Creating a Robust Referral Network with Your Soulmate 100
Want to fill your pipeline with the right-fit referrals without cold calls or paid ads? In this episode, we reveal how to build a digital game plan for creating a robust referral network with your soulmate 100.
We dive into building your Soulmate 100, the dream network that fuels word-of-mouth and brings business straight to your inbox. Discover how to align your digital presence with relationship-driven growth and establish a referral ecosystem that operates seamlessly, even when you’re asleep.
Don’t miss this powerful session to build the referral network your business deserves.
This is more than strategy. It is a blueprint.
Key Highlights for Creating a Robust Referral Network
• Building a Robust Referral Network 0:02
• Identifying Potential Referral Partners 2:03
• Exploring Digi-Key as a Referral Partner 3:53
• Leveraging Trade Associations and Influencers 5:37
• Utilizing Content Hubs and Geographic Connectors 8:39
Resources
To learn more about SEO for Manufacturers, check out SEO for Manufacturers: Foundations, Strategy & Implementation.
B2Btail – Helping Awesome Companies with Digital Sales Growth Solutions
Get Your FREE SEO Report
You Have Only One Chance to Make An Outstanding First Webpression https://b2btail.com/webpression/
Stop Being the Best Kept Secret: Manufacturing eCommerce Strategies
Follow B2Btail on YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn.
Curt on LinkedIn
Exit Your Way– Helping owners create businesses that make more money today and they can sell or succeed when they want.
Damon on LinkedIn
Check out the Stop Being the Best Kept Secret Show live on Mondays and Fridays at 12:32 PM EST // 9:32 AM PST.
Transcription
Curt Anderson 00:02
Hey, Damon, welcome to stop being the best kept secret. How
Damon Pistulka 00:05
are you today? I’m doing great. Curt and ready to roll.
Curt Anderson 00:08
Oh, my goodness gracious. We are here talking today about the digital game plan. In particular, with the digital game plan, we’re talking about building a an extremely healthy, robust referral network. Who does? Who out there doesn’t love a referral network. Damon, do you love a referral network? I certainly do, right? Who doesn’t love and we call it the soulmate 100 so we’re going to dive in. Damon, do you want to give a little insight on referral network? And what is the soulmate 100
Damon Pistulka 00:34
Yeah, well, referral networks pretty, pretty self explanatory. You it’s you want to connect with other people that that you can help with their their because you’re serving the same client base, maybe, or you have complimentary services that can help them land more businesses themselves, business themselves, but that referral network are the people that know you. They’ve worked with you a lot of times, and they trust you so they can help. If someone comes to them and they go, Oh, this sounds like a really good referral for Steve or Greg or whoever it is, and they they go, Okay, I’ll give them that your name and let them know they might be able to help. I
Curt Anderson 01:15
tell you that who I you know, tons of people are extraordinary at this. I in particular love Bob bird with his Go Giver book, yep. And that just that, that selfless, Shameless, go giving attitude of just, you know, unconditionally giving to others is just boy, what a great way. The more that you give, the more that you receive. I think Zig Ziglar famously said, Do I have that? Right? Yeah. You know, the more people you help in life, the more you know, achieve their goals, the more you’re going to achieve your goals, yep. And so, you know, we’re not really tossing anything out new here. It’s just kind of taking that concept, that model, and how do we get it into action? That’s the big difference. Is, how do we get it into action, right? Yeah. So we call it that soulmate, 100 and what the intention is, you know, say, I always use a lamp example, right? If we were selling lamps, who’s selling the lamp shade, who’s selling the light bulb, who’s selling the nightstand, who’s selling the maybe, you know, other accessories in a bedroom, type thing. So like, who are the potential referral partners that are selling like minded products, similar type solutions that are in a non competitive fashion, that would be just a great referral network, right?
Damon Pistulka 02:27
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s, you know, it comes from a lot of different places, in all sources. I mean, this works if you’re in the healthcare industry, if you’re in manufacturing, if you’re in knowledge base, consulting, coding, it all works if you’re, if you’re working this the right way,
Curt Anderson 02:46
exactly. I mean, just, you know, like, just look your home, right? You take your home and just think about, like, all the potential if you were in real estate market, what are all the referral partners for? Like, you know, if you and I were real estate agents, you know, like, Man, can we refer? You know, how can you build a really strong, robust referral relationship with the mortgage banker, with the insurance, the home insurance person, the driveway, the fence, the pool, the roofer, the contractor, the plumber, the electrician, I mean the list,
Damon Pistulka 03:13
the whole nine yards, everybody that that could be helping us identify new clients or help us with clients,
Curt Anderson 03:20
right? Exactly. So we’ve got it. We’ve created a wonderful little software tool. And again, guys, happy Monday. Welcome today. And so whatever day that you’re catching us on, we’re honored that you’re here, and hopefully you’re going to find some value here. What we’re doing is we’re going to dive into Damon and I have created a software tool. It’s called the digital game plan. And in particular, we’re going to take a look at the soulmate 100 so this is a client of ours. They’re in the electronics manufacturing space, and what we’ve done is this little tool. It goes out and it scrapes that company website and it comes back with a bunch of opportunities of information around that company that could be referral partner. So say, for example, here’s a perfect example. Now it looks like it showed a couple times. So it’s pulling up a specific person within a company, and then it’s pulling up that company. But Digikey is a phenomenal, incredible referral source for our client here, Damon, you we’ve actually had Digikey on the show
Damon Pistulka 04:18
before. Yes, we have. We had some from DigiKey on, you
Curt Anderson 04:21
know, you’re doing amazing work, working with clients on like marketplaces. Talk a little bit about like, in this particular case, like a referral partner, such as Digi key. Why this line so much value?
Damon Pistulka 04:33
Well, because they’ve got the platform that can sell your product. If you’re selling products, and that’s what would be on Digi key, they they have access to 1000s of people looking for products every single day.
Curt Anderson 04:44
Yep, exactly. So let’s just take a let’s take a little gander. So the nice thing is, with the digital game plan, we got the link right there, we can go right to that website. So say we don’t already have a relationship with Digi key, we can take a look at them, get underneath the hood, see what’s going on at Digi key. And. And diagnose like, hey, is this a good referral partner? Is it not a good referral partner? And so when we dive into this, this is a full blown, multi billion dollar marketplace, and this is a great fit for the particular client that we’re working with, and they are connecting with with soulmates, literally, on a consistent basis, with their their ideal customers. We can check out their social media links over here. So again, this is a great referral source. Let’s dive into like organizations. Damon, any thoughts as far as like trade associations? Oh, yeah. What are your thoughts there? Well,
Damon Pistulka 05:35
there’s so many different ones. I mean, because you could go into it could be a vertical in a type of business could be the aerospace industry. If you sell a lot into the aerospace industry, could be automotive. You’re selling and power generation. There’s so many associations to help manufacturers in the US and globally that you can if I’m making stuff that goes into the painting industry or whatever it is, I’m just coming up with one right now. You can find an association that services people that are making the products that you’re helping. You’re supplying components or services to help them
Curt Anderson 06:11
exactly. So like here, I’ve got highlighted, you know, this company here, they manufacture some particular components, you know. So, hey, you know, the electronics components industry association might be a great referral partner. And let’s look at that from a couple aspects, you know, for our friends out there that are creating content, you know, aligning with or partnering up with these trade associations, what a great thing is, these trade associations are constantly looking for content, right? Um, great opportunity. So a reach out to them and say, like, Hey, we’ve done some pieces or some articles on these widgets that we make, that we’re experts at. And not that we want to be salesy, but we want to be educational. Could we provide some information on your platform, on your website, on your blog, on your newsletter, and provide information as an education piece on the solution that you provide? That’s a great way to get your your information out there, one to many, right? You always love using that line, that
Damon Pistulka 07:07
one you got it. That’s a great one to many relationship, right? The other thing
Curt Anderson 07:11
is, like, right here, like on our, our LinkedIn, live. This has been a great tool, great resource for us. If you were to choose to do a podcast, if you were blogging, you could reach out to this association and say, Hey, I’m doing a blog, I’m going to do a podcast, I’m going to do a live stream covering this topic. And man, it looks like your expertise would be perfect. Could you come on our podcast? Could I interview you? What a great way to kick off or start a relationship, as opposed to, hey, could I sell my products to you or
Damon Pistulka 07:38
through Yes, yes. It’s a great way to build a relationship is to help ask them if they would be willing to contribute their expertise so that they can, you know, they can talk about what they do every day and share it with the world.
Curt Anderson 07:53
So here’s one of my my favorites. So Damon, this guy, we have a lot in common. So we got the bald engineer right here, James, James and so what’s interesting is so years this was pre covid, this guy was a he’s a heavy influencer on YouTube, 1000s and 1000s of hours. What we did is we reach out to him. We did like a little blog post on their website about this gentleman, and again, trying to piggyback with the bald engineer, who was like a great fit. And I think there was a couple other influencers here, right here, the EEV blog. So Dave Jones, he’s in Australia, if I’m not, if my memory serves, and again, huge following, great presence. And so, you know, look for those. This tool is a great tool that we have here. It spits out, you know, influencers in your industry. And you can take look and like, reach out to these folks and just say, like, once again, like, hey, how do I be that? Go Giver, if I could promote your business, you know, could we collaborate? Could we partner up? How can we shine a bright light on each other? But again, if you, if you come in it with no expectations of like, really shine a bright light on them. The goal is to piggyback, you know, with that relationship, anything that you want to add. Yeah,
Damon Pistulka 09:00
it definitely is. If you can help to shine a light on them, and, like I said, share their expertise with your audience and and you will, by doing that, start to build the relationships that can help you get referrals down the road,
Curt Anderson 09:15
exactly. So, you know, we’ve gone through like business referral partnerships, organizations, key influencers or individuals. This one is like content hubs. So again, another great place that is putting out content. Maybe they they’re looking for content that you have. Maybe they have them from you know, you have expertise that they would love to get on their website. And vice versa. If you’re creating content, maybe these are folks like, gosh, we’re trying to get our word out there. We would be honored to come on your podcast, interview your blog, or get that information. And then lastly, I’ve got geographic connectors so that could be like, you know, local trade associations, local business associations, your chamber of commerce, SBDC, Small Business Development Center, your manufacturer. Extension partnerships. So most can be also this. Matter of fact, let’s sit on those for a second demon like, you know, especially for our manufacturing friends, you know, aligning with local agencies, that could be, what are your thoughts there?
Damon Pistulka 10:13
Yeah, it’s a huge thing that, you know, if you’re a manufacturer, you definitely need to check out your local manufacturing extension partnership and and see with them, because they have people looking for manufactured items all day long. And they come to them, they’re they’re known. It’s a great place for you to also connect with other manufacturers and people that know manufacturing in your area.
Curt Anderson 10:37
Yeah, exactly. So, like, here, you know, it’s given a bunch of different examples. Like, you know, Buffalo Chamber of Commerce. These guys are located in Western New York, near Buffalo and, you know, Buffalo Niagara partnership, you know, they’ve got a great Manufacturing Alliance right here. So again, these are a number of different agencies that are local, and a great opportunity. Have we have got the social media links over here so you can connect with these folks here. So Damon, let’s start winding down. Want to kind of like recap, or tie things up in a boat here. What are your how do we want to tie up things here with our soulmate, 100 as we’re going after building that referral partnership with our digital game
Damon Pistulka 11:15
plan? Yeah, I think just in summary, when you look across the top the heading there and we go, Okay, are there referral businesses. Are there organizations? Are there key influencers in your industry or geographical like you said, they’re like chambers of commerce, Maine, MEPs, SBDCs, you know, and places that are really locally good, too, those are the places where you want to look at building your referral network, and you will find some in there that will definitely help you find get more business over time,
Curt Anderson 11:48
exactly. So okay, I’m going to stop sharing. So alright, if we, as we come into time, if you guys have any questions whatsoever, please connect. Follow Damon on LinkedIn. My name is Curt Anderson, uh, stop by. I’d love to connect. Learn more about you your business. We have a wonderful newsletter. If you stop by, b to b Tell Yup, we have a newsletter. We it’s called the secret sauce, comes out every Thursday morning with all sorts of valuable tips, information to help you stop being the best kept secret. Love to have you sign up for our newsletter. And again, we’re going to be back here. Damon, I think we’re going to be back here Friday with more fun and for more fun information for yes, we are. So alright, we’re going to wrap up for today. So guys, thank you. Appreciate. You. Applaud. You keep going out there and crush it. Have a great, incredible, phenomenal week, and we’ll be back here for more information later this week. You.