Episode 699: Are Referrals Always Reciprocal? (Classic Podcast)

The Official BNI Podcast

Synopsis Note: this episode is a rebroadcast of Episode 500. This week's Ask Ivan question comes from Alberto, a BNI member in Italy. There are people I've provided with good referrals, and they got good business from those referrals. I've never received referrals back from them. I'm going to ask them for more of a commitment on giving me referrals. Do I have to provide them with additional referrals, or not? If you're giving someone a lot of referrals and you're not getting any in return, sit down with the person and walk through all the business you've given them in a way that shows you care about their success. Ask them how each and every referral worked out. Make sure that the referrals you gave were as good as you think they were. If the referrals didn't turn out as well as you thought they did, ask how you can improve in giving them quality referrals. (It's a good question to ask even if the referrals did work out well.) If (and only if) the referrals benefited the person, tell them how glad you are that you were able to help them, because that's what BNI is about: supporting one another and giving each other referrals. Then remind them that sending business your way would be really helpful to you. Ask them if they have a few minutes now to talk about how they can reciprocate. If there's someone who just refuses to give you business, you might not want to refer them. But that's rarely the case, and effective networking is relational, not transactional. When you give referrals, they will come back to you--but not always from the person you gave the referral to. Share your own experiences with reciprocal referrals in the comments. Brought to you by the Networking for Success YouTube Channel. Complete Transcript of Episode 699 Priscilla:Hello everybody and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which features Dr. Ivan Misner and many other networking experts. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan, and could this possibly be our 500th podcast? Ivan:This is our 500th podcast, Priscilla. You have been with me almost since the very beginning. I think you came onboard on podcast number 32. Is that right? Priscilla:That's true, Ivan. Ivan:So almost 500 podcasts since this started. Thank you so much for everything that you have done over all of these years. I think you have produced a great podcast. Every Wednesday for 10 years. We started in April of 2007, so it is almost exactly 10 years that I have been doing this podcast. You came onboard with me on that very first year, so thank you, Priscilla. Priscilla:You are welcome and thank you, Ivan, because you are a very consistent person, and it builds for all of us and creates information that helps us grow. It wouldn't happen unless you were so consistent. Ivan:Thank you. I appreciate that. We are completely off script here but it's funny you say that because I often tell people that everybody has some strengths that really help them in business. I tell people I may not be the smartest guy in the room. I may not be the most successful guy in the room, but I am almost always the most persistent guy in the room. I am just like a dog with a bone. I hang on to a good idea and work it, work it and work it. I think the BNIpodcast.com site is probably one of the best ideas that I have had at BNI in that it flattens the communication hierarchy within the organization, where I can talk to members directly via these podcasts and they can talk to me through their comments on these podcasts. Believe me, I read every comment that get puts up. Maybe not that week, but I read every comment that gets put up on BNIpodcast.com. So it flattens the communication hierarchy.