← All categories

Promotional Products: Best Referral Sources

Who should be sending you clients, and the rooms they are already sitting in. Tell us where you are and we will send the list.

Get your list

The rooms for promotional products distributors, the next meeting dates, and who to ask for when you walk in.

Your top referral sources
  1. Digital Marketing Agency
  2. Sign Company
  3. IT Services / Managed IT
  4. Business Coach
  5. Web Developer
See the full answer ↓
Start here

Your one-page action plan

Five partners, what starts the work for each one, and the three rooms to be in. Print it and keep it in the car.

Networking plan: Promotional Products

The five people who should be sending you clients

  1. Digital Marketing Agency (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: a business launches or rebrands
  2. Sign Company (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: a business launches or rebrands
  3. IT Services / Managed IT (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location
  4. Business Coach (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: a business launches or rebrands
  5. Web Developer (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: a business launches or rebrands

The three rooms to be in

  1. LinkedIn groups & local B2B communities: Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, IT and managed service providers, and business coaches.
  2. Local business expo: Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, sign companies, and web developers.
  3. Your city or county chamber of commerce: Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, sign companies, and IT and managed service providers.

Don't confuse this with networking: Sign, print & promotional industry associations. Learning and supplier access, not referrals.

Or have it emailed to you ↑
The people

Who should be sending you clients

Ranked by what starts the job, not by who sounds close to your trade. When something happens that makes people need promotional products distributors, who else gets a call that same week?

Match strength is how much of your work starts from the same event as theirs, scored out of 100. Higher means you are more often called into the same job in the same week.

  1. 1 Digital Marketing Agency They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 77 match strength out of 100
  2. 2 Sign Company They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 76 match strength out of 100
  3. 3 IT Services / Managed IT They send you work Trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location 72 match strength out of 100
  4. 4 Business Coach They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 71 match strength out of 100
  5. 5 Web Developer They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 68 match strength out of 100
  6. 6 Radio / TV / Media Advertising Two-way Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 68 match strength out of 100
  7. 7 Staffing / Recruiting They send you work Trigger: a business puts its first employee on payroll 67 match strength out of 100
  8. 8 Business Banker They send you work Trigger: somebody starts a company 66 match strength out of 100
  9. 9 Graphic Designer They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 66 match strength out of 100
  10. 10 Public Relations They send you work Trigger: a business launches or rebrands 66 match strength out of 100

Knowing the names is half of it. We will send the list with what to say to each one. Send me my list ↑

The rooms

Where those people actually are

Ranked by how many of your best partners are in the room, and how much work each one can send you. Give someone nine choices and they pick none, so we have marked the one to start with.

  1. 1 LinkedIn groups & local B2B communities Your pick Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, IT and managed service providers, and business coaches. Online community · Always on · Free · ~3 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  2. 2 Local business expo Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, sign companies, and web developers. Event or trade show · Annual · Under $500/yr · ~1 hrs/month
  3. 3 Your city or county chamber of commerce Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, sign companies, and IT and managed service providers. Chamber of commerce · Monthly · Under $500/yr · ~4 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  4. 4 Vistage Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, IT and managed service providers, and business coaches. Paid peer group · Monthly · $2,000+/yr · ~8 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  5. 5 Industry Slack & Discord communities Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies and web developers. Online community · Always on · Free · ~2 hrs/month
  6. 6 Software & platform user groups Your partners are in this room: IT and managed service providers and web developers. Vendor & supply chain · Quarterly · Free · ~2 hrs/month
  7. 7 EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization) Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, business coaches, and PR firms. Paid peer group · Monthly · $2,000+/yr · ~8 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  8. 8 NAWBO (women business owners) Your partners are in this room: digital marketing agencies, business coaches, and graphic designers. Chamber of commerce · Monthly · Under $500/yr · ~4 hrs/month Chapter finder →
The competitor trap

Sign, print & promotional industry associations

Most promotional products distributors join this room first. It is also the one most likely to be the wrong pick. Everyone in it does what you do. Join it for the training, the licenses, and the ties to manufacturers. Do not join it for referrals, and do not join it instead of the rooms above.

Let us be straight with you. For promotional products distributors, a weekly referral group is not the best pick. Your partners gather in professional groups instead, so spend your time there. We would rather say that than sell you a seat you do not need.

These rooms meet on real dates. We will send you the next ones for your area. Send me the dates ↑

Your seat

Is your seat open?

Prime Time takes one Promotional Products per chapter. Put a South Florida ZIP into the form above and we will show you which seats are open.

Add your ZIP code in the form above to see which seats are open. Go to the form ↑

Want this as a list you can act on?

Send it to yourself: the partners above, the rooms ranked for promotional products distributors, and the next meeting dates for your area.

Send me my list