A Big Fat Don’t for Referral Programs

Warning – this post comes with a bit of a rant feel to it. I often take my personal experiences to this blog because if I’m dealing with it chances are others are too. Of late, I’ve been dealing with referral offers that just rub me wrong. Very wrong.

In the past month, I’ve had a handful of people contact me and ask me to refer business to them. Once I do, they’ll give me money. I don’t know anything about these people, they know nothing about me, I have no idea how they work or if I think they are honest with their business. Not even helping me answer these unknowns makes me shut down immediatly. Kind of like when you start to have that gut feeling that something is a little off but you’re trying to be professional and hang in there. There are right and wrong ways to ask for, receive and give thanks for referrals. This cold approach, however, falls in the wrong way to do the act. It makes me think … if you’re treating me like this and handling your marketing in this matter, how else are you handling your business?

When you’re ready to offer a referral program, do it the right way. Figure out what works best for your referral sources, how you’ll consistently thank each referral source and how often you’ll do this thanking. These are just some starters for important elements. Before any of this takes place, though, take the time to get to know the people you’re hoping to help you grow your business with referrals. Any other way will offer the opposite up… a complete turn off and zero referrals… ever.