The Fear Around Building Referral Partnerships

Today I want to talk about the fear that most of us have when going out and building pet sitting business relationships with strategic alliances or referral partners.

First, a strategic Alliance is somebody that serves the same target market as you do but offers a different service. Our referral partner doesn’t necessarily have to be in the pet industry but is another business or person you have a partnership with because you guys are referring business back and forth.

This was a major hot topic in my mastermind this week because we talked all about marketing, and a piece of that is getting out from behind your computer, getting cookies, getting cupcakes, getting a pizza, getting bagels, whichever you choose, and going in and making relationships with these business owners.

When we first start talking about this, most of my students feel they’re crippled in fear, and I don’t want to discount that fear because I know I certainly felt it. My heart used to beat like crazy. I would start sweating when I would go in. But here’s the bottom line. You get to choose what this means to you.

This means some people may say, “Oh, you know what? We’re good. We already have a pet sitter that we refer, but thanks for stopping by.” Okay, great. Thank you. It doesn’t mean anything about you or your pet sitting business. It has nothing to do with your self-worth. You don’t seem to have an energetic connection with that business or with that person. That’s fine.

Then the next business you go into will be like, “Oh my gosh, you’re exactly what my clients are looking for. I would love to put out your cards. And thank you so much for the cookies, and here’s the best way to refer us.” You’re going to continue fostering that relationship with them over time. But you have to get out of the fear and do it anyhow.

One of my students this week had a big win. She had these awesome cupcakes made from her grocery with little paw prints. She went out, made awesome connections, and started getting clients.

So my homework assignment for you today is to stretch yourself. Step out of your comfort zone. Write down a list of people you would like to create relationships with and go out and meet with them. I do have a script. I don’t want you guys to overthink this or go in robotically, but if you need a script to help you, like what to say when you go out, go to messagecolleen.com and type in the word script in the messenger chat. And I’m going to shoot you over that script to give you an idea and a framework of what you can say.

Don’t make it mean anything about you if they decide they don’t want to be a referral partner with you. Some people will want to, some people won’t, and either is okay. It doesn’t mean anything about you or your pet sitting business.