We all live by the favours of others and by doing so, we do favours for others in return.
If someone holds a door for you when you are trying to carry an awkward load, you are more inclined to hold the door for someone in the future.
If someone gives you good advice about how to complete some aspect of life, you then hold that person in higher regard.
If someone passes your name to a potential client, you begin to trust the other person more strongly. You then also feel you want to return the favour.
Networking is built on trust; networking is built on experience; networking is not built on guesswork.
You need little experience to hold a door open for someone, other than your own experience of struggling with doors in the past yourself.
The person who gives you good advice is sharing their knowledge and experience of life with you to help you live a little easier.
However, how do you refer a fellow member of this group if you do not know what or why they do what they do?
When people do their one-minute presentations each week, you gain a small amount of knowledge. That can make a difference in a general way to help you with a referral when someone states the obvious, like “Do you know someone who fixes car engines?”
However, most referral opportunities are not that obvious. Most opportunities are disguised as problems or as a cog in a machine of events unfolding in someone’s life.
To spot opportunities, you need to gain a slightly more in-depth knowledge of the other people around the table, and the best way to do that is to have a Recon Meeting with them.
By spending 40 minutes talking with someone in a Recon Meeting, you find out so much more about their capabilities as a business and more about them as a person. This knowledge will give you insights into how to spot referrals when they arise and to think in advance about whom you know who needs problems solved by this person.
Recons build knowledge, and knowledge is the power to refer.