Too many small business owners, salespeople, realtors and insurance agents spend their precious time and marketing dollars on where their next sale will come from instead of finding the source of their sales. It is like asking for a glass of water instead of asking for the well. If you owned the well, you will have all of the glasses of water you could drink. Consider spending time and money on finding a good referral source instead of finding your next sale.

For example, as a life insurance agent, we know most people are in the market for more life insurance or a change in insurance at a life changing event. Such as a young couple getting married, birth of a child, death of a friend or family member or buying a new home. Certainly there are lots of lead companies out there that will sell an agent leads based on this criteria. Problem is, you are not the only agent buying that lead, so you and scores of your competitors are vying for that same prospect, usually ending badly, not to mention the cost of the leads. How can you get the prospect, before they become an online lead for an agent feeding frenzy?

Simple, find a referral source for these people and events before they get online searching for help for life insurance. Go spend time building relationships with ministers performing weddings. Walking into and meeting with maternity shop owners, in order to meet pregnant clients. Building a relationship with a funeral director dealing with a grieving family member, who now realizes he or she is underinsured. Going out and making friends with some realtors and mortgage brokers in order to meet new home owners who probably need more protection. If you can get to these people before they search online and fall prey to the lead companies on “free quote” sites, you get the business.

Examine your business model. Are you searching for your next glass of water or a nice deep well? What do your clients have in common? That is where your referral source lives. Go network with those people and develop your deep well of referrals.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. Being referred by a trusted associate gives you that credibility. Very important be sure and take good care of your referral source. Don’t forget to give to their business as well. Otherwise you will end up with a dry well and no water.

“It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway”.— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Image by Theeradech Sanin at www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, grandfather of 1, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, employee benefit specialist, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.