A Tool for Finding the Awesome 12% of Your Network
The Referral Relationship Assessment Tool
Are you familiar with the Referral Relationship Assessment Tool? It’s a diagnostic tool for determining if you and a member of your network are a good fit for learning more about each other’s business and moving to the next phase of your referral relationship. Dr. Misner, founder of BNI, refers to this phase of developing the awesome 12% of your relationships as the Visibility phase. Other pundits, such as Daniel Pink, use numbers and simply call this phase, “Phase #1.” Here’s how it works.
As far as you know, you can confirm that you and your network member know, like and trust one another.
You have determined that you want to learn more about one another’s business.
Now you want to be sure that you want to move to the next phase of your referral relationship with this person.
Try this assessment tool to make sure that you have most of the components for building a positive referral relationship that will grow and provide referral dividends forever.
The scale is from 1 to 5: 1 being “never”, 2 being “not often”, 3 being “sometimes”, 4 being “many times” and 5 being “always”.
Please rate the relationship that you would like to take to the next level as follows:
| 1. | I like this person | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 2. | I trust this person | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3. | This person is a giver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 4. | I am interested in their business | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 5. | They have expressed interest in my business | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6. | They offer to help when they can | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 7. | They know who can help me | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 8. | You are ready to help them | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 9. | You understand that you are not looking for direct business from him/her unless they indicate otherwise | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 10. | He/she understands that you are not looking for direct business from you unless you indicate otherwise | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 11. | You have social capital with them | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 12. | He/she has social capital with you | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
The total is 60 points.
A “5” answer to every question is ideal. “4”s work as well, “3”s are good, anything less on any of the statements could be a problem.
Good! You have completed the diagnostic tool and you have determined that you have a fit.
Now What?
You are about to create a relationship that will reside in the elite 12% of your network. The people in this 12% “slice” like and trust you, know your business and, as a result, are able to create reactive referrals for you. They are moving to the Beverly Hills of your network. Where do you start?
Isolate and identify one another’s target market, with a full description of one another’s ideal client.
Whatever term that you want to use for being booked solid by referral, be it Referral, Relationship or High Touch Marketing, it is still marketing.
Every marketing text book will state that a precise understanding of the target market is mission critical.
It is the same deal with potential referral source relationships, you need to have a clear definition of one another’s ideal client, before moving forward.
10 Descriptors of the Ideal Client will do the trick. Are you ready with yours?
You can define a potentially good referral relationship with today’s assessment tool.
You can start to move that good referral relationship to a great one by clearly defining and sharing your target market descriptors with one another.