Last week I talked about why we build relationships, and I suggested having an action plan from a one on one meeting as a good place to start. One of the actions can be passing referrals, which is a great way to deepen a relationship.

This is the one time I am going to break my philosophy of “Do what works for you and don’t do what doesn’t.” If you don’t refer at least some people in your network, the whole system is going to fall apart. Do you have to refer everyone in your network? No, but you need to refer as many as you can. Word about you will get around, whether you like it or not. And the best word to be having go around is “This person really knows how to give.”

But beyond the giving aspect, passing a referral gives you reason to stay in touch with both people in the referral chain. Here’s an example.

A prospect of yours needs the services of some other business professional, say a printer. The smart networker says, “I think I have just the person for you, but let me just touch base with him quickly and be sure you are the right potential client for him.” You contact your printer and give a quick overview of your prospect and what she needs. Here is a “touch” to your printer, and one of the best possible touches because you are giving him potential business. Assuming the prospect’s needs are something the printer can fill, he says, “Yes, I can help.” You close the loop by passing on the contact information to your prospect.

And that’s where many people stop. But this is just the beginning. You now have an absolutely valid reason to touch base with her that has nothing to do with signing a contract or writing you a check.

So touch base with the prospect. Did the referral go well? Was the printer able to meet her needs? Is there anything else she needs that you can help with? Very often, that contact will give you an idea of where the prospect stands with you and your services.

And you have reason to again touch base with your printer because of course you want to close the loop on that side of the referral. Your printer might be able to give you some “inside” information on how close your prospect is to signing with you.

If either side of the referral did not go well, you need to know that too. People remember when things go badly. Fortunately for you, they also remember when things go badly and you called to find out and made it as right as you could. A lot of people don’t want to know when things go badly. Ignorance is bliss and all that. Ignoring the problem might even make it go away. But you probably won’t get business from the person who was on the bad end of a referral. Where if you do follow through, find out what went wrong, apologize and do what you can to fix it, that will establish you as an honorable, reputable business person well worth doing business with.

Tags: Referrals, Relationship building

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under Referrals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.