Keep a Referral Scorecard

Ivan Misner, president of worldwide networking organization BNI, published a great idea in a recent article on Entrepreneur.com (I saw it here, on MSNBC).  While it may be complicated to track results and ROI for most marketing strategies, he explains, it's actually quite easy to track your referral results.  How?  With a scorecard.

On this card, Misner suggests, record each referral. From whom did you get it, and how?  Was it unsolicited, or did you ask? If so, how?  How did you follow up on the referral? How did you follow up with your referral source?  Also track how you made referral requests that fail to yield new prospects.

When you keep track of all of these data points, Misner points out, you can then look back at what you did and analyze how successful you were and why. You can determine whether or not you're getting repeat referrals from specific clients.

It's the little things that make all the difference.  Did you forget to send a thank-you note?  Did you word your referral request just a little bit differently this time?  Pay attention to these small details, track the path and outcome of each referral you request and receive, and you'll be in a great position to tweak your referral strategy and improve your results.