7. Agree on how often you and your COI should meet. For some very active referral resources, once per month might be appropriate. For moderately active referral resources, once per quarter is may be enough.
8. What do you discuss when you get together? Items 3, 4, and 5 above! It's a never-ending conversation as your respective businesses evolve.
9. You should also work on the business friendship. Meaning, get to know your Centers of Influence in ways that go beyond the core work you do. The more you genuinely like each other, the more productive your relationship will become.
10. Never assume a Center of Influence relationship needs to be reciprocal in terms of referrals. You can have many Centers of Influence happily giving you referrals because they truly value the work you do and want others to experience your value. Sometimes that's enough. Assuming otherwise may cause you to discount the potential value of a COI. And the value you bring to them can come in other forms - such as helping with their marketing plan and/or just being a sounding board for their ideas - personal or professional.
8. What do you discuss when you get together? Items 3, 4, and 5 above! It's a never-ending conversation as your respective businesses evolve.
9. You should also work on the business friendship. Meaning, get to know your Centers of Influence in ways that go beyond the core work you do. The more you genuinely like each other, the more productive your relationship will become.
10. Never assume a Center of Influence relationship needs to be reciprocal in terms of referrals. You can have many Centers of Influence happily giving you referrals because they truly value the work you do and want others to experience your value. Sometimes that's enough. Assuming otherwise may cause you to discount the potential value of a COI. And the value you bring to them can come in other forms - such as helping with their marketing plan and/or just being a sounding board for their ideas - personal or professional.
If I had to distill the above items in a few words it would be:
- Formalize your approach to meeting and nurturing COI relationships.
- Formalize the relationships themselves.
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