Recently I was contacted by a man who needed some specialized work done quickly.  He was looking for a reliable referral that could get on it right away.  It was easy to pass him the name of a man I knew was reliable and would do the work effectively and at a reasonable price….despite the fact that he was seasonally very busy.  Two days later, the person who made the original request contacted me in disgust because my contact didn’t show up for an appointment.  But because I KNEW the man I had referred… I covered his back and asked the interested party to give him a second chance to make that appointment.  I cc’d both of them on the email.  By the end of the day… they both made contact and he got additional work from the initial request!

Now that’s the kind of referral partners you want to develop; People who have your back…and people you are willing to cover theirs!  That takes time and intentional effort.  It also means each of us have to keep our “referral credit score” up above 700!

Stand Out…don’t just stand up!

Scott Carley