Learn how to categorize your referral partners to have a well-balanced and constantly growing referral network.
How to organize, analyze and build your foundation for referral success.
Do you have the right referral partners and how do you get more of the right ones? The first step in determining your referral network is having some sort of a plan. The pyramid allows you to analyze your network but it also gives you insight on how to get more of the right partners. There are only 4 parts of the pyramid and every step you go up you should have a 25% decline.
The Pyramid
Prospects
These are the new contacts you have that haven’t closed deals or are very low producers. If you have 10 of these only about 50% will ever move up. That’s why it’s important to constantly be adding to this level of the pyramid.
If you lose these then no big deal. What’s important is to put as many into this bucket as possible so you can start identifying who has the potential to move up. These are essentially seeds that you’ve planted and you need to see which ones will bloom.
Role Players
Role players are great and everyone needs them but you can’t build your business based on role players alone. This is the proving ground for your partners and you can expect about 50% of these to move up the pyramid.
From a production stand point these partners are icing on the cake loans, but where you can determine if they have the potential to become great partners.
Too many LO’s have Role Players that get lost in the shuffle. Focus on this category because you’ll be surprised and what gems come out of this category.
Potential Stars
These are your solid partners that you have moved through the process and you want as many of these as you can get. Not everyone Potential star will become a start which is fine. But the goal should be to have as many in this category as you can have.
This is the foundation for your success and only about 25% of these will move up the pyramid. The biggest mistake LO’s make is they let their potential stars fall back to role players instead of keeping them in this category or moving them forward.
Stars
Obviously these are the ideal partners but not everyone has the capability to become a star which is fine. Evaluate your potential stars, determine who does enough units per year to become a star and try to get them into this category.
To take a potential star and make them a start you need to have a meeting with them and build a “team” concept. No one will just send you 12 deals a year because they like you. You need to sit down with them, say “what can we do together” to make our partnership better. Then build the game plan an execute. That is how you convert a potential star to a star.
Scalable Pyramid
