral.

Needless to say, I got that meeting with Southside Cafe, and I landed one of my best and longest recurring customers.

I designed their menus, took their food pics and began a marketing relationship that has gained me in excess of $20,000 in the years since. Southside benefited too, seeing how their food sales increased by $100,000 in the first year alone, and has steadily increased to over $700,000 a year since then.

But this story, as great as it is, doesn’t end there. The Southside menu I created led to more local restaurant work. I can’t even begin to calculate how many customers, and how many services I’ve sold over the years because of the Southside projects I’ve done, but I can think of at least (3) customers that I specifally owe to the work I did at Southside, and ultimately to the referral I received from Slidell Magazine.

The owner of Butter Krisp Diner in Covington was friends with Dan, the owner of Southside, and asked him who did his new menus. Dan gave him my number, and I ended up selling them a new menu and food photos. Since then, that work has been worth at least $3,000.

The Sysco salesmen who serviced Southside loved the work I did, so he referred me to one of his new clients, also on the West side of the parish, in Mandeville.

I ended up getting a meeting with Lago’s Mexican in Mandeville. Based on the sample menus I showed them from Southside and Butter Krisp, they signed with me to do their menus, food photos,, and eventually I designed their website, and began manage their social media marketing. I estimate I’ve earned almost $12,000 with Lago since then.

I met with Frank the owner of Creole Tomato in Mandeville, in June of 2017, and he was really blown away with the menus for Southside, Butter Krisp & Lago’s. Since Lago’s was right down the street from Creole Tomato, the owner Frank (unbeknownst to me), calling the owner at Lago’s and got a glowing testimonial about the work I was doing for them. Frank signed up with me the next day for menus, food photos, a new website and full service social media. Again, I estimate that I’ve earned almost $10,000 in the years since.

These (4) customers have represented about $50,000 in sales to my company. All because of ONE referral.

I often wonder what would have happened if I decided to skip that meeting? I wouldn’t have heard “SPECIFIC IS TERRIFIC”. I wouldn’t have asked for help landing a dream client.

So this week, I want you think about the specific person, company, or industry you help in meeting or building a relationship.

Getting many referrals is a great thing, but don’t miss out on the amazing opportunities that one referral can bring you. The only way we will know how to identify your “right” referral, is to tell us.