Simplify networking with a referral partner

I’ll be honest — when I hear the phrase ‘business networking’, I
visualise being cornered by an insurance salesperson in a US airport. But
cynicism aside, Brisbane business consultant Geoff Kirkwood offers a suggestion
in a recent interview
for networking more effectively: concentrate on a handful of people who can
actually help you find new clients, which he refers to as “referral
partners”. Kirkwood gives the example of a marriage celebrant partnering
with limo drivers and florists; each has customers the others could use. I’m
not sure I’d want to cough up money for those kinds of introductions (which is
the basis of Kirkwood’s business), but the concept seems sound. Would it work
for you?