I wanted to make sure you heard about Make A Referral Week, which is happening March 9-13, 2009. We all know the best leads come from referrals, right?  By coming together as entrepreneurs, we can take charge and stimulate the economy on our own.  The goal of Make A Referral Week  is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses, which could potentially blossom into millions of dollars in new business.  Small businesses are the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy.

No money is exchanging hands. No sponsors are being hit up.  The referral week concept is completely a grass-roots, boot-strap effort.  How can you get involved?

• Visit the Make a Referral Pledge page and submit your intention now to make at least one referral during the March 9-13 event. (Take this step and you are automatically eligible to receive audio recordings of the entire expert series)
• Post the Make A Referral event to your FaceBook page. (You can re-post the link from my posted items.)
• Promote this event to your partners and clients through email, newsletter and blog.

This week-long virtual event will also feature daily education programs focused on teaching small business owners and other marketers how to tap the power of referral marketing. The featured session includes a live web conference with Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author Masters of Networking, Bob Burg , author of Endless Referrals and the Go-Giver, Bill Cates , author of Get More Referrals Now. (Here’s the full list of education planned for the week)

During the week of March 9-13 we will activate the Referral-o-meter to track the march to 1000 referrals as small business owners visit and describe who they referred a lead to and why.

This is every small business person’s chance to be a part of the economic recovery solution!