Referral Generation

Speaking at Ice Blue Sky’s recent B2B Marketing Symposium, Deborah Biscomb, Head of Field Marketing Europe for Sterling Commerce said, “Marketing is changing, and it’s changing dramatically now. We have to start talking to people.”

Deborah was just one of a number of speakers at the event who talked about the importance of engagement, collaboration and listening to customers in modern marketing.

Based on the Six Degrees of Separation Theory, LinkedIn helps users to see how they can connect with other members through mutual networks. Put simply, if you want to be introduced to someone else who is a member of LinkedIn, the site shows you the people you know who are connected to that person.

Six Degrees of Separation suggests that we are no more than five steps from anyone in the World. LinkedIn works on the first three degrees. You can see your network through the site. You can also get linked to your network’s connections and even to another level beyond that.

This article originally appeared in The National Networker

Last month I introduced you to Vanessa Hall, the award-winning speaker and author of Trust in Business. Vanessa outlined her model for understanding the foundations of trust and what you need to do to maintain trust in business relationships and ensure it doesn't erode and destroy relationships.

In the second part of the interview I asked Vanessa to elaborate on the role of trust in referral relationships and how to approach referrals with trust in mind.

According to the site BuzzMarketing.com, Buzz Marketing is "capturing attention of consumers and the media to the point where talking about your brand becomes entertaining, fascinating, and newsworthy" or, put more simply, "starting conversations."

This article originally appeared in The National Networker

“Building and retaining trust is the cornerstone of every business and personal relationship”.