ReferQuest was founded by Camille Landau. The site was inspired by her desire to speed various transactions (finding a nanny, selling a car, finding office space) she was attempting to broker online. She had the idea when she noticed that the various searches were inefficient, and could benefit from the support of a third-party network. She believed that offering a referral reward would help speed the transactions, by bringing out a broader base of valid leads. ReferQuest was created to make e-commerce more efficient, and to help busy users make the most of their time.

I know that I’m supposed to be a neutral reporter, but please pardon my enthusiasm about this service – I absolutely LOVE this concept! It is going to help average peopled, ‘grassroots captitalists’, and Fortune 500 executives alike. You can join for FREE and you only have to pay a reward when you are satisfied with the referral you were given. This is truly a Web 2.0 service.

What also jumps off the page at me is that prolific networkers with huge databases can now be paid for giving referrals. These folks were already giving referrals to others and now they can get paid for doing so.

How ReferQuest Works

Overview:

Online customers waste time in search of buyers and sellers for their time-sensitive transactions. ReferQuest increases e-commerce’s efficiency by providing incentives for refer-ers to match buyers & sellers. Clients post referral fees on ReferQuest to provide incentive for uncovering the connections they seek. Visitors refer the requests on to their own contacts. ReferQuest brokers the messages and tracks the dealings between the parties. ReferQuest updates and publishes star ratings of participants, supporting mutual accountability. When transactions close, ReferQuest collects the commission the client had posted, disbursing it to the person who provided the successful referral, and taking its own commission.

Using ReferQuest as a client:

ReferQuest allows you to post notices regarding what you’re looking for, and how much you’re willing to pay when someone (a “connector”) helps you find it. The referral fee you post will attract connectors to assist you as you seek or sell a service or item.

ReferQuest doesn’t take any payment upfront; when you’re satisfied that you’ve found what you’re looking for, the site trusts you to pay the referral fee you set. You can indicate that the transaction is closed by clicking on the status update button that appears next to the record of your posting in your Dashboard.

Paying the referral fee when you’ve finished a transaction will help you gain and maintain your standing as a highly-starred requester. A high rating will help ensure that highly-starred participants will want to work with you. It’s up to you to decide how much you’ll pay as a reward to find what you’re looking for.

ReferQuest does not charge fees to post. It does charge by taking a 20% commission of the commission you post. For example, if you post a $20 reward, ReferQuest will take $4, leaving $16 for the connector. If you want the net fee you offer a refer-er to be $20, you would commit to pay $24.

Working with ReferQuest as a connector:

Anyone can make referrals on ReferQuest. Connectors (people who make referrals) don’t have to be professionals. If you see a posting and know someone who could fulfill the request, you can send them an message through the ReferQuest system. Your friend will then have a chance to contact the requester via ReferQuest. If the requester chooses your friend, they will be expected to report the transaction as closed, at which point they will be prompted to pay you the reward they promised.

All members of ReferQuest are on the honor system, and honest participation helps members gain, and maintain, higher star ratings. When the requester closes the transaction (that you helped to set up), you are due the referral reward that they offered . It’s easy for the requester to pay the reward through the site. If you’re the connector and want to make sure you get paid, or if you were referred, and want to make sure the friend who connected you got paid, then you can send a note to the requester through the site, prompting them to pay. Keep in mind that ultimately, however, ReferQuest can’t force the requester to pay… so, when choosing among requesters whose requests you can serve, check to see that they have a good rating.

Getting paid as a connector:

Payments on ReferQuest are made through PayPal.

Check out the interview I did with Camille on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 by clicking on the player below.

Make sure to check out ReferQuest’s website at www.ReferQuest.com and sign-up TODAY.

See you at the top!

All the best,

I hear a lot of talk about building a sales funnel — recycling your customers to maximize profit for yourself and to add benefit to the customer by introducing them to related products or services. Your sales funnel may also include introducing them to various people that provide a given product or service. You don’t always have to be the one profiting, and as a matter of fact, you’ll be more of a ‘go-giver’ if you were not the only person generating revenue.

Remember, it is always easier to keep a customer and resell her/him rather than go out and get a new customer.

Also, keep in mind that the products/services in your portfolio should be related so that you will not be all over the place.

Let me give you an example of how I set up the sales funnel for my business. Perhaps my example will give you some ideas on how to create your very own sales funnel based on your target niche(s) and your product/service offerings.

Grassroots Business Network, LLC’s Sales Funnel

We help sole proprietors and home-based entreprenerus put the pieces together. This is done creating environments that are conducive to networking (face-to-face and over the phone) and the teaching of specific skills, how to use certain tools, and 1-on-1 coaching to develop a customized system to help them accomplish their business goals.

For more information on the networking events, go to the www.Meetup.com/NYCSocialMedia, and visit www.SpeedNetworkingOverThePhone.com.

We are also an independent broker of various products and services that gives our customers access to top-notch resources. Here are some of the products and services that we promote that are relevant to our niches:

• Pick the right biz for YOU
• Business consulting and legal advice
• Quality, affordable health plans
• The ultimate permission-based marketing tool

Okay, folks, I hope that made sense to you. Let me know what you have in your sales funnel as I may be able to send business your way.

Thank you.

All the best,

I had the good fortune to meet Mary Cravets on a Speed Networking Over the Phone event. She is a prolific networker that organizes and promotes face-to-face speed networking events in her home town of Sedona, Arizona.

She is the owner of Brilliant Virtual Assistance. What they do at Brilliant Virtual Assistance is provide support for entrepreneurs and companies that need help, but don’t wish to incur the costs of hiring and maintaining employees. Whether it’s consistent administrative support, or collaboration on a one-time project, their wide range of services, convenient access and inherent flexibility make them a great option to meet the ever-changing needs of business enterprises.

They are not a staffing agency so there are no agency or advertising fees. You pay only for services rendered.

She typically works with busy real estate agents and networking marketing / MLM professionals who have more than 4,000 sales representatives in their organization. However, her company has the flexibility to work with other entrepreneurs and sales professionals who are looking to free up their time from doing administrative things so that they can focus on revenue generating activities.

Being that her company is virtual in nature, they have clients all across the USA.

Listen to Mary’s story on how she became an entrepreneur accidentally and how that accident has become a rather profitable operation. This interview took place on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 8:30pm EDT.

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Make sure to visit Mary’s site at www.BrilliantVA.com.

All the best,