Hi Reader, wanted to share a quick story from a client.

He's had some success building a referral-based business. But he's also struggled building referral partner relationships.

We were going through his relationships and trying to pinpoint where the best opportunities would be.

Here are a couple of things we uncovered.

And we did it by tapping into a little acronym I learned from my good friend, John Ruhlin.

John would always say, "Look for R.I.C.H. relationships."

​Here's what it stands for...

​

R.I.C.H. Relationships

1) Reciprocal

Look for people who are reciprocal. People are generally givers, takers, or matchers. Look for givers...people who want to help.

My client? He had a CFO who was a great client.

But just being a great client isn't enough...he was also reciprocal. Always keen to help, returning calls, returning favors.

2) Influential

Look for influential people. People who know your ideal clients or ideal shoulder partners.

So this client, who was a great client-CFO AND reciprocal?

That guy also hung around other CFOs.

That means...influence.

This was a light bulb moment for my client.

He was looking for introductions to CFOs, and had a reciprocal CFO-client who had influence with other CFOs.

3) Connected

Look for people who are connected.

Do they have relationships with other people that they'd be willing to make connections? So do they know people? And also, will they make connections?

In this case, the answer was again yes for this client.

He knew someone who was reciprocal, had influence with other CFOs, and would be willing to make connections.

4) Humble

Humble is just a way of being understated and modest.

Someone who doesn't think of themselves as better than others.

It's a quality that helps build trust, keeps people open to learning, and makes them happy to see you succeed.

Look for people who are reciprocal, have influence, would be willing to make connections, and are humble.

​

What this did, is it gave a kind of psychographic for my client to hold all his relationships up against.

To focus in on who to reach out to and build his business around.

​

One last piece of advice he got...

Be. authentic.

You don't need big scripts.

When you're doing business from the heart with gratitude, with curiosity, and with generosity...just let it flow naturally.

​

So until next time, keep rocking. Appreciate you.

Brian

Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Work with me to transform your referral relationships. (Booking into Dec - let's talk)
2. Get your own board of advisors with ACCELERATE Boardroom (See if it's a fit here)

​