Latest / What is Business Development? / Episode 65: BD Book...How To Implement a Referral Management System with Andrew Z. Brown
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Welcome to the Business Development podcast brought to you by
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Global Business Development Association, delivering the strategies and tactics
- 0:11Speaker 1: to boost your career and corporate growth.
- 0:22Speaker 2: Hello BD pros, and welcome to the Global Business Development
- 0:26Speaker 2: Association podcast called What is Business Development? You know, referrals
- 0:35Speaker 2: have the highest conversion rate out of any business development tactics,
- 0:40Speaker 2: and sometimes it could be higher than fifty percent conversion
- 0:45Speaker 2: rate on referrals, especially those high quality referrals. And when
- 0:51Speaker 2: you compare that to other BD tactics like cold outbound,
- 0:55Speaker 2: cold calls, cold email, warm email, social selling, whatever you
- 1:00Speaker 2: want to call it, sometimes those only have less than
- 1:03Speaker 2: ten percent and sometimes even worse conversion rates. So that's
- 1:09Speaker 2: a real problem for some companies. But if you want
- 1:12Speaker 2: to have higher converting BD tactic like referrals, well this
- 1:18Speaker 2: is the episode for you. Today. We're talking with Andrew Z. Brown.
- 1:25Speaker 2: He is the father of business to business referral programs
- 1:30Speaker 2: and he is here to talk about the methodology that
- 1:34Speaker 2: he has in his book for building a referral management system.
- 1:41Speaker 2: His book is called Get Referred How to Increase Sales Velocity,
- 1:45Speaker 2: volume and Value. The book provides a reader friendly how
- 1:50Speaker 2: to guide that is instantly usable by anyone on the
- 1:53Speaker 2: hook for generating revenue. He draws on thirty years of
- 1:58Speaker 2: helping organizations accel rate sales in fast moving technology companies,
- 2:03Speaker 2: well established financial institutions, and conservative professional services firms across
- 2:10Speaker 2: North America. This is unlike other books. It's designed for
- 2:14Speaker 2: improving sales and ways that are truly meaningful to anyone
- 2:18Speaker 2: selling products or services, whether that's B to B or
- 2:21Speaker 2: B two GB business to government. The book is organized
- 2:25Speaker 2: clearly so that readers can immediately find value by focusing
- 2:29Speaker 2: on key takeaways and objectives. He gives you plenty of
- 2:33Speaker 2: use cases, tools and frameworks, and walks you through the
- 2:37Speaker 2: whole process on rolling out a referral program. I've read
- 2:41Speaker 2: this book. I gave it five stars like a lot
- 2:43Speaker 2: of other people on Amazon. Looks like thirty two ratings
- 2:49Speaker 2: to date, all five star ratings. That seems like. So
- 2:53Speaker 2: this is a wonderful book and I'm so excited. This
- 2:58Speaker 2: is the second time we will have Andrew Z. Brown
- 3:01Speaker 2: on our podcast. We'll have the previous podcast in the
- 3:05Speaker 2: show notes. Andrew, welcome back to the show.
- 3:09Speaker 3: Hey Tony, thanks very much for having me. As always
- 3:13Speaker 3: a real, real pleasure to catch up with you and
- 3:17Speaker 3: engage with the bad community.
- 3:20Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Andrew. And you know, tell us why
- 3:23Speaker 2: is it so important to have a referral system, a
- 3:27Speaker 2: referral management system like the one that you talk about
- 3:29Speaker 2: in your book.
- 3:30Speaker 3: Well, you've said you've talked about some of the business benefits,
- 3:35Speaker 3: about the higher conversion rates which are extraordinarily high with
- 3:41Speaker 3: the right referral source. The cost of acquisition for a
- 3:47Speaker 3: new business when there's a good referral is next to nothing.
- 3:53Speaker 3: And so you know those are the business benefits, and
- 3:57Speaker 3: so it gets you to think, well, why should it
- 4:00Speaker 3: twe actually put something into place, And it turns out
- 4:03Speaker 3: that the ROI on managed referral programs is forty percent
- 4:08Speaker 3: or greater. The other reasons, I think that business development
- 4:13Speaker 3: folks and organizations in journal we want to be able
- 4:17Speaker 3: to understand and a process where we can measure, we
- 4:23Speaker 3: can learn, we can adapt. Also, having a systematic process
- 4:29Speaker 3: places someone in the role of responsibility. And we know
- 4:33Speaker 3: that if you put someone, if we give responsibility to someone,
- 4:38Speaker 3: it's more likely to happen than if it's amorphous and
- 4:41Speaker 3: no one really owns up for it. And perhaps the
- 4:44Speaker 3: greatest reason is you avoid the negative consequences of not
- 4:51Speaker 3: systematically managing referrals, which includes things like loss opportunities, wasted
- 4:59Speaker 3: resources in time, irritating clients, disrespecting prospects, all of those
- 5:07Speaker 3: consequences of many organizations default way of managing referral programs,
- 5:15Speaker 3: which is kind of ad hoc, nonsystematic, not measured, not thoughtful,
- 5:20Speaker 3: not measured. So that's why you know you have the
- 5:24Speaker 3: positive business benefits and you want to avoid some of
- 5:29Speaker 3: those negative consequences. That's why it's so important to understand
- 5:34Speaker 3: how referrals in B to B, particularly big ticket products,
- 5:38Speaker 3: services offerings, actually happen. And that's why I having a
- 5:44Speaker 3: process in place that's built on the realities of good
- 5:48Speaker 3: referrals is so important.
- 5:50Speaker 2: Yeah, and folks, you can see if you're watching the
- 5:53Speaker 2: video a copy of Andrew's book on the screen. A
- 5:59Speaker 2: lot of what he just talked about is packed into
- 6:02Speaker 2: his book. And if you want to learn a little
- 6:05Speaker 2: bit more about the overview of his book in his
- 6:08Speaker 2: top three tactics. Again, that's in the first podcast we
- 6:12Speaker 2: recorded with Andrew, and again we'll have that link to
- 6:16Speaker 2: the podcast in the show notes, so you can go
- 6:18Speaker 2: back and listen to that show. All right. So in
- 6:22Speaker 2: this episode, Andrew, we plan to jump into the overall process,
- 6:28Speaker 2: that overarching process that you talk about in your book. Sure,
- 6:32Speaker 2: and I'm showing the process now on the screen. But
- 6:34Speaker 2: for those that are probably listening and not seeing a
- 6:38Speaker 2: screen or any kind of video version of this podcast,
- 6:41Speaker 2: can you walk people through the seventh step referral program?
- 6:48Speaker 3: Sure, and I'll do it rather quickly because it is involved.
- 6:52Speaker 3: We know that human behavior and organizations are messy things
- 6:58Speaker 3: to deal with, and that's why there is a program
- 7:02Speaker 3: to try to manage that in a systematic way. So actually,
- 7:07Speaker 3: can I ask you to put that back up? Awesome?
- 7:09Speaker 2: Thank you, and Andrew. If I may, just for the
- 7:12Speaker 2: listeners today, we will go through the first couple of
- 7:16Speaker 2: major steps. We'll have a three part series that goes
- 7:21Speaker 2: through the entire process. So this is a deep dive
- 7:25Speaker 2: into the first couple of steps in the managed referral program,
- 7:29Speaker 2: and we'll roll out podcasts in the future that do
- 7:33Speaker 2: deep dives into the other remaining steps until we go
- 7:37Speaker 2: all the way through the entire program. All right, So
- 7:39Speaker 2: let's continue forward with the deep dive, Andrew.
- 7:42Speaker 3: Okay, so a quicker review beside is there. The first
- 7:46Speaker 3: step is to select goals. And I know that sounds silly,
- 7:53Speaker 3: but the reality is that many organizations are very imprecise
- 8:01Speaker 3: when it comes to the kind of goals and targets
- 8:05Speaker 3: that they're looking for from referrals. Of you might think
- 8:10Speaker 3: it's just we want more. Well, when we actually come
- 8:14Speaker 3: to developing these precise actions that spark the actual generation
- 8:22Speaker 3: of those profitable referrals, we have to measure it against
- 8:27Speaker 3: the goals. Otherwise a program could be less successful than
- 8:32Speaker 3: you would like. And the whole point is to introduce
- 8:35Speaker 3: a discipline around referrals and referral behavior. And that means
- 8:41Speaker 3: spending time with the sales folks perhaps or the marketing perhaps,
- 8:44Speaker 3: with the executives, and identifying specific, specific goals. And those
- 8:50Speaker 3: goals generally fall into sort of a handful of buckets.
- 8:58Speaker 2: Now, let's let's jump through the other two through steps two, three, seven,
- 9:03Speaker 2: so people can just if they haven't read the overall program,
- 9:06Speaker 2: real quickly how it works. So you Step one is
- 9:09Speaker 2: you select your initial goals. Step two is get referral ready,
- 9:14Speaker 2: just real quickly. What does that mean?
- 9:16Speaker 3: So everyone believes that their organization, their process is deserving
- 9:21Speaker 3: of referrals. But the truth matter is that's not the case.
- 9:25Speaker 3: So organizations have to be able to quantify their reputation,
- 9:31Speaker 3: address capacity, and reinforce the value of referrals within the organization.
- 9:39Speaker 3: That's step two. That's getting referral.
- 9:41Speaker 2: Ready, okay, and then what about step three?
- 9:44Speaker 3: And step three is evaluating referral sources, you know, as
- 9:49Speaker 3: business development, sales, as marketing folks, we're a customed very
- 9:53Speaker 3: much to coming up with profiles, ideal client profiles, for example,
- 9:59Speaker 3: but we don't apply that same methodology that discipline towards
- 10:05Speaker 3: referral sources. And so that's the third step. Because a
- 10:09Speaker 3: good referral source can be awesome and can bring you
- 10:13Speaker 3: exactly what you want, and a bad referral source can
- 10:16Speaker 3: do some of those other things that I mentioned earlier.
- 10:19Speaker 3: They can misrepresent an organization, bring you crappy business, and
- 10:25Speaker 3: we feel obligated to take it anyway. So we want
- 10:29Speaker 3: to be able to evaluate referral sources in the systematic
- 10:33Speaker 3: and respectful and legitimate way so that we can have
- 10:39Speaker 3: an army of folks who know how to engage with
- 10:43Speaker 3: the kinds of organizations and people that we want them
- 10:47Speaker 3: to bring.
- 10:48Speaker 2: Us Okay, great, and then I'll just quickly go through
- 10:51Speaker 2: the remaining steps here because we will deep dive steps
- 10:55Speaker 2: one through three. But step four, once you have that
- 10:58Speaker 2: army of referral sources is identified, then step four is
- 11:02Speaker 2: you give them. You arm them with the referral sources.
- 11:06Speaker 2: So you know, that's what you want to arm them
- 11:09Speaker 2: with the content to so that they're well advised on
- 11:13Speaker 2: your solution, the value you bring to the table. Step
- 11:16Speaker 2: five is you activate the referral sources. This is where
- 11:20Speaker 2: you engage them and they start, you know, bringing in
- 11:24Speaker 2: referrals to you. Step six is measuring the results. And
- 11:28Speaker 2: then finally step seven is you hone the program, you
- 11:34Speaker 2: modify the program, you enhance the program based on the
- 11:37Speaker 2: data that you're receiving. Okay, well that was a great overview, Andrew.
- 11:42Speaker 2: Let's jump into these steps one through three. We can
- 11:45Speaker 2: talk through them in sequence, or we can talk through
- 11:47Speaker 2: them all at once, whatever you prefer. But again let's
- 11:51Speaker 2: talk through step one to three. And again step one
- 11:54Speaker 2: was select your initial goals. Step two is get referral ready,
- 11:59Speaker 2: and step three is evaluate your referral systems. So going
- 12:05Speaker 2: to step one, when you're talking about these initial goals.
- 12:08Speaker 2: You're essentially talking about KPIs key performance indicators for your
- 12:13Speaker 2: referral program. Right, what specifically, what type of KPIs should
- 12:19Speaker 2: somebody be thinking about?
- 12:20Speaker 3: Well before getting to the KPIs, because KPI is again
- 12:25Speaker 3: cascade down from goals.
- 12:27Speaker 2: Okay, So.
- 12:29Speaker 3: There are a number of different types of goals, particularly
- 12:32Speaker 3: when an organization has said, you know what, we want
- 12:34Speaker 3: to have this program in place, and so process goals
- 12:40Speaker 3: for example, like we don't want to spend more than
- 12:43Speaker 3: x amount of time engaging with referrals. Right, that would
- 12:49Speaker 3: be a process goal, and that's very very common because
- 12:54Speaker 3: if it's a brand new program, people are already out
- 12:57Speaker 3: going direct and they're meeting with people and so they've
- 13:01Speaker 3: they've got time allocated to other things, so they may
- 13:04Speaker 3: have very specific process goals. May also be skills development goals,
- 13:10Speaker 3: so uh and you again you can drill these down
- 13:14Speaker 3: to KPIs, like, you know what, we want to increase
- 13:18Speaker 3: the active listening skills of x number of our BD
- 13:24Speaker 3: folks or increase the account management skills of uh x
- 13:31Speaker 3: number of our b DE folks. So we get it
- 13:34Speaker 3: could be a skill development goal, it could be a risk.
- 13:37Speaker 2: What about just generating revenue isn't like the B goal, right,
- 13:42Speaker 2: I mean, we want to generate leads that generate revenue, right.
- 13:46Speaker 3: Exactly exactly, so that when when we start to unpack
- 13:51Speaker 3: the goals that are revenue goals, and I I always
- 13:55Speaker 3: recommend these precise as you can, you're going to go
- 13:59Speaker 3: through an iterative process us in setting those goals, because
- 14:01Speaker 3: after we actually finished step three, where we've evaluated and
- 14:06Speaker 3: chosen referral sources, we're going to take a look at
- 14:08Speaker 3: those folks and we're going to say, you know what,
- 14:11Speaker 3: maybe our goals are too ambitious, or maybe the goals
- 14:15Speaker 3: aren't right because of the opportunities that the referral sources
- 14:19Speaker 3: we believe we can help them bring us.
- 14:21Speaker 2: So should they just start with a generic goal and say, okay,
- 14:25Speaker 2: we want to generate revenue or should they say we
- 14:28Speaker 2: want to boost revenue by thirty percent?
- 14:30Speaker 3: I would say you would choose, let's say an offering.
- 14:34Speaker 3: We want to boost the offering of sorry, boost the
- 14:39Speaker 3: sales of this offering offering a by thirty percent in
- 14:44Speaker 3: this quarter.
- 14:45Speaker 2: Oh, so we're actually saying pick one specific product or
- 14:49Speaker 2: solution that's right, and okay, and are you keeping the
- 14:53Speaker 2: other products and solutions as constants, so they're not part
- 14:58Speaker 2: of the referral program, so that you can see what
- 15:00Speaker 2: the uplift and revenue is from this kind of test product,
- 15:04Speaker 2: this test referral program to kind of match it to
- 15:07Speaker 2: the growth rate of the others. Or is that why
- 15:09Speaker 2: you're doing it? Why why would you only pick one product?
- 15:12Speaker 3: We pick a product that we can match our referral
- 15:18Speaker 3: sources too, and we pick a specific offering that we
- 15:25Speaker 3: can actually measure success, and we pick a a focus
- 15:34Speaker 3: for our referral sources in order so that they can
- 15:38Speaker 3: be successful.
- 15:39Speaker 2: Got it? Okay? I like that. I like that. So
- 15:42Speaker 2: specificity is the key to success here.
- 15:44Speaker 3: And Tony, as I said, we may find we might say,
- 15:47Speaker 3: you know what, we want to increase this software analytical tool.
- 15:51Speaker 3: We want to increase the revenues this tool by thirty
- 15:56Speaker 3: percent this quarter in this geographic region for example, and
- 16:00Speaker 3: then that really starts to get when it comes to
- 16:04Speaker 3: choosing referral sources, we say, wait, wait a sec this
- 16:07Speaker 3: geographic region. Well, way, that becomes in a filter for
- 16:10Speaker 3: helping us to refine and define some of the referral
- 16:14Speaker 3: sources that we might be choosing.
- 16:16Speaker 2: From okay, and I like that. I like that yeah,
- 16:20Speaker 2: and so okay, So this is kind of an evolutionary thing.
- 16:23Speaker 2: It's good to start with some ambitious goals, right, that's fine,
- 16:27Speaker 2: but you will refine those ambitious goals once you start
- 16:31Speaker 2: to dig into the details of your program, and then
- 16:33Speaker 2: you'll really start to determine the viability of achieving those goals.
- 16:39Speaker 3: So I like that, all right, I'll jump onto I
- 16:43Speaker 3: just want to say, at the end of stage three again,
- 16:45Speaker 3: once we've chosen our army, and usually it's just a handful,
- 16:49Speaker 3: it's three, four or five people who we've chosen to
- 16:53Speaker 3: be a referral sources. Once we've chosen them, we revisit
- 16:57Speaker 3: the goals and we say, are those realistic? Because we
- 16:59Speaker 3: don't want to set up those referral sources for failure.
- 17:03Speaker 3: We want to set them up for success. So we
- 17:06Speaker 3: have to be prepared to modify those goals. And that's
- 17:11Speaker 3: why those other goals like risk reduction goals, organizational goals,
- 17:16Speaker 3: reputational goals, expense goals, how much are we going to
- 17:19Speaker 3: stand on a referral program? Right, those kinds of things
- 17:22Speaker 3: come into play once you start to actually go through
- 17:26Speaker 3: this process and they're all legitimate. And the more people
- 17:30Speaker 3: you've got talking about this thing, the more likely that
- 17:35Speaker 3: you're going to be successful. You'll get more buy and
- 17:38Speaker 3: when you start acknowledging that this program can also deliver
- 17:43Speaker 3: on other goals. So yes, it first and foremost the
- 17:46Speaker 3: business development initiative. There's no doubt business development in sales,
- 17:50Speaker 3: but it has implications. It can stand alone, but it
- 17:55Speaker 3: opens up the door for other great goals to be
- 17:58Speaker 3: met as well.
- 17:59Speaker 2: Okay, that sounds like a good segue into step two here,
- 18:02Speaker 2: which is get referral ready, right, I mean this is
- 18:05Speaker 2: the part where the goals start meeting the actionable functions.
- 18:10Speaker 2: So let's let's get into uh, get getting ready. How
- 18:14Speaker 2: do we actually do that? You've got goals, now we've
- 18:17Speaker 2: got these are initial goals, but what do we do?
- 18:21Speaker 2: What do we do with those?
- 18:22Speaker 3: So getting referral Ready is a bit of a reflective
- 18:24Speaker 3: process where we take a look and we ask ourselves
- 18:28Speaker 3: some tough, tough questions. Because when we are pulling together
- 18:32Speaker 3: a referral program and asking referral sources to essentially act
- 18:37Speaker 3: or rep for us, to recommend us to be staunch
- 18:42Speaker 3: advocates for people to go out and find the right
- 18:45Speaker 3: business and qualify for us. If we're going to do
- 18:50Speaker 3: that legitimately, we have to prove to them that we
- 18:54Speaker 3: are worthy of their time, and that is getting for already.
- 19:00Speaker 3: Part of that is actually summarizing, synthesizing our reputation as
- 19:08Speaker 3: an organization. So how are we viewed, because again, we're
- 19:13Speaker 3: asking people to rep for us. We could it would
- 19:15Speaker 3: be irresponsible if we ask people to rep for us
- 19:20Speaker 3: if we don't have a good reputation. And sometimes we
- 19:22Speaker 3: have an awesome reputation but we haven't quantified it put in.
- 19:26Speaker 2: But let me stop you right there, Andrew, because it
- 19:29Speaker 2: seems like if you ask senior leadership and companies what
- 19:32Speaker 2: their reputation is, they say, well, we have an awesome
- 19:34Speaker 2: reputation exactly, no problem here, no implement this referral program.
- 19:39Speaker 2: But I think what you're saying too is, yeah, that's nice.
- 19:42Speaker 2: That's nice, boss. But let's look at the real numbers. Here.
- 19:46Speaker 2: Here are the customer satisfaction scores. That's it from the
- 19:50Speaker 2: product we intend to launch. Here is our you know,
- 19:56Speaker 2: here are the other customer experience metrics.
- 20:01Speaker 3: Exactly.
- 20:01Speaker 2: Looking at that that justify our overall brand record? Probably
- 20:07Speaker 2: not not only brand perception in the marketplace, but brand
- 20:11Speaker 2: recognition probably comes into this as well, right, I mean,
- 20:14Speaker 2: how how recognized are we as a brand? You know,
- 20:16Speaker 2: if our referral partner says, oh, you should meet company
- 20:20Speaker 2: x y Z, who's company x y Z? I have
- 20:23Speaker 2: no idea who they are? You know? Is that?
- 20:25Speaker 3: Is that?
- 20:25Speaker 2: What you're talking about? These types exactly.
- 20:27Speaker 3: And there are a number of different different ways of
- 20:29Speaker 3: different sources. You've identified two very important on customer satisfaction
- 20:35Speaker 3: and sometimes the organizations have that, but they haven't summarized,
- 20:38Speaker 3: they're synthesized it in a way that's useful. So there
- 20:42Speaker 3: has to be some agreement within the organization. Hey, you
- 20:45Speaker 3: know what, we've got to capture this. We've got to
- 20:47Speaker 3: make it digestible. For our referrals are chosen referral sources.
- 20:51Speaker 3: So let's let's put it into a one patie. What's
- 20:53Speaker 3: our reputation like? So customer satisfaction over a period a
- 20:58Speaker 3: period of time? For example, how about employee satisfaction because
- 21:03Speaker 3: we know that when organizations have have employees who love
- 21:07Speaker 3: working there, there there is a strong correlation between that
- 21:11Speaker 3: and high performing companies. So you can quantify that maybe
- 21:15Speaker 3: it's a discussion with HR. Maybe this helps to kick
- 21:18Speaker 3: start some of those discussions internally around that. How about sales?
- 21:23Speaker 3: How could take a look at your the progress of
- 21:26Speaker 3: sales so that you say, wow, you know what, our
- 21:28Speaker 3: customers are eating up these products by the barrelful, right,
- 21:33Speaker 3: and so looking for different men and you can and
- 21:36Speaker 3: the simplest, the simplest one is just going online and
- 21:41Speaker 3: taking a look at reviews that are generated by Google
- 21:46Speaker 3: or by glass Store. Right, that is an indication of reputation.
- 21:50Speaker 3: I'm not saying it's comprehensive. I'm not saying it's it
- 21:53Speaker 3: is by it means the entire organization, it's it's a
- 21:58Speaker 3: small piece about What we're trying to do is provide
- 22:01Speaker 3: referral sources with additional proof points around the awesomeness. Yeah,
- 22:08Speaker 3: and that's quantifying the reputation and companies that go I'm
- 22:12Speaker 3: not sure I really want to do that. You have
- 22:16Speaker 3: to ask yourself, are they or for already? Are they
- 22:20Speaker 3: prepared should they be asking other people to rep for
- 22:24Speaker 3: them if they are not prepared to quantify their own reputation?
- 22:28Speaker 2: Yeah? Right, yeah, because you're going to be burning up trust,
- 22:31Speaker 2: mutual trust with your partners, your referral sources if you
- 22:35Speaker 2: send them down a quixotic adventure and trying to pitch
- 22:39Speaker 2: products that aren't high performing. So let's just peel that
- 22:43Speaker 2: back a little bit, because this is a fascinating discussion here.
- 22:46Speaker 2: First of all, folks, we have an entire chapter in
- 22:49Speaker 2: the Business Development Body of Knowledge dedicated to customer experience
- 22:53Speaker 2: and all of the metrics associated with those net promoters score,
- 22:58Speaker 2: customer satisfaction score. We have I think over a dozen
- 23:01Speaker 2: documented in there to include employee experience. So I'm glad
- 23:05Speaker 2: you mentioned that, Andrew, that employee experience is also something
- 23:08Speaker 2: that's a worthy metric to take into account when you're
- 23:11Speaker 2: trying to decide here in step two, are you are
- 23:16Speaker 2: referral ready? And you know, so let's let's kind of
- 23:20Speaker 2: use GBDA as an example organization here and talk through
- 23:26Speaker 2: where we are. I mean, we're in the process at
- 23:28Speaker 2: GBDA building out a referral program and you know, I
- 23:34Speaker 2: would say we're probably into step three here, so we're
- 23:39Speaker 2: not not too far down the path. And you know,
- 23:43Speaker 2: we've we just crossed the line where we have over
- 23:46Speaker 2: one hundred business developers certified as Business Development professionals analyzed
- 23:52Speaker 2: the data the pre exam surveys and the post exam
- 23:57Speaker 2: surveys from the Business Development Professional certification. We also have
- 24:02Speaker 2: another product called the Business Growth Practitioner Certification, which is
- 24:06Speaker 2: an early entry certification, and the results have been great
- 24:10Speaker 2: for both of those. We've had more activity in the
- 24:13Speaker 2: BDP certification, and you know, I'm building relationships with partner
- 24:21Speaker 2: organizations like other business development entities, whether those are consulting
- 24:26Speaker 2: firms or business development associations. We just signed an agreement
- 24:31Speaker 2: with BEDASA, which is the Business Development Association of South Africa,
- 24:36Speaker 2: for example. And we also have a built in referral
- 24:40Speaker 2: program with our Business Development professionals, so as soon as
- 24:44Speaker 2: they finish their certification as BDPS, they can become referral
- 24:49Speaker 2: partners for us. It's an automated system where if they
- 24:54Speaker 2: provide a referral to a fellow colleague, which a lot
- 24:58Speaker 2: of our one hundred BDP certified folks have come through
- 25:03Speaker 2: word of mouth, if they provide their referral code to
- 25:08Speaker 2: their colleague, family friend, whatever the case might be. We
- 25:13Speaker 2: have a revenue share agreement with our BDP certified members.
- 25:18Speaker 2: So okay, so we and obviously the goal for US
- 25:22Speaker 2: is grow the membership, grow completions of bd be certified
- 25:29Speaker 2: folks that are out there. So those are our goals.
- 25:32Speaker 2: Those are the types of you know, referral readiness things
- 25:37Speaker 2: we've looked at because the customer satisfaction scores are fantastic
- 25:43Speaker 2: and for those that have postgraduate degrees with over a
- 25:47Speaker 2: dozen years of experience, we're talking ten out of ten
- 25:50Speaker 2: customer satisfaction net promoter score, five out of five on
- 25:54Speaker 2: the Business Development Body of Knowledge. So we have some
- 25:56Speaker 2: great data. Now, So what you're saying, Andrew, is now
- 26:01Speaker 2: that I have that data that kind of proves that, yeah,
- 26:03Speaker 2: we have some solid credibility. We have some solid feedback
- 26:08Speaker 2: over one hundred that's a pretty solid sample size that
- 26:12Speaker 2: we can use that to provide the AMMO if you will,
- 26:16Speaker 2: the referenceable credibility to BADASA, our other partner organizations, to
- 26:24Speaker 2: our BDP certified members. We can now we can use
- 26:29Speaker 2: those as assets, referral assets, right, and so that's the assessment.
- 26:35Speaker 3: That's exactly I mean, that's when it comes to step forward.
- 26:39Speaker 3: We're talking about arming your referral sources, your chosen referral sources,
- 26:45Speaker 3: those that kind of proof point helps make their lives easier,
- 26:50Speaker 3: and it actually builds greater trust because you've got these
- 26:54Speaker 3: quantified sources of proof evidence that you are are, that
- 27:00Speaker 3: you've got an exceptional reputation. We we know how important
- 27:06Speaker 3: UH trust is when it comes to UH making referrals,
- 27:10Speaker 3: and they're generally two kinds of trust, right there's UH
- 27:14Speaker 3: cognitive cognitive trust where you know what, that's the thinking part. Yes,
- 27:19Speaker 3: I believe these people are credible, and I believe they
- 27:23Speaker 3: know they know what they're doing. And then we have
- 27:26Speaker 3: the effective or emotional trust. It's that god feel Oh
- 27:30Speaker 3: you know what Tony and is as folks are awesome. Well,
- 27:33Speaker 3: when it comes to actually great referral sources, we want
- 27:38Speaker 3: to make sure that we are referral sources with that
- 27:43Speaker 3: which allows them to leverage both to feel very strongly
- 27:48Speaker 3: both cognitively as well as emotionally to Tony, you and
- 27:51Speaker 3: your team are the people that and the organization that
- 27:55Speaker 3: we want to refer.
- 27:56Speaker 2: Wow, that's a Mike, that's a mic drop moment right there,
- 27:59Speaker 2: Andrews Brown. I love what you just said because you
- 28:02Speaker 2: are quoting chapter and verse from the Business Development Body
- 28:05Speaker 2: of Knowledge. Again, folks, business development is trust building. Okay,
- 28:11Speaker 2: the definition of business development is customer and community advocacy
- 28:16Speaker 2: that creates corporate growth. Now face value. That makes sense,
- 28:20Speaker 2: but it's also a double entendre. It not only means
- 28:24Speaker 2: that you advocate for your prospects and clients so that
- 28:28Speaker 2: they can grow and you build trust with them to
- 28:31Speaker 2: achieve that, but in turn, when you make them a success,
- 28:36Speaker 2: when you help them grow, they become your strongest advocates
- 28:40Speaker 2: and they advocate for you within the community. And that's
- 28:43Speaker 2: what we're talking about here today is building those the network,
- 28:47Speaker 2: the community of trusted partners, whether they're your clients, whether
- 28:51Speaker 2: they're third parties, and bringing them together in one solid
- 28:54Speaker 2: referral management program. And we've talked about today steps one
- 28:59Speaker 2: in two. Step one was select your initial goals. Step
- 29:03Speaker 2: two was get referral. Ready now, folks, if you want
- 29:08Speaker 2: to read about the entire program again, you can get
- 29:12Speaker 2: a copy of Andrew's book. It's available on Amazon. It's
- 29:16Speaker 2: called Get Referred How to Increase Sales, Velocity, Volume and Value.
- 29:23Speaker 2: Five star rated with thirty two ratings on Amazon. It's
- 29:28Speaker 2: a great book. I've read it, I really enjoy it.
- 29:31Speaker 2: Please grab a copy and folks, like I said, this
- 29:36Speaker 2: is a multi step process of podcasts, and we will
- 29:41Speaker 2: proceed with steps three and four in the next episode,
- 29:46Speaker 2: and I know I can't wait to dig deeper into
- 29:50Speaker 2: steps three and four. Andrew Z. Brown, welcome you. Know
- 29:56Speaker 2: all of your insights are just so fantastic. Every time
- 30:00Speaker 2: I talk to you, I come away not only informed,
- 30:03Speaker 2: but just emotionally charged and excited about referral management. You
- 30:10Speaker 2: have such a great disposition, it's hard to talk to
- 30:13Speaker 2: you and feel down. You would just want to hit
- 30:16Speaker 2: just a fantastic source of motivation. How can folks read
- 30:21Speaker 2: and connect with you, follow your work and follow your magic, Andrew, The.
- 30:26Speaker 3: Easiest, easiest way is connect by all means everyone within
- 30:29Speaker 3: the community. Thank you, Tony. It's always a pleasure with you.
- 30:31Speaker 3: I get energized after after I speak with you. I'll
- 30:37Speaker 3: contact me through LinkedIn and I'm happy to give some
- 30:42Speaker 3: copies of Get Referred away to your enthusiastic and very
- 30:45Speaker 3: talented members of the GBDA and the community, because I
- 30:50Speaker 3: believe strongly in what you're doing, and I think that
- 30:53Speaker 3: business I know that business development is as a profession
- 30:58Speaker 3: that needs more and more support.
- 31:02Speaker 2: Well, and thank you for that generous offer, Andrew. Folks
- 31:05Speaker 2: We're going to have a link to Andrew's profile on LinkedIn.
- 31:11Speaker 2: All you have to do is click that link, hit
- 31:12Speaker 2: the message button, send him a direct message a LinkedIn
- 31:16Speaker 2: direct message, and say hey, Andrew, I heard you on
- 31:19Speaker 2: the podcast. Would love to get a copy of your book.
- 31:23Speaker 2: And if you're a nonprofit organization looking to build your
- 31:26Speaker 2: own referral management program, Andrew is also a generally generously
- 31:30Speaker 2: offering to help one nonprofit out there. It's a part
- 31:34Speaker 2: of his mission for his company to give back to
- 31:38Speaker 2: the community. So if you're listening to this and you
- 31:42Speaker 2: are in a nonprofit organization that would like to build
- 31:44Speaker 2: a referral management program, whether that's to bring in revenue
- 31:48Speaker 2: or whether it's to bring in donors or to bring
- 31:50Speaker 2: in members, Andrew can help you with that and help
- 31:55Speaker 2: you continue your mission forward and giving back. And again,
- 31:59Speaker 2: if if you want to reach out to him, just
- 32:02Speaker 2: simply DM him on LinkedIn. Andrew, I'll continue to DM
- 32:07Speaker 2: you because we have a lot of work to do
- 32:08Speaker 2: to talk about the next episode, and I can't wait
- 32:12Speaker 2: to jump into those two next steps in your book,
- 32:15Speaker 2: and that is evaluating the referral sources and arming those
- 32:21Speaker 2: referral sources. With a lot of powerful content and folks
- 32:27Speaker 2: stay tuned that episode will be coming out in the
- 32:30Speaker 2: coming weeks. Thank you, Andrew, thanks so much.
- 32:32Speaker 3: Tony, you well everyone.
- 32:40Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Business Development Podcast. Join
- 32:44Speaker 1: our free community of corporate partners and business development professionals
- 32:49Speaker 1: advancing the art, science, and ethics of the business development
- 32:53Speaker 1: profession at GBD Association dot org.