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The Four Habits of Highly Referable People

Guest post by: Jonathan Goldhill

Article Overview: Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach, referral, referral partners, referral habits, getting referrals, making referrals, giving referrals,

The Four Habits of Highly Referable People

Business is a contact sport that is won or lost based on your relationships. The larger and more profound your relationship network the more successful you are in business. And, by focusing on your relationships, you can multiply opportunities for yourself and your business. So, one of the most powerful abilities you can develop is being referable. We all know referrals are by far the best marketing method to grow any business. After all, the cost to acquire a new client gained through a referral can range from a simple thank you note to a gift you give to the referrer. And, how much less expensive is that than having to pay account managers to search for these opportunities or spend money on mailers or pay-per-click advertising? But how many are you are highly referable? Meaning how many of you practice the four essential habits that will make people want to refer you?

To be referable, according to Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach, you have to master these four habits:

1. Show up on time.

2. Do what you say.

3. Finish what you start.

4. Say please and thank you.

"Each of these four habits is based on showing respect and appreciation for other people. Every person you meet is the center of his or her own universe; when you demonstrate from the very beginning of a relationship through your habitual behavior that you recognize the central importance of the other person's schedule, commitments, deadlines, and goals, you immediately become an invaluable resource in their life. He or she will want to refer you into other important situations and relationships," writes Sullivan.

Contractors, in general, have a reputation for not returning phone calls. Over time, this can make or break a business, since returning phone calls is the first essential habit of being referable. Developing a company policy to return phone calls with 24 hours is a model behavior that when replicated throughout your company can have a positive effect. There is a saying I like share with people: "How we do anything is how we do everything." If you or your people don't return phone calls on a timely basis, what else gets left undone, unfinished, forgotten or not done on a timely basis?

Recently, I had an experience with the owner of a prominent local landscape company, whom I have paid thousands of dollars to over the years to maintain my property and whom I have referred others for their excellent tree work. I had a scheduled phone appointment with the owner, whom I asked when confirming the appointment if he maintained a calendar to keep his appointments. Because I keep a busy schedule I wanted to make sure he would be available when I called. Despite confirming the appointment, he did not show up. And, despite a couple of follow up phone calls and emails, I never heard from him. He went dark on me. I found this bothersome and disrespectful of my time. Do you think I will refer him or his company to others in the future? Or do you think I might go out of my way to find another company to refer others to for their tree work. And, how many people do you think I will tell about my experience? Research says an unhappy customer will tell five times the number of people about their experience than happy customers.

While all this may seem like common sense, the truth about common sense is that it's anything but common.

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Article Tags: making referrals, referral partners, referrals, strategic coach



Related Forum Posts
Re: Money Does Not Guarantee Happiness - Thanks for singling this point out, Chris. One book that comes to mind that covers it in an overall approach is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. He addresses our inner life and the way it can change our effectiveness home and at work. There are corporations who have taken this model and effectively molded their business around it.
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Sept 10, 2010 - Glad you liked it David! I only managed to get partway through the list today because my one year old was looking for some playtime but I did read the Zen Habits one - I love reading Zen Habits while relaxing at a coffee shop!
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Sept 10, 2010 - I was also interested in the Zen Habits affiliate programme as it might mix well with my business/japan blog...
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Nov 12, 2010 - Hi Evan, Yes, do keep posting the list, please! I socked two articles into my "read later" file... Zen Habits - Momentum, and $100 a day from info products. The "read later" file is a real time saver... the only problem being that I haven't yet read anything in it. I know: I'll read it later! Mañana! DH


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