Following on the success of last year’s Make A Referral Week I am calling out to small businesses once again to stimulate the economy and create jobs through the act of referrals. During the week of March 8-12, I am challenging my readers to make 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the power of referrals for small business. Help me spread the word? – This is not a money making event, the purpose is simply to change the focus from receiving to giving.

Individuals around the globe are invited to make at least one referral to a small business at www.makeareferralweek.com and share the referral details, including information on why they referred a particular business, in the comments section of the Referral Counter Page. (Of course, you might also consider using the Twitter function in the comment section to Tweet your referral!)

The weeklong virtual event also features guest contributors and panelists that will discuss how small business owners and other marketers can utilize the power of referral marketing. This blog will be taken over for an entire week to create an warehouse of referral and word of mouth related content so make sure you come back often throughout the week.

Featured guest experts include David Meerman Scott, author of New Rules of Marketing and PR, Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents, Guy Kawasaki, author of Reality Check, Rohit Bhargava author of Personality Not Included, Dan Schawbel author of Me2.0, Anita Campbell, publisher of Small Business Trends, Ann Handley, chief content officer of Marketing Profs, Lisa Barrone, Outspoken Media, Scott Allen, author of the Virtual Handshake, me, author of The Referral Engine, Scott Ginsberg of Nametag TV, Janine Popick, CEO of Vertical Response, and Pam Slim, author Escape from Cubicle Nation. (More to come)

The highlight of the education series is a live online panel discussion on March 10th at Noon CST featuring Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author Masters of Networking, Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and the Go-Givers Sell More, Ben McConnell, author of Creating Customer Evangelists, and moderated by John Jantsch. Register for the online panel here

?Through Make a Referral Week, small businesses have the opportunity to not only refer other businesses, but have their business listed as well. Hundreds of small business will receive added attention and daily events hosted on the site will offer tips and support from experts. ??