When Tripp Guin launched Referral Resource in 2002, he had to overcome an early failure to communicate.
Guin’s company seeks jobs for a network of 15 contractors whose sendees range from construction to installation of office furniture in Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle, Boone and Asheville. He hooks up his clients with small companies that are moving, renovating or expanding in those markets.
Initially. Guin found himself stretched so thin he could meet with his clients only once a month.
Along with trolling for job prospects, he had to handle Iris own data entry, which proved more time consuming than he had anticipated.
Within 14 months, how’ever, Referral Resource gained traction, and Guin was able to hire personnel
to help with both prospecting and paperwork. Now he’s able to visit clients at least once every two
weeks, feeding them leads.
“I was a more reactive company,” he says. “Now’ I’m calling up companies to find out how they strategically plan so I can get involved early enough to help with real estate, architecture and interior design. The further I get upstream, the more opportunity all my clients w’ill have.”
Clients pay Guin a monthly retainer fee of roughly $1,000; it s less if the client works in multiple N.C. cities. Guin’s firm makes as many as 70 calls per day trying to drum up business for them.
“I w’ork for the client for a fraction of what they’d pay a full-time person,’’ he says. “I’m not a full-time employee, but I get full-time information. I don’t have commissions or bonuses because I want to be a team player. “
From 1997 to 2002, Guin worked for Office Environments Inc. in Charlotte, first as an account executive and, later, as a business-development exec. It was there that he learned what companies need when they relocate, and he recognized that a range of businesses could provide those services.
After a brief career detour hr Atlanta, Guin returned to Charlotte to start his business.
The company’s sendees help clients save time and money, says Byron Woehlers, president of Art Source & Design, which sells art to interior designers. Using Referral Resource allows Art Source to avoid hiring a full-time sales staffer, Woehlers says.
Plus, “instead of making cold calls, I can make qualified calls,’ he says. “I’m only calling people who are interested, instead of people who have no need for my sendees. Since (Guin and his staff) work so far ahead in a process, it lays a lot of groundwork for me.”
