Referrals are a tricky business, especially the receiving part. It's not always easy to control the number of referrals you receive. Yes, you can ask for them and you'll receive more, but that's a different post.

In my experience and in conversations with the top business networkers in my own network there seems to be some consensus that there is a give to receive referral ratio. It's truly going to depend on your business and how easy or difficult it is for others to refer you, but the most common ration seems to be 3:1

For every 3 referrals that you give you should receive 1 referral. This ratio is in the short term. Over time your ratio is likely to get a little better.

Again, this is an average. For some folks it might be 5:1 or 10:1, others might be really easy to refer and will see the reverse: 1:3 or 1:2.

Give some thought to what your own referral metric is. Start paying attention to it, and you might even think about starting to track it.

Now for the networking tip. The most important part of this equation is the front half of the ratio. How much are you giving? If you want to receive 2 good referrals a week wouldn't it make sense to give 6 qualified referrals so that you'll get the 2 if your ratio is 3:1?

It's much easier to control, measure and track the number of referrals you're giving. The focused networking groups I belong to are full of top notch referrers. Several of them have turned referring into a daily habbit. They set a goal of finding a way to give at least 1 good referral a day. Just being aware of this makes you think about how you can make those referrals.

You can also leverage your networking at events to accelerate your giving. Last night I attended Texchange. I met some really cool folks and because I was focused on them, and finding referral opportunities I was able to have some really neat conversations. Over the course of the night I created 6 referral opportunities. 2 I was able to make on the spot because the people were there at the event and I just made an introduction. The rest will receive virtual e-mail introductions so that they can connect with the people I think they can help or vice-versa.

What's your referral ratio? How much should you try to give in order to receive what you want?

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com