For B2B Marketers, here’s something to think about: One of the best ways to prospect for new business is through referrals. Here, buried in the Hidden Job Market is a wealth of information about potential referrals. These would be people with titles identical to those of your customers who influence buying decisions. Engineer would be an example. So would Truck Driver. These can be important to you because people with the same or similar titles tend to know one another. They might be in the same industry, belong to the same association or, as in the case of truck drivers, belong to the same union.

Whether they know one another or not you can ask for a referral with something more than using a blind stab such as asking for anyone – the “Who do you know” question with which people are inclined to feel reluctance. Using current thinking you can CREATE A REFERRAL by saying something like this:

• 1. I was planning on contacting an engineer at Blue Darts Inc. who looks like a great prospect for what we have. Do you know any of the engineers as Blue Darts? Or, if you happen to have a name, you could ask
• 2. I was planning on contacting Joe Rogers over at Blue Darts. Like you, he’s and engineer. Do you happen to know Joe?
  Blue Darts would, of course, be one of the Hidden Job Market prospects identified when the Engineer occupation was being researched.
• 3. When talking to your prospect such as Joe referred to above take advantage of the time to tell Joe of your customer’s satisfaction with your product or service.