Monday, May 12, 2014

Growing a business

I am a part of a local networking group in Springfield call the MOB; Masterminds Of Business.  It's a fantastic group of business men and women that get together to pass along referrals and to close business here in the Ozarks.  I was privileged to have an opportunity to teach an orientation class today of new members to help them get the most out of the group. 

I am always amazed how similar businesses are and how they all deal with similar problems, challenges and solutions. 

Growing businesses are not always easy.  It takes patience, time and some hard work to produce the luck you have in being successful.  (Notice I do believe in producing your own luck.)  Networking is one of the most efficient ways to rapidly grow a business and sustain any business......even real estate.

One of the very basic fundamentals of business is that people do business with people that they know, like and trust.  In our meeting, trust came out as the most important factor of referring someone.  It was interesting to note that trust will be almost automatic when referring business.  Here's an example.  In our business, we have people that can do many things; HVAC, plumbing, etc.  We stay in touch with those people to make sure they know us and we know them.  We have a client that we sold a home to almost a year ago that they were working on remodeling.  We gave them the name of a person we've worked with before that we felt would do a good job.  About a month later, we asked how all that worked out.  We were shocked to learn that not only did they do the job we had discussed, they hired him to do many other projects around the house as well!!!!  The homeowners didn't know him when he started but trusted us to give them a good person.  The worker earned more trust just doing a good job.  That's all the selling he had to do.  Needless to say, it was a win/win/win for everyone.  Yes, it was a win for us because we have happy clients that will recommend us and use us for their real estate needs in the future because we earned even more trust.  But it was a great win for both our client and the person doing the work too!

That being said; anytime, as agents we make a referral of a business for a service to a client or prospect, it pays off to have the confidence in the folks you work with because you never know when that referral causes you to earn more business or lose more business.  Either way, you get MORE!

Now, since it's spring, we are fortunate to get to watch some robins grow out just outside our kitchen window.  Very fun to watch these little guys be cared for and grow.  Yesterday was Mothers day so as a tribute, here's a picture of 'mom' doing what they do best.  Taking care of the little one.


 


Wish everyone a very good a prospers week.

Mark