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The 4 Pillars of a Successful Referral
Understanding the dynamics of a referral is just as important as understanding the mechanics of working with clients to generate
a large number of referrals.
All referrals are not the same. There are high quality referrals and there are low quality referrals. Gaining a high quality referral
is more than simply finding a referred prospect who wants or needs your product or service and can afford to acquire it.
Just like a building, a quality referral rests on a foundation:
Pillar 1: Your Relationship with Your Client
Your relationship with your client must be built on trust and respect. Most clients will not give referrals to people they trust
and respect unless they trust and respect you.
Pillar 2: Your Client’s Purchasing Experience
Clients assume that whomever they refer you to will be more critical and more demanding than they themselves have been.
Consequently, you must provide the client the exact purchasing experience they want and demonstrate that you will not
embarrass them in front of their friends, family, co-works and acquaintances.
Pillar 3: Your Client’s Relationship with the Referred Prospect
With a referral, you are trying to build a relationship with the referred prospect based on their relationship with your client.
You must know the relationship between the two. If the prospect trusts and respects your client, you begin your relationship
with that prospect with some of that trust and respect imbued to you. Likewise, if the prospect distrusts and disrespects your
client, you begin the relationship with some of that distrust and disrespect imbued to you. You must know where you stand
with the prospect before you contact them.
Pillar 4: The Contact Method Used to Contact the Referred Prospect
As general rules: 1) use your strongest contact methods for your best referrals; 2) the weaker the referral, the stronger the
contact method needs to be; 3) never simply pick up the phone and call a referred prospect.
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