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I’ve been thinking a lot about referrals lately.

I shared a story about that topic on LinkedIn last week and will include it here in full to save you a click (skip further below if you caught it already though; there’s more):

A short while back, a friend referred a consulting opportunity my way. When I get this kind of referral, 95% of the time, I help find someone else for it either directly or by sharing it with Serial Marketers. This was in the 5% — a perfect fit for me. I closed the deal.

The client paid on time (thanks, client) with the required share delivered upfront.

I have a referral policy I don’t talk about much here which I sometimes refer to as tithing. When someone refers business and I get paid, I send 10% to the referrer.

While I have referral agreements and sometimes will sign those either mutually or one-way, it doesn’t matter. If business closes, I ask them how they want it sent – PayPal, Venmo, etc.

In this case, there was a twist. My friend said he was working with the client and couldn’t accept payment since it felt like double-dipping. It didn’t seem right to him. He said I could buy him drinks when that is possible again. The guy didn’t even say dinner.

We are both so much more likely to send each business now. [He actually referred another lead to me since I posted this.]

The moral here is simple: Giving a referral fee isn’t about what you do for that one deal. It’s about all the potential for what comes after.

That’s a more straightforward example, but I want to probe further to see how this can work in communities.
Another way I’m thinking about referrals is to add a layer within the Serial Marketers community that is based on the honor system.

It’d still have an agreement, but a non-binding one. It’s not a contract. It spells out that everyone in this opt-in subgroup, which would function as a private channel within Slack, would be able to refer deals to each other with the same expectations of referral compensation. That includes Net 30 payment on fees for services rendered by prospects referred. A small fee would also be requested to go back to ‘the house,’ aka ‘the community,’ aka ‘me.’ The vast majority would go to the referrer.

It wouldn’t work for everyone. It’s best for services businesses that are independently run. If someone can’t spare the margins, they could try to build that margin into the deal by pricing their services slightly higher. For others, like me, some margins are built in as the cost of generating business.

If this concept is interesting and you want to check out the draft of the agreement, let me know. If you’ve ever done or seen anything remotely like this, I will be eager to learn from you. I’ve been making up a lot of this as I go along, albeit with feedback from some thoughtful community members. Please reach out.

I’ll also be more transparent and transactional than I usually am here, in case this is helpful to you — and perhaps anyone you’re working with.

Along with the 10% that I offer for referrals for consulting work, I’ll offer 20% of referrals for sponsorship of the community and newsletter. Deal size for sponsorship is typically lower, but margins are higher, so it makes sense to have two tiers.

If you want that in writing, great. I’ll send over a contract. But I’ll add that almost every referral fee I’ve paid so far has happened even without a contract, and the best such fee I received came without one either. I pay PandaDoc to manage my contracts and am happy to get more use out of it.
Is this something you’re exploring at all? How do you operate? What can I do better? And what are you making of yourself?

David

PS 1: The First Wednesday happy hour is tonight at 6pm EST. Get details on Meetup.

PS 2: Upstream is this week too. Also wild.

PS 3: Joe Jaffe was kind enough to have me back on his show, and I had to rant about 3 of my most loathed words in business: “Hope all’s well.” It is much more raw and personal than I usually get, and maybe the only clip of me using the f-word in an interview or panel. You can watch the short segment hereMy rant on LinkedIn followed.

PS 4: I hope you like this newsletter’s title as much as I do.——————————————————-
BROUGHT TO YOU BY… EXECTHREAD
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ExecThread Raises $6.5 Million to Accelerate Growth of its Crowdsourced Jobs Platform

Access confidential executive-level career opportunities with ExecThread

Serial Marketer is proud to partner with ExecThread, a highly curated community of 60,000 executives who get access to confidential executive-level jobs that you won’t find anywhere else. These are recruiter-lead searches for top roles (including Board of Directors).

ExecThread members gain direct access to these job opportunities and related information (i.e., names & contact information for the hiring managers and executive recruiters who are overseeing current searches), which you can leverage to further elevate your career.

ExecThread has crowdsourced >15,000 retained executive-level searches to-date and has made them exclusively available to its members.

It’s free to join, and as a Serial Marketer subscriber, ExecThread will auto-approve anyone who signs-up using this linkhttps://execthread.com/apply/qSpjzw

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LEARN. TRY. SHARE.
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I’m trying a new experiment here, curating news automatically via my friends at Vestorly. Let me know what you think.

Thanks to Sharon FederClaudia StraussSandy SloaneMichael BrowneMichael MarzanoClaudia StraussE.B. MossCandice Grobler, and Chris Gorges for spreading the word about the newsletter recently.

Here’s your own personalized link, with more referral rewards for sharing the newsletter. Visit https://referralhub.page/serialmarketer to see how you’re doing.https://www.serialmarketer.net/subscribe/?rh_ref=823bcd55

Share via: Email | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn————————————————–
EVENTS
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Please send over any events you’re hosting or attending, and I’ll add them to the list. All events below are virtual, and all times are EDT.

FIRST WEDNESDAY (TONIGHT!)
February 3, 6pm
First Wednesday keeps going strong. We have dozens of people RSVPing for this fun NYC tradition led by Zack Rosenberg.
https://www.meetup.com/Serial-Marketers

SERIAL MARKETERS SALONS
Tuesdays, 3pm

RSVP on our private Meetup (request access if you’re not there)

SERIAL MARKETERS SPEEDUPS
Alternating Thursdays, 12pm
Join the virtual 1:1 rapid-fire speed-meeting event to connect with fellow Serial Marketers, hosted on the Upstream app.

  • 2/4 (tomorrow!)
  • 2/18
  • 2/25 (bonus event for Esports & Gaming Week)
  • 3/4 (guest speaker: NYC mayoral candidate Art Chang)
  • 3/18 (guest speaker: Rosie Yakob of Genius Steals)

DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT WORLD
February 8-12
Described by Hollywood insiders, digital influencers, and industry leaders throughout the world as a “must-attend” event, now in its 8th year, Digital Entertainment World (DEW) is where you want to be if you are in the business of creating or monetizing digital entertainment content.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/digital-entertainment-world-2021-tickets-122162343859

DIFFERENTIATION AND POSITIONING – ON THE FLY
February 9, 11:00am
This workshop will focus on evaluating, defining, and landing on a way to differentiate your firm or services within a highly saturated market. We will evaluate how you can look at your business from a 30,000-foot view, determine the questions you should be asking along the way, and debate the pros and cons of being a generalist versus a specialist.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/differentiation-and-positioning-on-the-fly-workshop-tickets-125829528507

WEBINAR: ATTAINING SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
February 9, 2:00pm
Action Steps to Boost Visibility, Generate Business Leads, and Create Thought Leadership – Steve Markman. Even during this pandemic, public speaking remains one sure way to generate new business leads. In this webinar, Steve will outline key steps for ensuring you meet your speaking objectives.
https://consultingsociety.com/event/sac-practicum-webinar-steve-markman/

PIVOT TO YOUR FUTURE: STRENGTHS
February 11, 12:30pm
A Creatives Roundtable event: You may think that you can’t utilize your skills, passions, and gifts and grow your business but really, these 3 elements define the strengths that set you apart. Join Heather Willems for a 90-minute experience where you will use drawing and improvisation techniques to shift some long-held limitations.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pivot-to-your-future-strengths-what-sets-you-apart-tickets-129031122561

FIRST WEDNESDAY 
March 3, 6pm
First Wednesday keeps going strong. We have dozens of people RSVPing for this fun NYC tradition led by Zack Rosenberg.
https://www.meetup.com/Serial-Marketers

SXSW ONLINE
March 16-20
I’m not sure if Stubb’s delivers to me, but I’ll be seeing if they can capture any of the magic with the online festival. “Register today to take advantage of the unique opportunities this event has to offer, including keynotes, Conference sessions, Music Festival showcases, Film Festival screenings, world-class networking, and the unexpected discoveries that are always a part of SXSW, all in a digital setting.”
https://www.sxsw.com/attend/

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JOBS
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Keep checking out the #jobs channel in Serial Marketers for more. Here are some great opportunities shared there or sent to me directly.

STACK OVERFLOW
Director, Technical Product Marketing
Remote
Via Joy Liuzzo in the community:
Looking for a highly technical product marketer to lead the efforts around our collaboration and knowledge sharing platform, Stack Overflow for Teams. You’ll be marketing to a wide range of B2B SaaS technology buyers – from C-Suite down to Developers and Technologists – telling them about the critical role collaboration and knowledge sharing plays in DevOps, CI/CD, cloud migration, digital transformation, and building a resilient and future-proofed organization.
https://grnh.se/1ae90b601us

GROUPM
Director of SEO & other roles
NYC or remote
Via William Álvarez in the community:
“I’m hiring an SEO Director, SEO Managers & SEO Associates. NYC-based, but open to remote.”
Director, Organic Search:
https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/groupm-services/job/o4hRdfw9
Agency Practice Lead, Paid Search:
https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/groupm-services/job/o2oxdfwU
Agency Practice Lead, Paid Social:
https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/groupm-services/job/o8fcafwt

LIVEINTENT
Product Marketing Manager
New York
Via Kerel Cooper in the community:
The Product Marketing Manager will play a key role in identifying customer segments and communicating the value of LiveIntent data solutions to the market. You will have the ability to lead product marketing initiatives that will contribute to a successful go-to-market process, turn prospects into strategic clients, educate our internal teams through market research and sales enablement programs, and speak to the market through case studies, product collateral, and thought-leadership content.
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2354634125/

UPSTREAM
Head of Growth Marketing
Remote
Upstream is looking to hire an amazing growth marketer to get our app into the hands of every professional worldwide. We’re looking for someone who understands virality, is an expert at analytics, and is curious, persistent, and enthusiastic. If you are the person your friends go to when they have growth and marketing questions – we want to hire you!
https://www.notion.so/Head-of-Growth-Marketing-9ebe7675d89e47ac83f274df5a8d0ec3

DATA.ORG
Communications Manager
Remote
data.org has an immediate opening for a self-motivated Communications Manager that will provide critical support to enhance its partnership platform in the field of data science for social impact (DSSI). This role will be instrumental in building a global community, elevating policy and practice ideas, and successfully delivering cross-sector convening activities through content creation, social media management, publications, and webinars.
https://www.data.org/now-hiring-communications-manager/

Other job resources:

  • Advisable: Get instant access to top marketing freelancers
  • AMA Job Board: Listings from the American Marketing Association (maybe you can also ask them anything)
  • Beeler.Tech: Job listings for ad operations, programmatic account management, sales operations, and more.
  • Built in NYC: Jobs at a range of levels and functions, as long as you’re okay working in this quaint, backwater hamlet.
  • CareerList: Here’s a form for companies hiring and a form for job seekershere’s the public list with tabs for both
  • Content Writing Jobs: Content marketers, enjoy
  • Creative Women of Color: List yourself in the database and find talent, via Women Who Create
  • ExecThread: Senior roles spanning a range of verticals and cities; membership is free but fully vetted (this uses my referral ID to get you in faster)
  • GLG: Get paid to share your topical expertise; it can lead to some interesting conversations at a potentially decent hourly rate
  • Grace Blue Transitions: A portal for hirers and seekers with resources from this exec recruiting firm
  • The Hired Guns: An array of jobs in marketing and related fields at brands, agencies, and media companies
  • Hue: Amplifying voices of people in color working in marketing
  • Hunterz: A way for connectors to get paid to introduce startups to large enterprises
  • Lead5: A paid service for executive roles, plus intel on changes with companies and PE investments; you can try a risk-free weeklong trial to see if it’s any good for your needs
  • Lunch Club: Match 1:1 around predetermined goals with accomplished professionals (free)
  • NYC Ad Jobs & Networking: A popular Facebook group
  • One Club for Creativity: COVID-19 jobs Board
  • #OpenToWork: There’s a channel in Serial Marketers where you can share what you’re looking for
  • Pangea: Where you can hire college freelancers (and college students can get gigs)
  • Pocit: A platform connecting people of color with jobs in the tech industry
  • Remotists: Remote startup jobs, chronicled weekly
  • Sales Hustle Stack: Find platform-based gigs and other creative ways to earn some extra cash
  • Startup.Jobs: There’s a section for marketing jobs
  • Teal Job Tracker: A free Chrome extension to manage and enhance your job search
  • TechNY Daily: While more technical, there are also some sales and marketing jobs at NY startups.
  • VC Job Boards: AlephEniac VenturesPearSequoiaUnion Square Ventures
  • VentureLoop: Free startup job listings; their paid option is $15/month and might surface more leads (but it might not).
  • Wanted: Wanted helps top talent in tech and marketing find a job at your desired pay. Plug in your salary, stay anonymous at first, and connect with companies that want to recruit you.

Do you run or enjoy other job listing sites? Let me know, and I’ll share them.

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OFFERS (NEW SECTION)
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Below are offers extended to the Serial Marketers community. To share your own or access the Premium member discounts, review membership options here.

Northarc Media
Marc Lefton is offering brands a free one-hour consultation on your media mix to show how you can integrate programmatic. For agencies, you can get a free one-hour consultation on how to add programmatic to your service offerings. To redeem, contact Marc by email.

Secret
Sign up and use the promo code SERIALMARKETERS to get 20% off on any membership plan. Membership enables you to access all deals with unlimited usage. One deal should more than pay for itself.

Marpipe
Create an account and start a 7-day free trial for $125 in ad spend credit toward your first experiment with this multivariate testing platform. Redeem here. (Premium members get $175 in credit with a custom code)

Copysmith
Following a 7-day trial of this AI-powered marketing tool to generate ads, product descriptions, and more, use code SERIALMARKETERS for 35% off any plan for 3 months (premium subscribers get 50% off for 4 months).

Dokkio
Get lifetime access to this file management tech with three seats, all free. (Premium members get five seats; see the Slack channel for details and a custom link.)

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