The creation of the Professional Connections Network (thePCN) was inspired by the revelation that, according to several studies where marketing managers were quizzed, referrals were considered to be the most successful method of acquiring new clients.
In the SME part of the professional sectors – so ignoring the biggest national firms – this was overlayed with another important fact: very firms have a referral strategy or pursue active approaches towards developing a strong and steady stream of referrals.
Why is this?
Why is the most successful marketing approach not employed anywhere near its potential by so many firms, that will dedicate resource and time to less efficient methods?
The answer lies, it seems, partly in a perception and partly in a misguided starting position.
The perception is that other professionals have this sewn up and there are not too many new avenues to explore.
This is not correct – most firms have either no meaningful referral arrangements or, where they do, ones that have not really worked or lack substance.
In other words, multiple firms in various sectors are all thinking they are the ones that can’t make it work, and don’t spend the time building the connections/relationships.
The misguided starting position is that we go at this by thinking about this as a strategy to get loads of referrals flowing our way.
So, the mindset is what can we get out of this? We would love to have referrals coming to us week on week from other professionals, but give little thought as to what we need to do in return.
Referrals are a bi-product as much as the central motivating factor; in the sense that the better starting position is to think about forming a relationship with like-minded people and firms, and having an attitude of collaboration, so more like what can we together get out of this?
Rather than jumping into this just for referrals, we need to group together with other local firms that share our aspirations, thinking about mutual benefit, and how we can explore working models where we all get more from the same pot.
This is why thePCN was constructed and launched, because it needed a little bit of organising – one place where the like-minded firms from the accountancy, legal, financial and property worlds (the professionals) could group together.
Once in the same “place” then we know that the other professionals share the same aspiration, now we can start talking, meeting and exploring.
ThePCN has recruited the group members for us; and it is a group of like-minded firms from the various sectors all with the same aim.
We have got beyond the starting position, and also identified the firms that want to expand using collaborative and referral marketing – between them – to expand their new client acquisition.
ThePCN is both a recruiting sergeant and an organising – or facilitating – mechanism, all in one.
In many ways this is far more than a referral platform, it is a group dynamic, based on a simple principle, if you can find the right people to work together, then many opportunities will arise for those people and their firms.
This may take the form of regular referrals flowing, but it can include sharing knowledge, ideas and stories, alongside other collaborative work, such as joint marketing and presentations to respective client banks and prospects.