IT'S TIME TO AUDIT....YOURSELF!

Did you survive the tax season? While many CPA's now will catch our collective breaths, right now is the perfect time to start your audit season. And the first person to audit is you.



But I am like my clients, I don't like audits! To improve both as a professional and as a networker, you must review your clients, your referral partners, and your business on a regular basis. The successful networker knows who has referred him or her, who provides the best quality referrals, and who are the most profitable clients. How do successful networkers know this? They track this information constantly. But it is not just about the numbers. A successful networker has to know how to read the numbers and what to do with them.



To analyze the data you have tracked, step one is to determine where you stand with each of your clients and referral partners. In his book, Business by Referral, Ivan Misner, Ph.D., Founder and Chairman of BNI, discusses what is known as the "VCP" process. In the most basic terms, you need to determine if your clients and referral partners just know you, do they trust you and your work, or are they passing you quality referrals on a regular basis. As a successful networker, you need to determine where you stand with each client and referral partner you have. Expect to be just known or at the earliest stages of building trust with your new clients and partners. Successful networking is not a "get rich quick" scheme, it does take time to get to the highest levels of profitability with your partners.



After analyzing where you stand, determine which clients and partners you need to focus on and what you need to do to strenghten your relationships with them. Many professionals know the 80/20 rule, that is 80% of business comes from 20% of clients. Determine who those clients are and what you should do to strengthen those relationships. Some ideas include giving referrals, saying "thank you" with a personalized "thank you" (something they are interested in), fill a need in their contact sphere (the group of professionals they most closely assoicate with), and/or offer to help them in any way.

Audit yourself to make sure you are the resource your clients and referral partners come to!