Every time you or someone else gives a referral, many reputations are on the line, but most importantly, yours.
There is no question about it, word of mouth is the most effective type of advertising there is, however, it has a very dark side too. Many people think that referring people involves just getting to know someone, but they forget that nothing is more important than trust, and you can easily kill trust in business.
If you base your business’ marketing on word of mouth, be careful, because your integrity and reputation are at constant risk. When someone refers you, you better live up to his or her expectations. You have to be professional, and do what you say you can do. If you mess up, everyone involved will notice.
In the same way, when you refer someone, your reputation is at stake too. When a referral is good, you greatly strengthen a relationship, but if the referral is a bad one, you can say goodbye to that relationship. When the person you refer is not a professional, does a poor job or cheats, what suffers the most is your reputation.
You must know the person or business you refer deeply, to be sure that you know all the facts and that you have strong proof of their integrity and professionalism, otherwise, you will end up apologizing to many people and making amends to get your good name back.
One can say that the biggest risk when giving a bad referral is for the giver. His or her business relationships may follow his or her advice due to their reputation, only to be cheated into a trap. How do you think him or her will look in front of those clients? Do not risk it! Know as much as possible about whom you are referring, and equally, never give good referrals to people you know cannot refer with integrity.
On the other hand, some people believe that because they have been referred they can do anything they want, harming themselves and those who referred them due to their recklessness. Remember that word of mouth always works, be it in your favor or against you. Never assume you will get a special treatment just because you were referred, you can seriously damage the relationship between the person who referred you and the third party, without mentioning your own.
It can’t be clearer; everyone involved in the referral circle is under close scrutiny. Whatever anyone says or displays conveys a message. It is very easy to pinpoint a dishonest and unprofessional person, however, the harm is already done. Word of mouth is associated with your image; the true professional is honest and dedicated in every area of his or her life.
Even for solid professionals, sometimes word of mouth is not the right way to go. Good business networking demands time and personal involvement, thus, if you cannot give it the care it needs, it is better to stick to other conventional advertising media and marketing strategies, and not risk moving to the dark side of business.
If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.meetingwave.com as the original source).
Author Resource:
Jonathan Boyd has written countless articles for Meeting Wave, a free website to meet people offline, for social or business networking. Check out the MW blog at http://www.meetingwave.com/blog
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