Is it worth it to pay for introductions to key people at target companies? Carol discusses this in her recent article, “The Art and Science of Finder’s Fees for Business,” posted on Bank of America’s Small Business Community. Carol begins:
“As a deal maker with a couple of billion dollars of completed deals, and at least hundreds of millions worth of deals that fell apart for some reason, I know firsthand that deals are a big business.
Given that business growth is often via new customers and that finding new customers is a big component of that, turning to your network can be a great source of small introductions and big deals.
If you want to enhance getting such referrals, or perhaps if you have a strong network to be monetized, you may want to formalize giving or getting finder’s fees. However, the structuring of finder’s fees is both an art and a science. Here are some things to keep in mind to make your referrals and finder fee initiatives more successful.
I am usually happy to pay a finder’s fee if it’s a business that I would not have been able to get to on my own and the nature of the finder’s relationship adds significant value to my business. I also request finder’s fees in the opposite capacity.
However, not every lead is worthy of a finder’s fee.”
You can read the rest of the post here.
