Summary: This is a rebroadcast of <a href="http://www.bnipodcast.com/2008/09/03/episode-70-referrals-for-the-difficult-to-refer-business/">Episode 70</a>.<br> Synopsis<br> This week Dr. Misner shares his <a title="A Sure-Fire Referral Technique" href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingideas/networkingcolumnistivanmisner/article76850.html">surefire technique for difficult-to-refer businesses</a>, like psychotherapists, recording studios, and management consultants.<br> <br> * Educate people on how to refer you.<br> * Accept speaking engagements as referrals for BNI purposes.<br> * Write a letter to program chairs and distribute it to your chapter members so they can help you get speaking engagements.<br> * Give great presentations that compel your audience to contact you.<br> <br> This technique made Dr. Misner’s company one of the easiest to refer, instead of one of the hardest. <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingideas/networkingcolumnistivanmisner/article76850.html">Read the blog post</a> for more details.<br> Brought to you by <a title="Networking Now, the Internet's leading source of networking downloadables." href="http://www.networkingnow.com">Networking Now</a>.<br> <br><br> Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 070 –<br> Priscilla Rice:<br><br> Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by networkingnow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan, how are you?<br> Ivan Misner:<br><br> I’m doing great Priscilla, thanks.<br> Priscilla:<br><br> Where are you today?<br> Ivan:<br><br> I am at my lodge in Big Bear. I have a vacation retreat in Big Bear that I use for business and pleasure. I have BNI directors coming up for top management meetings for the organization. I am also a senior partner with a company called the Referral Institute and have Referral Institute people coming on up. We’re working while we have a great view of the lake. How cool is that?<br> Priscilla:<br><br> That sounds beautiful. What are you going to share with us today?<br> Ivan:<br><br> I want to talk about something that comes up from time to time. It’s a technique for the difficult to refer business. I blogged on it last month. We changed the name of the blog, the old URL still works, but the new one is a little easier. It is networkingnowblog.com. Go back to August and take a look at that. I have a blog in there about this topic,” A Sure Fire Technique For The Difficult To Refer Business.” That’s what I want to talk about today.<br> There a lot of businesses that are really difficult to refer, more so than others. For example, psychotherapists have to be one of the toughest professions to refer. I would think someone in your profession, doing studio work, is not easy to refer or myself, as a management consultant. When I started BNI, I didn’t start it to be a separate company. I was a business consultant, and it was part of my consulting business in the beginning. It was very difficult to get referrals as a business consultant. People didn’t know how to do it, how to refer me. So, if you’re struggling to get clients or referrals through networking, there are a number of things you can do. First and foremost, you have to educate people how to refer you. That is key. You have to remember that your presentations each week are not about trying to close a sale, they’re trying to train a sales force.<br> There is at least one technique that I found really worked well for me when I was a business consultant. I’ve had particularly psychotherapists, and a few other professions, do this a lot.
