Since beginning the Referral Institute-Austin's ""Referrals For Life"" classes, I have given myself permission to act like I?m the host at each networking event that I attend. (Commandment #3 from the ""Ten Commandments of Working A Networking Mixer"" learned in class!) That has helped me meet many more people than I would have otherwise. In just 3 weeks of class work, I have already received two referrals, but more important than that, I have trained my referral sources that just giving me a name and a phone number is not satisfactory. Instead, I insist that they are on the call with me when I call their referrals so that they can introduce us and make a few statements about my services before hanging up. (A Shade 13 Referral from the ""Sixteen (16) Shades of a Referral"" learned in class!) Also, I?m already enjoying my work more as I?m focusing my attention on building relationships with my clients and my network and spending less time on the ""busy work"".
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