What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

* Knowing how be referred to a prospect client
* Why you shouldn't be too close to your material
* Applying 'check for understanding' method

Related Links and Resources:

Go to www.myreferabilityrater.com, in which it will ask you series of questions about your level of referability. So, you can actually if people are going to be able to get you? Are they going to be able to refer you?

Summary:
Michael Roderick is the CEO of Small Pond Enterprises which helps thoughtful givers become thought leaders by making their brands referable, their messaging memorable, and their ideas unforgettable. He is also the host of the podcast Access to Anyone which shows how you can get to know anyone you want in business and in life using time-tested relationship-building principles. Michael's unique methodology comes from his own experience of going from being a Highschool English teacher to a Broadway Producer in under two years.
Here are the highlights of this episode:
He ideally would like to work with individuals who's really fantastic in what they do but they can't seem to get other people understand it. Their friends love them but they don't know how to refer them. And the problem is, they are too close to their material; the metaphor is, as if they're staring at a TV screen and all they see are color pixels. Michael tries to help them see what's on TV and most importantly let them know if they need to change the channel. These people will start to feel frustrated; they know that they are doing great work so why people aren't spending more on it. Or wondering "all of my friends love me yet why aren't they referring me?". The problem Michael sees is when they talk about things that they think is interesting and they don't talk to it in the context of what they are actually doing for the client. In his opinion about the term 'influence' is that most people think of it in the context of persuasion. Michael says that true influence is when you do something without me asking you to do it. The only reason you're going to do that, is if it makes you look good. We have to think about how we package our ideas & concepts that can make other people look good when they share it. If we do that, more and more people will refer us and want to connect with us. 
Michael’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): I refer to it as 'check for understanding', it comes from my background as a teacher. You go to somebody that you already work with and you ask them in your own words "can you tell me what I did for you?" because your best copy is always in your client's mouth.