Twisted Nature of Referral Marketing

By Daryl Logullo | August 7, 2008 | Popularity: 60% | 663 views

“People are afraid that you might screw them… or their clients” — Daryl Logullo 

Sometimes to understand referrals, referral marketing, client referrals (and business referral relationships in general), you’ve just gotta… well, you’ve gotta look at… the sick confines of people and their human psyche.

Because deep in that referral source’s grey matter lives some pretty twisted conniptions.

Let me explain.Let’s say that you’ve worked with a client for some time. You perceive s/he thinks you’re Grade A material. And naturally, you’re expecting them to refer business and start the yin and yang of introductions. In your mind, they’re a legit referral source.

But wait.

The reality may be they have certain silent reservations about you (Uh… they don’t always tell you).

Here comes the disconnect (and the marketing lesson): Perception versus Reality.

Positioning, or perception of you, is how that person imagines you versus other choices - namely, your competitors.

The fact that their may be a limited supply of others like you available, means… well… it means that referral source has limited choices.

The Good: Means as a good, short-term retention tool.
The Bad: It won’t yield any long-term consistent referrals.

For example, let’s take a niche like physicians.

Doctors are a busy group. They run hectic practices. They hire administrators to run the muck.

You’re a ”marketing” consultant. You help a doctor increase his or her referred patients. Your expertise is referral marketing.

A doctor may know other professionals, true. But they probably don’t know very many who are honed at practice management and referral generation, right? This reduces their supply of marketing consultants that they know.

While this is an advantage to you as the consultant (limited supply of competitors) it can seriously hurt your relationship. Why?

Human nature is twisted.

People worry. They get concerned. They wonder and fret. And all that angst eventually creeps in, silently reminding the physician, “You could be getting more referred patients, and there must be someone else you can work with who is good at referral strategies.”

The problem is relational-disconnect begins to form. This hurts opportunities for word-of-mouth introductions.

For whatever reason during the time you have worked together, the doc’s perception has now become that you are not as talented as he or she once believed. Or worse…

They may start to imagine and perceive even more: That you are preoccupied.

That you’ve become too busy. That you really aren’t as responsive as you once were. And those perceptions - false as they may be to you - continue to grow and grow into accepted reality of the doctor.

The truth is that, we as people, in our distracted, hectic lives, won’t always stop to “fact-check” ourselves and our misguided perceptions - to see if they are indeed real. Much like the Doctor, in my example.

To improve you referrals, word-of-mouth marketing and referred business, make sure people you are working with have opportunities to check their perceptions of you versus the reality of the situation. One of the easiest ways of encouraging this is via honest open communication that encourages complaints and objections.

Try saying, “Mr. Client, I’ve enjoyed our relationship. I’d like you to refer others to me. But before we discuss that, I’d like you to be perfectly candid with me: What have I been doing that has bothered you?”

The comments you hear will go a long way to helping you open genuine communication. They will also impact your chances to get more referrals.

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