If there is one activity that is the most effective yet the least understood, it is the practice of Recon Meetings.
For those who don’t know, a Recon Meeting is when two members meet to gain a deeper understanding of each other’s businesses by visiting each other outside the usual meeting times. This deeper knowledge allows them to more effectively spot referrals and opportunities. A Recon takes around 45 minutes but can be longer, though it should never be shorter.
Like all skills, the more you do it, the better you become. By conducting Recon Meetings regularly, you get better at it and become more adept at finding referrals. Just as you allocate time to other activities in your business day, so too should you allocate time for Recon Meetings. You must treat it as an essential part of your work week and not something you are prepared to cancel or reschedule easily.
One of the easiest times to allocate for Recons is immediately following your regular meeting. If you set aside an hour after the meeting, you can either do it at the venue (if space and venue allow) or follow the member to their place or yours. This makes booking Recons easy, as you know you will be at your meeting, so extending the allocated time is simple to do.
However you decide to do it, aim for two Recons per week: one where someone comes to learn about you, and one where you visit someone else.
What Does ‘Doing a Recon’ Involve?
The basic concept of the Recon is to gain more knowledge about your fellow members, better understand their motivation for being in business, and the types of referrals they are looking to receive. To give you an idea of what happens, the following is a meeting flow guide you can use to develop your Recon routine.
- Meeting Flow
- Meeting Location
Factory Tour
Personally, I find it fascinating to visit factories, offices, and building sites. It is really interesting to learn about how work is conducted in other businesses. It also gives real insight into the company and why they are in business. By giving people a factory tour, you provide more information than a simple sit-down interview ever could. They can see the processes you use, and if it is a visit to a construction site, they can see how you integrate with other professions, giving a more rounded sense of the entire company.
Sit-Down Discussions
It can be very easy to turn a Recon into a discussion and then a social chat. Remember, you are not there for a chat; you are there to find out information that can help you to find referrals for this person. Treat the Recon in a business-like way, like a fact-finding mission if they were to become a customer of yours. Within this book, there is a structured Recon Sheet to help keep the flow of a Recon on track.
Types of Referrals Sought
The last five minutes of a Recon should be spent explaining the triggers that will allow referrals to be spotted. Triggers are often complaints like, “my computer doesn’t work” or “my plumber can’t come until next Monday,” but they might also be subtle, like people planning to retire or who are expecting babies. Whatever your common triggers are, explain these to the person you are meeting.
End and Book
Finally, when you have finished the Recon, thank the person for their time and make an appointment to see them in about two weeks (if you haven’t already done so) to allow them to learn about your business. Recons are a ‘game of two halves,’ and a full Recon involves two meetings. If the meeting is the second in the cycle, why not book a time eight months from now to do it again? After all, in eight months, your businesses will have moved on, and there will be more to learn. I have met with some members of my groups 10 or 12 times over the 15 years I have been actively involved in business networking.
It is also important to understand the different types and levels of referrals they are seeking. These are commonly called Bread & Butter, Cream, and Dream.
Bread & Butter
These are the day-to-day work their company needs. These referrals are the ones people can find easily. For example, for my web design business, these would be companies needing advice on using the Internet to help market themselves.
Cream
These are the icing on the cake! They might be slightly bigger projects, or they might be a more profitable type of customer. For me, these include online shops and the creation of online software systems to help customers run their businesses.
Dream
These are the types of referrals that will fundamentally change your business. My dream referral has nothing to do with my business. It involves being introduced to a decision-maker in the movie industry to whom I can pitch my several ideas for films.
Observations from Recons
I have noticed over the years that members who actively conduct Recons, doing two or more a week, tend to not only find more referrals for their fellow members but also receive more. However, the strangest part of the equation is that the referrals they find are not just for the people they have met with; they see an increase in their ability to find referrals for everyone. My theory, based on hunch and observation rather than scientific fact, is that active Recon activity activates the part of the brain that is receptive to identifying problems. Like having a heightened sense of smell, you sniff out referrals from the slightest hint.
Doing Recons will make you better at finding referrals for everyone; it is the cornerstone of business networking success. As you become more able to find referrals, you can pass more referrals to more people. Your confidence increases, and your skill level again rises as you become more relaxed and natural about asking for referrals. It is an ever-increasing spiral. The effect of your increased activity seems to increase the number of referrals you receive. I have no scientific explanation for this effect, even after nearly 20 years as an active business networker.
Some referrals will come from the people you have met with, but most will come from members you haven’t yet met with for a Recon. As I say, I do not know why this happens, but I have seen it time and again. People who Recon regularly give and receive more referrals.