Referrals are the lifeblood of a strong business. Building a thriving creative studio, agency, or freelance career means relying heavily on your professional network. If you don’t have one, it’s a necessity that you start building one. Your professional network is the most essential way to create a consistent flow of work in your business.

Building a network can happen in various ways, but at the heart of it, you need to make contacts — consistently increasing the number of people you know. One of the quickest ways to do this is to join a networking group. There are a variety to choose from, but most networking groups should provide you with the one thing you need the most: consistent access to its members and, by extension, their professional networks.

The Table Agency Group (TAG) is a specialized networking group that focuses on working professionals in the creative industries. We provide networking resources and support for freelancers, solopreneurs, studios, and agency owners in the creative arts and marketing fields. TAG is committed to being a group that draws talented and hard-working people into its community, helping each other learn, grow, and share as we build our businesses.

TAG is one of many local networking groups that creative entrepreneurs could use to build their professional networks.

Networking is About Building Trust

When joining a networking group, it’s best to try and integrate into it as quickly as possible. This will allow you to be seen as a reliable resource to existing members — starting to build trust between you and the rest of the group. As you bring value to that group, you’ll see that investment often pays off in education, peer support, resources, advice, and, most importantly, referrals. 

Receiving qualified referrals results from the hard work we put into our networking group and becoming a trusted resource. The passing of referrals can keep people returning year after year, but we will be expected to contribute. The reciprocal nature of referrals strengthens the entire group, and networking groups are built on give and take. So, let’s discuss the differences between leads and referrals to ensure we’re passing along the best ones we can.

What is the Difference Between Leads and Referrals?

Let’s keep this simple. Leads and referrals are closely related, but the main difference is in the intent behind the prospect. 

A lead is “cold” or an unqualified opportunity. It’s considered cold because, while it may come from someone in your network, the prospect might not be seeking creative services at that time. 

Let’s look at an example:

Say I meet a plumber who comes to my house to fix our sink. I interact with him a little while he is working. I tell him that I provide digital marketing solutions for businesses, which is the extent of our conversation. Later, I notice that the plumber’s website is very poorly designed, and I decide to pass his name along to another member of the networking group who does web design. This would be considered a lead, and it would be cold (or unqualified) because, even though I had a conversation with the plumber, he never expressed interest in pursuing a new website project.

Conversely, a referral is what we consider “warm/hot” and a qualified opportunity — meaning there is interest from the prospective client. There is interest in hiring creative services on the part of the person who is being passed along.

Let’s go back to my conversation with the plumber. After I tell him that I do marketing work, he asks if that includes websites? I say that it does, and he tells me that he has a website but he’s never liked the design of it, and he gets virtually no leads from the site. I ask him if he’d like to change that, and we talk about the benefits of a new design and applying marketing and social strategies to help promote his website. He says that sounds good and that he’d be interested in learning more. Now, when I pass along that name to another member (who does social media or maybe web design), it’s considered a qualified lead because the plumber is interested in exploring a change and is open to learning more about what a project might look like.

So, now that we understand the difference between referrals and leads, what makes a good lead?

What Makes a Good Lead?

Simply put, it’s a business or brand with a problem and the money to solve it. We all come across leads all the time. What we don’t know is their intent. Are they interested in making a change that would benefit their business? With a lead, you might not know because more conversation needs to occur to decipher the intent. 

Does that mean that leads have no place in a networking group? Not at all. It just means that there is more work to be done. What we want to avoid, though, is handing the lead over to another member as if it is a qualified referral.

In TAG, we post leads in our Slack community using the #leads channel, and any member is welcome to reach out and engage those leads. Your networking group might have another process, but most likely, they can be recorded and passed on to others.

Regardless of the group, you’re a part of, when posting a lead, it’s a good idea to provide relevant information like the company name, a point of contact’s name, a contact’s email, and a brief description of the need so that another member can adequately follow up to discern the interest.

What Makes a Good Referral?

Again, this comes down to intent on the part of the business or brand being referred — let’s call them the prospect. Generally, the prospect is actively looking for creative work to help solve an existing problem(s) or a roadblock(s) in its business. However, more information (beyond intent) is needed before that referral can be passed along.

Before passing along the referral, you should also understand a prospect’s need, what the solution to the problem could be, and who could provide it. This will elevate the referral to the level that will be most useful to the member it’s handed off to.

Once all the information is gathered, the referrer should present it to the referred member and see if an introduction would be appropriate. If they agree, then an introduction can be made.

Trust is the foundation of this relationship between the referrer, prospect, and another member. We trust that the prospect wants work done, and we trust the person we are referring the prospect to. We also expect an implied trust between the member and the prospect because we know they are both reliable.

Time to Get to Work

Now that we understand the difference between a lead and a referral and how to work with both, we’re ready to start contributing to our networking group. It’s important to remember that leads and referrals are the lifeblood of any good networking group. It requires each member to be an active, contributing force for good who is looking out for their best interests and that of the entire group.

There are a lot of worthless networking groups out there. You can throw a rock, hit one, and watch it bounce off three more. What those groups are missing is a commitment on the part of their members. They think standing in a room, shoulder to shoulder, and shaking hands is enough to grow their businesses, but they’re wrong. What they see as networking is just a waste of time.

Your business is too important to waste time on meaningless events. Building a professional network is an active process. It should add real value to your business — enhancing your finances, presence, and education. Settling for anything less is a waste of your time and money.

Author: Erin Lynch

Erin is a designer, writer, educator, and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in the creative fields. He's a partner and the Creative Director at Shop, a design agency working at the intersections of design and commerce. Erin produces a weekly newsletter on Substack and regularly writes for his personal blog.