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Dartboard Marketing for hiring and jobs

leadership marketing small business staffing startup systems Aug 02, 2022

Anyone asking how to find new employees or get more business should take a close look at their relationships in the community that they operate their business.

While there are many lanes for marketing your restoration business, and all are very important, almost none can be counted on to be as predictable and resilient as having a very strong network that you built with service and trust.

These are your cheerleaders and when the weather is not ideal, when google changes, when FB ads are not working…..these relationships will provide.

They also have a way of multiplying pretty quickly.

When you are doing things well and serving others, your network splinters off and you continue to be introduced to others.

When you put yourself out there in groups, panels, committees and other involvement, you show the kind of character that people feel trusting enough to be an advocate for.

Make sure you are being smart with your time and investments. Some groups will gladly take and take as long as you are giving and never really return real value.

Try being where others aren’t. In the restoration industry, there are multiple very common associations and different places that are almost expected to have people from all segments. Think outside the box. Who is already in contact with your target audience?

Find people and organizations that have high principles, strong people, but might be a little slower reward.

I did this for a few years here in Richmond. Associations that I became heavily involved in. Not my clients or audience…..but the experience and caliber of the people welcomed me in and helped me in professional ways with benefits that were invaluable. This helped me grow my business. So the currency can be multi-directional. 

Other benefits:

  • Best value/ lowest cost

Quality of work plus better customer relationships

  • You are a problem solver and this makes you community famous. 
    • You can blog, youtube, tiktok. Share your knowledge and be the GO-TO and these will turn into strong returns.

In general. I think if you are a people person you will find building your business slowly over a period of time through partnership will serve your spirit and give you a more inclusive feeling of community.

A few relationship ideas

  • Past clients
  • Industrial Hygeniests/ IEP
  • Home Inspectors (be careful)
  • Flooring companies
  • General contractors
  • All the trades (plumbers are popular and are known to get greedy)
  • Trade schools (staff)
  • Media personnel (they always need experts)

As you can see…..these are limitless. Look at your circle and make sure they all know what you do and that you are willing to earn their partnerships. 

Toby often says that he built his business on cups of coffee. 

He built his business on relationships after reading the book, The Power of Who and implementing the principles in his business.
He shares the following when asked about getting more leads or finding new team members. You read that right. This is a marketing principle. A marketing principle that works for getting new clients, and for recruiting team members to possibly hire. 

 Make your marketing budget include cups of coffee. While that's funny, I know it to be true. You can build an entire business on cups of coffee. 

Sit for one hour with someone over a cup of coffee to learn about them, their business, and their ideal client. You will unlock the door to a referral relationship. You will likely know someone that you can connect that person with to help them expand their business. In doing so, a good referral partnership will include reciprocal referrals to you.


A dartboard is a great analogy for referral partnerships. 

Imagine your entire network… from you to your clients on a dart board. 

  • You are on the bullseye, right in the middle of the board. 
  • The first ring (green in the illustration above) represents your inner circle. Your closest friends, and your family.
  • The next ring is your close acquaintances. Perhaps best clients, community relationships, co-workers, etc. 
  • The next ring might be fellow business owners or leaders in your region with whom you casually have connected with.
  • Finally we get out to the numbers. The score. In business there are many metrics by which we score the successes and failures of a business, but arguably the most important metric is money. The outer ring represents revenue. 

It often takes multiple connections to find your revenue. The more connections that you can make, the more referrals you can get to your revenue sources. 

In the illustration, it's interesting to note the black and white wedges on the dart board. Some have a higher number associated with them than others. The analogy is that not all referral partners bring in the ideal clients. There are different types of clients that are brought in by different referral sources. Knowing who your referral partner is connected to is vital to obtaining ideal clients. 

Focus on who you know and your current circle. People that care about you want to see you successful. 

Start there.


You just need to be direct and ask for their help. The right people will jump at the opportunity. 

  • Who do you know now
    • Make a list
    • Go through your FB friends list. 
    • Past employers/ co-workers
    • Church
    • Community groups
    • Future referral partners
  • Who do the people you know….know.
    • Be prepared to ask those from the list above to help make this a wild success and share with others they know. This is where you really get some traction. 
  • Turn friends and family into partners
    • I mentioned your circle will be involved in your journey. They will likely see a little less of you in these early stages. 
    • Recruit your friends and family to keep you accountable and their contributions will help you scale and return to being involved with things much more. But only after a level of stable. 
  • Simple messages
    • Plan your messaging PER contact. 
    • Friends and family will have a different role than past co-workers/ bosses. 
    • Consider a well done series of short videos. Testimonials that can be used in marketing and put together for unique attention grabbing assets. 

Spend some quiet time with your list of who you know and ask them to meet for a cup of coffee. It might take a few attempts. It's ok. But if you keep getting turned down, or they are too busy after you’ve communicated your intention to get to know them and how you can refer to them business… You need to make sure they are really someone that you believe to be a good referral partner.
In time, if you aren’t getting referrals from people you meet with, you need to ask some serious questions on whether or not you are reciprocating enough to attract people, or if they are a good fit for your referral network.

If you aren’t providing the value to referral partners, you might struggle throughout your business. 

Take some time to do nothing more than mentally prepare to make this a big thing. 

You are going to want to get mileage out of this for a while. 

Focus on that. 

This is a big deal. You are doing what most won’t.

 

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