When Is a ‘Referral’ Not a Referral?
By Daryl Logullo | December 13, 2007 | Popularity: 75% | 737 Views
I'm asked all the time: "How do you know if a referral is a quality referral versus it being a bad referral?" The answer is pretty simple: From the involvement (or lack thereof) from the referral source. Plain and simple.
What do I mean when it comes to referral marketing?
Well, I always advocate that a person earn their referrals by way of personal (in-person or telephone) introductions. Never ask for — nor accept – a person's name or telephone number just because someone handed it over to you.
In fact, a person may feel as though they are genuinely referring you to someone else another simply by giving you that perrsons name. Nothing wrong with that, per se. But they really aren't helping you as much as they think. After all, at this point, it's just a name and phone number.
And in all likelihood it's only backed by some cursory conversations about you.
This type of referral (or introduction) is missing some very important elements. Here goes, with some scenarios.
Scenario #1: You run into a colleague, they hand you a business card from someone they met during lunch this week. Your colleague says you oughta contact the person because they "may be interested in working with you." So, you wonder whether or not you oughta embark on your "trek through the desert."
How do you handle this situation?
Take the business card? Pick up the telephone?? Obviously you don't want to be rude to your associate. But this form of "referral" is a cold-introduction. Slice and dice it all you want. It's cold.
So fefore taking any action on your part, you're much better of thanking your colleague for mentioning your name and then replying with something like…
"That's great to hear Sue. Glad your lunch went well. But would you mind doing me a favor? Would you contact her again and let her know I'll be calling?
Or, pretell, you could say something like…
"Would you mind contacting her again to see if the three of us could have lunch together and everyone be introduced?"
The key concept here is that personal introductions always trump cold introductions, especially in the game of referrals. You want the personal endorsement of your colleague introduction.
And you should always strive for this level of commitment from others who recommend you to prospects. After all, they are endorsing you by recommending you to others. That's not an attitude of being conceited. It's just being downright respectful to the other person's time.
Scenario #2: The same colleague shows some degree of interest in matching you up with the referral. In that case, you could say something like…
"Sue, again, I appreciate you mentioning my name. Have you told her to expect my phone call? Would you be willing to call her again tomorrow and mention that we both talked, and that I'll be calling soon? Would you please do that for me??"
Notice how you are enlisting the referral source's help in warmly introducing you to the other person, even after her preliminary discussions about you.
Active involvement.
Train your colleagues, clients and prospects that you want their personal introductions of you to others. Always attempt to enlist their help in introducing you handing you a name and telephone number.
Topics: Client Referrals, Strategic Alliance Referrals, Referral Tactics, Referrals to CPAs, Referrals to Attorneys, Referrals to Realtors, Referral Myths, Psychology of Referrals, Referral Process, Referral Ideas
Recent Posts from Daryl Logullo:
- Twisted Nature of Referral Marketing - August 7th, 2008
- Referral Marketing Diagram: The Answer - July 16th, 2008
- What Does This Referral Marketing Diagram Tell You? - May 27th, 2008
- Why You're Not Getting More Referrals - April 2nd, 2008
- Want More Referrals? 2 Key Factors - March 14th, 2008
Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:
- N/A
Top Referral Articles
