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Microsoft Small Business Center Points to BNI for Referrals

Your dentist walks into the waiting room and explains your child'ss check-up results. I have some good news and some bad news, he says. The good news is, your son has no cavities. The bad news is, he needs braces.



With barely any hesitation, you ask: Do you know a good orthodontist



Sure, he says, In fact, I know two that I trust enough to recommend.



That brief interaction shows the power of a referral, writes Joanna Krotz in a recent article for the Microsoft Small Business Center. Krotz, who writes about small-business marketing and management issues and is the author of the 's8220;Microsoft Small Business Kit,'s8221; went on to recommend BNI as a great source of referrals to grow a business.



Try to set up a system that includes client referrals as a seamless part of your marketing plan, advises Krotz. Her online article for the Microsoft Small Business Center outlines ten different ways to ask for referrals. Joining a networking organization -- like BNI -- is one of them.



Her article explains how referral marketing can be both simple and inexpensive for small businesses. She notes that few business owners actually ask for referrals, however, and fewer still ask in the right way at the right time.



Krotz offers several key points of referral marketing advice, including:

>   
Trust is key.

>   
Invest in customer relationships.

>   
Think vertical.

>   
Join a networking group -- like BNI.



A link to Krotz'ss full article at the Microsoft Small Business Center is posted at www.bni.com in the Members Section under BNI News.



For more information about referral networking, or to locate a BNI chapter, visit the BNI Web site -- or call 1-909-608-7575 (e-mail: bni@bni.com).



BNI (www.bni.com) is a referral networking organization, with over 4,000 groups in more than two-dozen countries worldwide. BNI'ss Founder & Chairman, Dr. Ivan Misner is the author of several book'ss including the NY Times best-seller, Masters of Networking, (www.MastersofNetworking.com) and the recently released #1 best-seller, Masters of Success (www.MastersofSuccess.biz). He is also the Founder & Spokesman for the Referral Institute (www.referralinstitute.com) a referral training company with operations around the world.



Contact:

Michael R. Drew

Phone: 512-858-0040

Fax: 512-857-9428

16208 Crystal Hills Drive

Austin, TX 78737-9009

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