This article has been excerpted from Power Referrals: The Ambassador Method for Empowering Others to Promote Your Business and Do the Selling for You by Andrea Sittig-Rolf (McGraw-Hill, 2008).

What is an ambassador? And what does an ambassador mean for business? Although the term "ambassador" is familiar to many of us as it relates to the neighboring countries of Europe, or the pope, or as it's used in politics, in business an ambassador is someone who thinks so much of you and your business that he or she raves about you to others, in some cases promoting you and your business so much to others that there's very little "selling" on your part, once the introduction of your prospect is made to you by your ambassador.

How do you win ambassadors? First, you have to identify them. Consider your prospects, customers, referral partners, networking colleagues, vendors, casual acquaintances, friends and family. Just about everyone you know has the potential to become one of your ambassadors; you simply must ACT: Acquire, Cultivate, and Teach them to promote your business.

My quest for winning ambassadors has been going on since I started my career in sales more than 17 years ago, but the "aha" moment of a formal process for doing it came somewhat unexpectedly.

Discovering the Process
Two years ago I sold my company's one-day sales training program, called The Blitz Experience, to a Seattle-based office equipment and services company. Little did I know at the time that this small office equipment and services company was actually part of a huge network of channel partners of a global Fortune 20 information technology corporation, which I'll call AB Corp. for the purpose of confidentiality. After my initial "blitz pitch" to Dan, the vice president of sales at the office equipment and services company, he said he liked what he heard and wanted to move forward. He then explained to me the creative way in which he intended to pay for my sales training services.

Apparently, his company had access to channel marketing dollars from AB Corp. for sales training programs just like The Blitz Experience. In fact, AB Corp. had set money aside, money called "market development funds," also known as "co-op funds." This term refers to dollars that are used cooperatively to benefit both AB Corp. and the manufacturer, as well as their channel partners. These market development funds are designed specifically to allow AB Corp. channel partners to participate in sales and marketing programs and initiatives that will increase the sale of AB Corp. solutions to the end user through its channel partners--such as the office equipment and services company to whom I had sold The Blitz Experience. As it turns out, The Blitz Experience was an ideal program in which to use the market development funds that were available to my newest customer.

Dan then asked if I would like him to invite his AB Corp. representative to come and observe my program. "Yes, please!" I said enthusiastically, as I realized the true opportunity that lay ahead.

The AB Corp. representative was so impressed with the impact the program had on the sale of her company's solutions to the end user, she invited me to join a conference call that would include her manager as well as her seven peers across the country. Thus, my first ambassador was born. The rest, as they say, is history. And without even knowing it, I had begun my quest in winning ambassadors.

Leveraging Relationships
Acquiring ambassadors starts with leveraging your current relationships and converting those you already know to become your initial ambassadors. Chances are you already have ambassador relationships but don't know it, or haven't defined them as such. Acquiring ambassadors requires simply taking these existing relationships to the next level.

The process of acquiring ambassadors is much like that of the sales process. Think about it: Closing the sale is less about the end of the sales process and more about what happens in the beginning of the sales process. And closing the sale is not some slick way of asking for the order, but more about the entire process of making the sale. In other words, if you do everything right during the process of making the sale, it will just make sense to do business at the end of the day.

This holds true when acquiring ambassadors as well. Here's an analogy: Asking for the order prematurely in the sales process, a common mistake made by salespeople, is like asking someone to marry you after the first date. Too often we ask for the sale prematurely instead of giving the sales process a chance to work to our advantage by making sure we've "crossed the t's and dotted the i's," and covered all of our bases first.

You may have heard the expression, "Don't quit five minutes before the miracle." In other words, if you're not persistent when following up with ambassador prospects, you may make a final attempt to contact them just before they're ready to begin working with you.

Most of us are so concerned with being a "pest" that we err on the side of not being persistent enough. In my experience, it takes anywhere from four to 10 attempts at following up after the initial meeting to get a response from the ambassador and move to the next level in the process of working together. Many times ambassador prospects don't get right back to us simply because they are busy. So it's important to be both patient and persistent.

Taking it to the next level, think of a time one of your contacts offered you a referral. As great as that was, wouldn't it have been even better if he or she had personally introduced you to the other person? Better yet, imagine if instead of offering you the referral or even personally introducing you, your contact actually promoted you and your business to the referral without your being present at the meeting. This is the definition of a true ambassador--someone who promotes you and your business when you're not even there.

Become an Invaluable Resource
One tactic for acquiring ambassadors is to be the best at what you do. Believe me, when you are the best, you will be noticed by your customers, prospects, vendors and everyone else who knows you. Being an expert in your field, and being perceived as such, will give you the attention you need to acquire ambassadors. It's important that people considering becoming ambassadors for you are proud of their association with you. In other words, being people who know you and work with you actually makes them look good.

Also, become an invaluable resource for your contacts and it will be easy to convert them to ambassadors. Let me explain what I mean. Several years ago while cold calling to schedule appointments to present The Blitz Experience, I spoke with a sales manager who used the fact that he was new to the job as the reason not to meet. He said, "I'm brand new to my position and am still getting settled, so it would probably be best if you called back in a few months." I replied, "I'd be happy to do that, but the fact that you're new to your position is the very reason we should meet now. I can be a great resource to you in your new role, and our program will make you a hero in the eyes of your superiors and of your salespeople!" With that, he accepted the meeting, and as a result I did become the resource to him that I promised I would be, and that meeting led to the single largest account in my career as a sales professional. Because I followed through with my promise, he has continued to promote my products to his peers and other contacts.

The concept of being an invaluable resource can even extend beyond what you do or sell for a living. It can also mean helping someone you know get a job, helping a company you know hire the right person, donating to a charity one of your contacts cares about and any other number of things. The point is that being genuinely focused on helping other people will reap tremendous rewards by their helping you in return. This is known as the Rule of Reciprocity, a fundamental and basic norm in human culture. The rule states that a person try to repay what another person has provided, and it is a part of our human nature.

Being the best at what you do, becoming an invaluable resource, and applying the Rule of Reciprocity will all help you to acquire ambassadors as you begin your quest to win them.

Acquiring ambassadors is just the start to winning ambassadors, and it's the first necessary step in the overall process. On that note, keep in mind that winning ambassadors is a process and not something that happens overnight; however, once your network of ambassadors is established, it's fairly easy to maintain, and it will do wonders for growing your business with very little effort on your part in the long run.

Andrea Sittig-Rolf is a sales trainer, public speaker, author and president of Sittig Inc., a sales training and consulting firm. Her latest book is Power Referrals: The Ambassador Method for Empowering Others to Promote Your Business and Do the Selling for You.