Zero to Referrals In Just A Minute

Each week every Member has 60 seconds to promote their business. We call this an InfoMinute. Download this InfoMinute template. It’s the tool radio and TV stations use to be sure commercials are exactly the right length. It’s most valuable when you highlight each segment with color, to verify you’ve included all seven parts, in balance. Use this tool to give yourself an advantage.

Quick Reminder: It isn’t the order that matters, it’s the ratio of time on each card.
Blue and Red cards are 15 seconds each–White and Purple are 5.
Spend a full 20 seconds on resonant client identification––the Green, Gold and Platinum cards.

Segment	Time	Description	Purpose
White	5 seconds	Name (NO company, phone, URL)	Identification
Blue	15 seconds (about 3 sentences)	New, valuable, usable information. Something I can use if I never see you again. Information I can use to insert you into a conversation with a client next week.	Left brain logical
Purple	5 seconds	Why I’m good at this. Prepare 200 Purple cards. Three ways  to get a Purple Card: 1. What comes naturally to me, that makes me good at this? 2. What have I worked hard to learn, that makes me good at my business? 3. Take a cliché (I’m well organized)  and say what that means when I say it about myself. (My answer would be “I work from a checklist.”)	Differentiation
Red	15 seconds (about 3 sentences)	A story, showing me using the Blue Card to a client’s advantage. Use the PAR template: Problem – the problem the client had when they came to you. Action – the action you took: what you saw, what you thought, what you did. Result – the client’s result; how life is for them now that your work for them is complete.	Right brain  emotion and memory
Peach	20 seconds	Not always necessary. Do not use the words “lead”, “today” or “me”.We don’t refer to each other—(A good lead for me is…) We refer great people to our clients—(I’m a good referral for your client who…)	Transition + Safety  = I’m not trying to get money from you
Green		WHO + HOW Who  is always a person, never a company. There are only three ways to identify a Who: 1} name, 2} title, or 3} relationship. How must be something I (I am not in your business) can see or hear in real life. (I have never heard someone say “I want to take my business to the next level.” I have heard people ASK for a referral to someone who wants to take their business to the next level, but since people don’t walk around saying that, it isn’t resonant.)	Resonant (real life) client identification
Golden		This is what the Who wants. They do not want me. They want the result of me. What does the Who want their life to be like after I’m complete?	Script the introduction
Platinum		What question can the listener ask to start a conversation where a prospect says, “YES!  Introduce me!  I need them!  Now!”	Action for the listener

 

You can download this chart InfoMinute Componets .

 

InfoMinute Cards

 

 

These cards are an easy way to jot InfoMinute reminders to yourself, so you don’t have to write out and read the whole thing, and you still get everything in on time. Click Here .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use this this template to help write your 7-Minute.

Download the Diamond Outline here .

This is the Case Study format Case Study Format for 7-Minute Presentation and a format (you are welcome to make anything you’d like) to get customized FeedForward information Custom FeedForward questions

How to Make Coffee Profitable

A PowerPercolator  (known as PowerPerk to its friends) is a structured get-to-know-you. Download the PowerPerk template to introduce a Team Member to a GateOpener. If three people on the Team are natural GateOpeners for each other, this is the perfect way to go deep, fast.

There are three keys for making a PowerPerk profitable:

1: Talk about one client. Your best client. The client who is the most profitable + the most fun.  (If you talk about everything and what could be, the others will not get a solid sense of your business.)  One.

2: Use a timer. The first round is important, but it’s only three minutes each.  (That’s nine minutes on personal info.) What you’re looking for is something the three of you have in common.  Find that, and you’ll make money. Promise.

3: Ponder what you’re going to say. A PowerPerk is as profitable as the least prepared person. (Don’t let that be you.) Since you won’t have time to tell everything, spend a few minutes thinking about the most important parts of the story.

Everything (yep, pretty much everything) about referrals is the opposite of sales.
Let’s start with your personal profile page. Members and past Members will find you –  they know what you do, you’re who they’re looking for … what they want to know is whether you understand their client. 

1: Use a professional picture – the way you’d look at a first meeting with a client. If you’re not selling camping equipment, a camping picture won’t be profitable.

2: Under your picture there is space to talk about yourself. The goal is for the reader to want to be friends. Talk about yourself in first person – people refer to people.

Here are some good examples of good – read what these Members say about themselves, and see if you’d like them.

Diana Crawford Jason Conn Jill Pullen Peter Tarantino Lisa McGuire

Mike Smith Rebecca Brizi Barry Kaplan Amanda Walker

David Arnold Courtney Goldman  Clay Jeffreys Heather Riggs

Now look under their logo. None of them are saying they are “the premier company for” … because … that’s not a referral script. To get referrals talk about the result your clients want. Show you understand your clients. That’s the way to stimulate referrals.

Now click on My Profile in the upper right, below the PowerCore logo, and use these examples to complete your picture, logo, and descriptions.  Questions? Ideas? Call Wendy at the PowerCore office: 404-816-3377.

 

Audrey is compiling right now, as we speak, a spreadsheet with best practices for creating credibility in an online meeting.  Check back here Friday. You’re going to like this.

What to Say, and How to Say It

 

A script is a series of words, in order, that creates a predictable response. One of the best places to use a script is when you’re inviting an acquaintance to visit your PowerCore Team. If you, like me, have an upper left desk drawer full of business cards of people you wouldn’t recognize if they walked in your door, pull the trash can between your knees, pick out a card at random and use this telephone script before you throw the card away. You’ll make an impression. And that’s more than what is happening now, in the dark, in your upper left desk drawer.

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Some of us just can’t bear to throw the cards away without keeping the information. If that’s you, go ahead and enter these into an excel spreadsheet. Then use this template letter  to mail merge an invitation to visit your Team.It won’t feel pushy–you aren’t asking for their business–you’re offering them a way to get business.So, if they remember you they’ll be impressed; if they don’t, they’ll want to get to know you! Which is more than is happening now, in the dark left-hand drawer.

 

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You might be wondering about an email template, and I’ll share what I’ve observed. The best thing you can send with an email invitation is one of your own InfoMinutes. Even when they aren’t interested in PowerCore they’ll be impressed with you.  Want proof?  Check this out!

CHAPTER 1
HOW TO FIND A SUB: DEMYSTIFIED

CHAPTER 2
HOW TO BE A SUB: MADE EASY

CHAPTER 3
Sub Proactively

 

CHAPTER 4
Sub Professionally

Referral – a three-way introduction between two Members of the Team, and a third person who is not a Member and who is in the current market for a Member’s product or service.

Cold call – outreach — whether by phone, email or in person — to a person who is not expecting it.

Warm call – outreach for the purpose of soliciting business to a person with whom you’ve had previous contact.

GateOpener – a classification (i.e. printer, insurance agent, CPA) whose clients ask for a referral to someone in my classification.

Gatekeeper – a person who keeps me from getting to my prospect.

PowerPerk – a structured meeting between three people, one of whom is not a PowerCore Member, using a timer and the PowerPercolating template to answer six questions in order to learn about each other’s business for the purpose of referring clients.

Classification – a category of product or service provider. (i.e. banker, dentist, graphic designer) Some classifications have sub-directories. (i.e. Insurance – P&C and Insurance – Health; or Attorney – Bankruptcy and Attorney – Estate.)

Contact Sphere – a group of classifications who have clients in common, or whose clients have a need for many of them at the same time. The four most common Contact Spheres are Business Services, Financial Services, Personal Services and Residential Real Estate.

Coffee|Lunch|PowerPint|PowerPutt  – extracurricular time with a PowerCore Member, for the purpose of strengthening the relationship that determines whether a Member will refer a client, contact, friend or family member to us.

To add to this list email Wendy@PowerCore.net [/tab]

Download the PDF here INTROMinute Questions - Geometry Theme

An INTROMinute is Prepared, Positive and Professional It makes the presenter comfortable and the audience eager to listen.
Geometry the branch of mathematics that deals with points, lines, planes and solids	Volume the number of three-dimensional units contained in a solid	Ratio the comparison of two numbers by division
At what point did you understand you would be good at this business? What is the line that connects your history and your future? A geometric plane has length and width — which dimension in your life is larger right now? What changed?	How many units do you have in your life? Interpret this question any way you choose! Where in your business have you increased the amount — the volume? What life skill did you choose to learn because of the benefit it would bring to the volume of your life?	What ratio in your life contributes to your success? What is the ratio of time you’ve spent in this industry compared to other types of work you’ve done? What do you understand as a ratio–as math–that other people think of in words, or sounds, or pictures?

We track referral success with We Did Business slips.
Professionals keep score. My brother would never think of playing golf without keeping score. He’s a scratch golfer, and tracking his results is what got him to this success level.

Each time you make a bank deposit because of a connection you got through PowerCore, complete a We Did Business slip. It’s how you say thank you to the Member who brought you benefit. TeamCoOrdinators send the We Did Business slips to PowerCore Central, where we use the information to see how Members can maximize their return on referral marketing investment.

Here’s what we know:
This graph shows the results Members experience in their first 18 months of Membership.
(Notice that each bar indicates by color whether the business was On Base, Home Run, or a Grand Slam. You’ll also see the number of people who didn’t check one of those boxes. Always check one of those boxes.)

Five pieces of information are collected on each We Did Business slip:
[1] Who did the original referral come from?
[2] Who was it to?  A prospect, a GateOpener, or did a Member them self do business with you?
[3] Is this  one time business or ongoing? And is this a 2nd or 3rd generation referral?
[4] Is this On Base, a Home Run, or a Grand Slam?
[5]  What was the timeline from introduction to bank deposit?

Here’s what we can see:

Members can print these from the Members’ Center page – scroll to the bottom left.