Whose contact?

20/6/11

I was asked an interesting question recently about referrals and it got me thinking. As always when I’m asked something my mind goes shooting all over the place; there are always so many possibilities. It got me thinking of moral judgements, the game ‘A question of Scruples’ and a TV show I remember, which I think was called ‘Dilemmas’.

Now I bet you are thinking that this must have been a pretty important question and I guess it was, but only if you really think about it. If you thought about building goodwill and trust; being positive and supportive.

I’ll tell you what I think because the same thing happened to me years ago and it certainly wasn’t handled by the member concerned the way I handle similar situations. Now I wasn’t too bothered but some members might be rather more concerned. Certainly the person who asked me was. I’d be interested to know what you think.

So, this is my story. I was talking with my next door neighbour and during the course of the conversation I discovered that they were going to have a number of jobs done around the house over the coming months. I talked to them about all the great businesses that I knew and could recommend, showed them my BNI wallet and gave them the cards of some of the members. They decided to start with one job so I was able to pass a referral. Just like it is supposed to happen: it was great!

It was what happened next that is the subject of the dilemma: several more referrals, but none of them given by me. Now this was my contact, my next door neighbour, I had recommended other members of the group, but others ‘claimed’ the referrals in the chapter. Now maybe I’m a bit old fashioned, but when this situation happens to me, when the person I am working for asks for another contact, I say “that’s great, I’ll ask xxxxxx (the person who gave me the referral) to introduce you to them.”

Just imagine how the member who gave me the original referral feels. How much goodwill and trust I am building with them.

So, what do you think?