San Diego Referrals Inc FAQ

In both cases, the time includes time for the questions, so you may want to have your actual presentations designed for only 6 and 3 minutes, respectively. Recommendation: Practice your presentation to yourself at least twice, so you can time it. This is especially important if you have PowerPoint slides, because since you are enthusiastic about your own business, the tendency is to include too many slides, and to talk too long about each one, only to discover that time is up, when you’ve only gotten halfway through the presentation.

DESIGNING YOUR PRESENTATION:

Don’t wait. Begin doing this early.

Suggestion: present yourself and your company in a way that it will be remembered. Be sure to include how it is that we, as your sales force, can help you. For example, what are the clues or triggers we should look for, in order to think of you when we are out and about our daily personal and business lives? Make a list, even if you think they are obvious. They may be obvious to you, but not to us.

Approach A: Talk about yourself. Why and how you got into this business. What it means to you. How you do it better and differently.

Approach B: Talk only about the business. Many speakers will focus on WHAT they do and why it’s so good. While commendable, it’s also very common. You might more effectively “connect” with the listeners by telling a story or giving examples of HOW you do things, and WHAT IT DOES FOR THE CLIENT as a result.

Three minutes is not a long time, so make it count. Plan and rehearse. Get advice.

DELIVERING YOUR PRESENTATION:

Handouts: don’t hand them out yourself, as your time is too precious. Pre-divide into thirds, and put onto ends of tables for members to pass along.

Visual objects: Don’t try to hold them up yourself….. remember that you will usually need one hand for the microphone. Don’t be bashful; just ask someone to hold them up for you.

Being heard: maintain the microphone about 3 inches from your mouth. The best way to do this might be to use the microphone stand, because you may already be using your hands for notes and for the PowerPoint slide advance clicker.

Being seen: Use hand gestures and large props.

Your speaking notes: Several 3 x 5 cards are a good idea. Large sheets of paper are distracting and can flop over, etc.

Remember that while you are presenting, you are competing for the attention of the listeners, who are also trying to think of, and pass referrals. Put yourself in their place as you consider the content of your presentation.

TECHNICAL AUDIO / VIDEO:

The group owns the projector. As part of our regular routine, we set it up and make it available for you each week. If you design your own PowerPoint presentation, please coordinate this ahead of time with Amir.

If you design on a Mac (Apple), bring the notebook computer with you. Make sure ahead of time that you have an output connection of 15-pin.

If you design on an IBM format (PC), then you can bring the presentation in one of three ways:

Bring the notebook computer itself (again ensure you have 15-pin connector output)
Bring the presentation on CD
Bring the presentation on USB connected flash drive

In any case, be sure to arrive no later than 6:45 AM, and see Amir, Michael Gray, or Anita (they rotate, taking turns), so that we can do a dry run with the hookup to the projector. That way, we avoid surprises, and last-minute technical difficulties.

If you do options 2. or 3. above, make sure that ALL the files are actually on the CD or flash drive, as sometimes the actual picture files are daisy-chained references, and get left behind on the PC.

For audio, we can amplify if you have a standard stereo mini-plug line output (best) or stereo min-plug HEADPHONE output (OK). Or, to make it simple, we may just put a microphone next to the laptop's little speaker.

IBM formatted DVD: we can play and project these, but since software is sometimes not compatible, be sure to try playing it on SDRI's laptop, at SDRI at least the week prior.

RENTAL of the SDRI projector for your own “event”: If you have an after-meeting presentation, and it will be located at Hometown Buffet, you can rent the projector for $10. Either Amir or Steve needs to be present to put the machine away, and Steve Landry has a form to be filled out ahead of time.

QUESTIONS or COMMENTS? Contact Steve Landry, who wrote this piece. He can be reached (day or night) at 858-576-7302 or at landry_stephen@nlvmail.com

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Where can I find information about how the group works and how I am doing with referrals and attendance and when I'm going to speak... ?

[Go the home page of this website, and explore the different pages. You'll find that your record on referrals and attendance is regularly tabulated. Also the speaking schedule is available as a separate page.

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Technically, what is a referral?

Generally, you've given a referral when you've contacted the other member and let him/her know that he/she can call someone you've spoken to -- and that the person who needs service or products is expecting a call about that product or service.

With attorneys, it's a little different, because their profession usually does not allow them to initiate the contact, so they cannot pick up the phone and call the person who needs the service, even though the attorney understands there is a need. Thus, the attorneys in our group usually will consider it a referral if you've simply asked the person who needs the attorney to call the attorney himself/herself first. You just let the attorney know that you recommended their legal help, and that the person will be calling the attorney.

If you give a person an SDRI brochure, circle the name of a member, and recommend that he or she call the SDRI member, but you never get the name of that person in front of you, that's usually going to be a weak referral. And the SDRI member will probably not want to "count" that as a referral given to him or her. That's because it would water down the figures, and indicate that good referrals were given, when they really were not. "I talked with someone, gave them your name and the brochure, and they said they would call you" is not a good referral. But if you also include the name and phone number of the person to whom you gave the brochure .... that 's much better, and the SDRI member will probably count that as a referral.

With life insurance, it's also different. Since very few people will recognize, realize or admit that they even need life insurance until a professional salesperson brings it up, our life insurance person (Steve Landry) considers it a referral if you simply give him the name and phone number of someone who you know. He takes it from there, and initiates, while protecting your relationship with the person you've identified.

Essentially, what this all means is a referral is a referral if the person to whom you give the referral agrees that it truly is one. That means it would be best if you spoke with the other member and asked him or her what he or she would "count" as a referral. So, it works out that you can't have a rigid rule and make things work in our group. We are all different, and we do different things.

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Why aren't there any announcements at the meetings?

We have streamlined the meetings, to make use of every minute available. With a large group such as ours, it's so important to eliminate administrative time. We emphasize the use of e-mail and the website to get out announcements. If you have an announcement, you can certainly use your 20 second stand-up time to do that, bearing in mind that it will displace your commercial time.

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How has this group grown to become so large?

For our first few years, the group's growth was hindered by elements that discouraged potential new members, and grew tiresome to those who did stay. Those two elements were: cost of membership and excessive infrastructure. What we mean when we say infrastructure were things such as social games mandated by the referral franchisor corporation, excessive announcements, etc. We decided to incorporate and begin our own group, independent of any franchise, and we drastically lowered the cost of membership and cut out the time-wasters. Small business people are all about energy and efficiency, so we became attractive. Lasting and strong relationships were built, because members wanted to stay, and were able to afford the cost of staying.

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Is the plan to expand the group even more? ... ?

We are shooting for a membership of 100. This would give us roughly 25% more referrals exchanged each week. We have streamlined the meetings now, to the point where we have 7 speakers each week, and we still finish early, most of the time.

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Who do I contact if I have a complaint or an idea?

It's best to contact the cognizant Board member. The Board Positions are: President, Vice President (Attendance), Membership, Publicity, Ethics (conflict resolution), Inspector, Sgt-at-Arms, Social, Treasurer, Past President. Just be prepared, though. The Board members are overloaded with things to do, so you may be asked to implement the solution to the problem, or initiate and oversee a project to make it happen.

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What is "Fiver Day" and why is it necessary?

Once each quarter, we have a designated breakfast meeting at which we encourage each member to bring a potential new member. If that happens, great -- you take out $5 from the bucket. If you don't, uh-oh-- you must put $5 into the bucket. No one likes paying $5, but what we have found is that it simply works. Most of our growth comes subsequent to, and as a result of "fiver day".