REFERRAL$

By Hank Trisler

When I was a young man, I gave referrals freely and enthusiastically. I figured that if I had found a good thing, it was my sworn duty to share it with my friends. Now that I am smack in the middle of geezerhood, I refer sparingly and with many reservations and disclaimers.

Sad experience has taught me that referring usually is a "no-win" deal. If the deal goes poorly, I’ll catch hell from someone. If the deal goes well, I’ll seldom hear anything from anybody. It’s far safer for me to just shut up.

A few years ago, my daughter, Alayne, came by with a problem. Her Isuzu Rodeo was heating up and she wanted to know who she should go see about fixing it.

"Well, Dave’s always done right by me," I foolishly said. I was speaking of an acquaintance that had been taking care of my car for some time.

"You know I had a problem the last time I took it to him," she replied.

Any reasonably clear-thinking person would have seen the storm clouds and would have backed away as fast as he could, but not me. I had come down with "referring fever," where one gets odd gratification from passing on advice to a loved one.

"Hey, Dave apologized and gave you a free oil change and filter. The guy who caused the problem isn’t even there anymore." Not only had I given a referral, I was now selling her on using the referral, despite her better judgement.

One of the mechanics at Dave’s determined she had a bad radiator and gave her an estimate of about $400.

Alayne called me after she had picked up her Rodeo. "I got screwed," she wailed. "I checked on the internet and I could have gotten a new radiator for less than half of what Dave charged me and another guy I know would have put one in for $250. What should I do?"

I told her that radiators came in varying qualities and that price was not the most important factor. It seemed that was about the amount I had paid Dave for a radiator a few months before. Was she aware that all Dave’s parts had a lifetime guarantee? As if my life weren’t sufficiently complicated, I was now defending Dave. Not in the least mollified, she sent Dave an e-mail of complaint and copied me.

A week later, having heard nothing from Dave, Alayne asked me to call him. Continuing my conduct as a damned fool, I did. I told him of the problem and he told me his e-mail had been on the fritz. He explained to me all the stuff I had already explained to Alayne and got himself fairly annoyed in the process.

The upshot of the whole deal is that Dave had his General Manager send Alayne an e-mail of explanation, rather than apology. Of course that didn’t do the job. Now both Alayne and Dave are offended not only with one another, but also with me. I wish I had never made the referral in the first place, particularly when I knew better.

Here’s the conundrum: I depend on referrals myself for my living. In teaching sales methods, one of the prime methods is referral, yet I dislike giving them as I often get burned. Let’s examine some things we can do to make the whole referral process more comfortable for all parties involved.

Reward Referrals. If we agree that there is appreciable risk on the part of the referring party, we probably agree on the need for ample reward to balance the scales.

I’m not talking about money here. The principal difference between lovers and prostitutes is money. Money corrupts the act of referral, unless it is a part of some organized "bird dog" or referral points program. Referrals that you get just for the money are far less valuable that the ones you get for love. I am suggesting a little joy gift that is lasting evidence of your appreciation for the confidence the referrer is showing in you. It should be individually purchased and be a reflection of the esteem in which you hold the customer.

The gift should probably be the same whether you make the sale or not. The act you are rewarding is the giving of the referral, not the making of the sale. The sale part is your responsibility.

When you succeed, be sure to let the referrer know about it with a call, or note. Tell them how happy the customer is with his purchase and how much you appreciate the referral. I don’t know how it is where you live, but I almost never hear about the result of a referral unless it’s from the customer. What is my incentive to refer to that salesperson again?

When you fail, speed is essential. Take the example of Alayne and Dave. I heard nothing from Dave about the problem or his resolution of it. My feeling is that he mishandled my referral and it will be a very cold day before I give him another. If, on the other hand, he had gotten back to me before Alayne and said something like, "We had a little problem with your daughter. She got some low-ball prices and I don’t know if she’s yet convinced that she got a good deal. I want you to know I took good care of her and will continue to do everything in my power to make her happy, as with anyone else you refer to me."

Now what is my feeling? I think, I referred that ungrateful whelp to a friend who took great care of her, but she still isn’t happy. I guess I’ll have to find him another customer to compensate. The facts of the case are exactly the same. The only difference is who got back to the referring source first with the bad news.

Keep working for referrals, as they are the best business you can get, but don’t be offended when someone is hesitant to give one. They might just have gotten older and wiser.