Many types of entities can comprise a Referral Networking group, and several types of group structures can be used.

• Entities include for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, government agencies, trade associations and schools.
• Structures can be one-on-one (two people working toward a common goal), one-on-many (one person working on behalf of many others) or many-on-many (many people working toward a common goal).

In this Referral Network guidebook, we will discuss the formation of many-on-many groups, composed of either for-profit or not-for-profit businesses with a common market. However, many of these ideas will apply to other entities and structures, so please use what you learn here to increase your success in other areas -- even those outside of the Yellow-Tie program.

Above all, remember Yellow-Tie's Give First philosophy.

Keys To Success

Some key features of a Yellow-Tie Referral Network that will add to its success are:

• A clearly defined leader to spearhead efforts, instigate activities and keep everyone on a path to success.
  
• A clearly defined common market or prospect base. (All Yellow-Tie Referral Networks are composed of small groups where no member of a group is competitive with another member of the same group, and where everyone sells products or services to the exact same prospects.)
  
• A written commitment to participate that is signed by all members. (The Yellow-Tie membership agreement digitally signed during the joining process serves this purpose.)
  
• A timeline and accountability that establishes expectations – what members are expected to give and what they can expect to receive.
  
• An accountability system to ensure that all members meet their commitments.

• Attend your network's monthly meetings.
• Learn about other members of your group so you can become comfortable recommending them and succeed at giving referrals.
  
• Reporting the referrals you give and receive to your group's leader.
• Honestly rating the quality of referrals you receive from other members of your group, so they can learn how to better refer you in the future.
  
• Learning from your network members who rate the referrals you give.
  

A Common Prospect Description

• Are Objectively Stated: Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, "large," "midsize" and "small" are subjective terms that mean different things to different people. Members who sell business-to-business should use objective terms such as number of employees, total annual sales, specific industry or number of computer users. Members who sell business to consumer should use objective descriptions such as age ranges, buying patterns, geographic location or retirement status.
• Leave No Room For Assumption: We all know what assume makes out of u and me, so leave no room for assumption when describing your prospects.
  
• Are Clearly Communicated: Putting your prospect description on paper leaves little room for confusion when communicating it to prospective Referral Network members. For that reason, Yellow-Tie has created a prospect description form members and potential members can use to describe their prospects as accurately as possible.
  

The ultimate goal is to go through the group formation process only once. And the more detailed and accurate you are in your prospect description process, the more likely you are to be successful the first time around.

Starting Or Joining Your Group

One of the easiest ways to build a quality lead-sharing group is to begin by finding one key person that is interested in participating, and scheduling a meeting to discuss formation of the group, establish guidelines for the group and determine the characteristics of the people you want to include. Then each of you should invite one person – making sure to follow the guidelines you established for inviting new members – to the next group meeting.

Four people constitute your initial group. Together, you should determine the best regular meeting time, such as breakfast, lunch or dinner, or business hours, evenings or weekends, and ideal frequency. Where possible, use the meetings as a way to establish relationships with potential clients. If, for instance, restaurant owners are prospects, meet in a different establishment each time and get to know the restaurateurs.

At your first group meeting, decide how to expand the meeting to new members, making sure to have only noncompetitive companies in your group. Some examples that have little crossover are attorneys, accountants, business coaches, HR professionals, information technology professionals, printing vendors, computer hardware and/or software vendors, banks and credit card companies, and newspaper and/or magazine publishers. To find additional potential group members, ask your current clients something like, "From whom else do you regularly buy products or services."

Establish the “3 LQs” of lead sharing – lead quality, lead quantity and lead qualification – and make sure all members of the group understand the process to be used when sharing leads.

Establish that no member’s name is to be “dropped” (used as a reference or social proof), without that member’s permission. (This will avoid potential abuse by some members.)

Ultimately, however, the leader of the group must assume responsibility for organizing meetings, sending meeting reminders, creating and establishing group guidelines and instigating activity. He or she should also create a master list of members, so that everyone has contact information for everyone else.