[rexschaller]

Based in London, we're coming into our 4th year of business, cleaning to be specific. At the begining of this year we joined a group of business people (BNI Business Network International), various trades/companies including a builder, painter, electrician, solicitor, accountant, web developer to name a few. We pass referrals amongst 20 to 25 people within our group. It saves us having to cold call for new business as these people keep their ears and eyes peeled for business. It also reinforces the business trust between each of us giving us good ammunition for a reliable referral.

We generally receive referrals every week and an average of 90 referrals are passed amongst the group generating a substantial amount of business.

To date we have secured between £8000.00 and £9000.00 of cleaning work.

Being in this group also has a way of developing us as individuals re presentation and networking skills.

There are a few networking organisations out there that you can join and depending on how good they are you can use them as en extention of your sales and marketing. Its a passive, self developmental way of getting your business out there.

It's not what you know but who you know, network.