Referrals, Reputation, or Public Profile?

Look, these things aren't mutually exclusive. In an ideal world, we'd all have all three, right?

Because a great reputation certainly helps you get more referrals. And having a good public profile, being known in your space and seen as the go to expert certainly does. It's what inspired this post.

Ideally, that public profile comes from word of mouth: other people using you, shouting about you, and building a solid reputation to match your profile, or “personal brand”, if we're going on today's lingo (jeez, have I really got to the age where that's what I'm saying? Anyway, I digress). But we know that's not always the case, and I’m sure you know the sorts of people I mean. Sometimes a business, or more likely individual, shows all the right signs. They're active on socials, talking about fancy new projects and their latest big client win. They're at all the right speaking gigs, off to this conference or that. Their brand looks and feels polished. But for all this surface level stuff look deeper and something’s often missing. There’s no advocacy.
For all the client kick off announcements no one else is ever shouting about them. And, in fact, other people are very rarely tagged in what they do. There’s no end of project ‘this is what we did’ posts. 

I've spoken to three people within the agency landscape in the last few weeks who have all worked with other creatives based on their public profile and been underwhelmed by the experience and the output achieved. One even said sheepishly to me on a call, “In hindsight, I probably should have got some referrals.”

And so, while I quite rightly (in my opinion) constantly stress the importance of maximising your nearbound channels for lead generation, I want to use this opportunity to remind you to use your network for when you need services as well.

The thing is this tactic is particularly strong in the creative space where not only can you get a character reference around what they're like to work with, but often you can visually see or read the output of their work. And look, if there's someone you really want to work with, but you don't know anyone else who has, why not ask them for someone you can speak to, and / or a range of examples of their work that you can see?

Yes, it’s a bit of extra faff and you might really like the idea of working with the person, but it can save you a whole lot of time, money, and heartache in the long run.

Flipping this on its head so you become even more of the go to then you are now….

So how can you flip this for your own use to ensure you're the person that people come to?

Well, you need to raise your profile.

Ta Dah! Job done, welcome to my TED Talk, thanks for listening.

Of course I'm joking, but… you do need to. And for this, I see it being in two stages.

1./ Raise your own profile

First, you can raise your own profile. Post the LinkedIn post, record (and post) the video, write the newsletter, say yes to the podcast guest spots.

I know it comes easier to some than others - I love this stuff - but your business will thank you for doing it. So if you want the profile that attracts the inbound enquiries you're going to need to get out there more.

That said, you know what they say about “you need to blow your own trumpet because no one else is going to do it for you”? Well, point two is about that….

2./ Get others to raise your profile for you

Proving that saying completely wrong, the other way of raising your profile is getting others to do it for you.

Get the testimonials in. Ask people to share them. If they've sent you something on Google, get them to add it as a LinkedIn recommendation as well. The more people talk about you, the more your reputation and profile will rise. And the more of the opportunities to raise your own profile - like speaking gigs - will hit your inbox.

(Especially if you get the people you speak for to leave and share great reviews)

Of course, it's even better if they actually make introductions to you……

And the key to getting introductions at the early stages - those ones that people with the big public profile might be getting - is to capture conversations with your prospects when they're thinking about the problem you solve, but aren’t necessarily outwardly saying they're looking for the solution just yet.

I call this situational niching. It's about you being really clear on the moments in time or situations when your product or service is at its most useful. Maybe it's when someone's going through some repositioning, or launching into a new market, or they've outgrown whatever it is they have currently. From there, you need to work on the triggers for your potential introducers or referrers to listen out for.

These are the things that your prospects say or do that show an introduction to you would be a useful one. It's not the words on your wonderfully well-crafted website. Those words are designed for people in buying mode. Nope, these triggers are the day-to-day language someone uses when asked at a networking event or meeting, “How are you doing?”

Let me give you some examples.

People don't necessarily say they need a new website or copy. They'll apologise for their current one in advance. They might talk about being stressed about coming up with new positioning, or that there's a product they can't quite get over the line, or that their website is causing them headaches.

They wont say they need a videographer, they might talk about being scared to get in front of the camera, or that editing is taking too long or the like.

Maybe they’re complaining about not being able to keep up with algorithms, or producing content, whatever the problem you solve is flip it on its head. 

Get your potential introducers to listen out for these triggers and then position you as the person to have a friendly chat with and talk through options. In doing that, you become someone who helps solve a problem and people will want to talk to you - meaning you potentially pick up leads much earlier. The alternative is being positioned as an agency that’s gong to pitch at someone (even if not in so many words), and very few people want to be entered into a sales funnel. It's also a much more human, non-salesy, non-icky way of looking for introductions. Put these into place and you'll be well away.

So if you can combine the profile raising with training the fans of your brands to listen out for the triggers that allow for early introductions you’ll be well on your way to picking up more work.

If you need help doing these - or you hear people complaining they can't quite get their referrals right - get in touch and we can support. And remember: next time you need a service, remember to ask - use word of mouth rather than just relying on a public profile.