Why I don't want a referral fee

My business is built on referrals.  That's pretty much the only way clients find me.  I have a website, and this blog, but both serve more to build credibility than they do to attract new clients.  Word of mouth is it for me.  And I am convinced that the way to build that word of mouth is by helping others - my referral sources - build their businesses.

That's why I don't need a referral fee.  In fact, a fee would be deter me from giving referrals to you. Here's why.

Referrals are all about trust.  I refer people to you only after I have come to trust you and the job you do.  I refer to you only people whom I trust will treat you with respect.  When I give a referral, I am connecting two people I value.  Money would get in the way of that.

I want to be able to refer potential clients to you free of the taint of a commission or fee. I want to be able to say - with complete honesty - that I am referring them to you solely because I think you can help them.  I don't want anyone to think I refer people to you because you pay me to do so.

In fact, a referral fee makes me feel cheap, and it cheapens our relationship.  I refer to you because we have carefully built a trusting and mutually supportive relationship, from which we both are deriving benefit.  I don't want our relationship to become transactional.  And I don't want to feel as if you are my boss, paying me to deliver the goods.

I refer to you, first and foremost, because I am impressed by you, I like you, and I want to see your business soar.  I know that eventually you will find some way to help my business soar, too, but I'm not concerned about when or how that will happen.  I refer to you because it makes me feel good - about you and about me.  That's all I need.

Oh, and a thank you if it works out.  That's all.

And my guess is that most of you are like me.  How many of you, for example, have told friends about a great new restaurant?  I'll bet most of you have.  And how many of you received something from the restaurant in return?  None of you, I'll bet.  You referred people to the restaurant because it felt good to be able to tell them about a great experience and to imagine how they would think of you once they took you up on it.

Okay, so what if you still want to do something for me in return for a referral?  Here are a few things you can do that would feel good to me (and to your other referral sources):

• Look for people to whom you can introduce me - people who might help drive my business forward.
• Give me referrals.
• Volunteer to support a charity that is important to me.
• Put a plug for me under your email signature (I.e., "I recommend Pat's dry cleaning.").
• Endorse me on Linked In.
• Write about me on your blog.
• On your website, add a link to my website.
• Send me a testimonial, with permission to use it in my marketing.
• Find places for me to speak.
• Tell your friends about me and about my services.
• Nominate me for an award.

Any of these would be far more valuable than a referral fee.

How do you reward your referral sources?  Are you stuck giving referral fees, or have you found more valuable ways of returning the favor?

 ©http://www.kentblumberg.typepad.com

Leaders Help Others

helping others

Institute leadership

Adopt and institute leadership aimed at helping people do a better job. The responsibility of managers and supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. Improvement of quality will automatically improve productivity. Management must ensure that immediate action is taken on reports of inherited defects, maintenance requirements, poor tools, fuzzy operational definitions, and all conditions detrimental to quality.

W.
Edwards Deming

Leaders
Help Others Do a Better Job

“Lead, follow or get out of the way” was one of my
father’s favorite sayings. I could call on Dad at any hour for help in physics,
or building, or just about anything other than cars. Dad wouldn’t do things for
me. He did show me tricks and short cuts and rules of analysis that allowed me
to do it myself. This is the essence of what Dr. Deming is talking about when
he says to institute leadership. Real leaders help other do a better job.

Managers are Leaders
and Help Others

As a manager your job is to teach, aid and assist your
employees to be successful and productive. Not to do the job for them. Like Dad
you are there with your door open, always investigation tools that will make it
easier for your employees to do a quality job with high productivity. You must
be available as a resource and then sometimes you must tie a gag on your mouth
and let an employee learn from a mistake. However, a good leader sets up the
employee for success not failure and never plays “I gotcha”

The Benefits of
Leaders who Help Others

If you are good at your job, then your employees will be
also. If your employees are good at their jobs they will be more productive,
and produce good quality work. The company will be more profitable and stay in
business providing jobs. It is so simple, good leaders help others.

Institute leadership

India on the verge of stopping polio

India on the verge of stopping polio

Tips for a Good Donation Experience

Before Donating

Get a good sleep the day before you have to donate blood

Have a good breakfast or lunch

Drink extra water and fluids to replace the volume you will donate (avoid tea, coffee, or other beverages with caffeine)

Eat iron-rich foods - red meat, fish, poultry or liver, beans, iron-fortified cereals, raisins and prunes

During the Donation

Wear clothing with sleeves that can be raised above the elbow

Show the staff any "good veins" that have been used successfully in the past to draw blood

Rehydrate yourself by drinking plenty of fluids over the next 24-48 hours

Avoid strenuous physical activity or heavy lifting for about five hours after donation

If you feel light headed, lie down, preferably with feet elevated, until the feeling passes

If for any reason, something doesn't feel right, call us after donation

Enjoy the good feeling that comes with knowing that you may have saved as many as three lives.

Benefits

Donating blood may reduce the risk of heart disease for men and stimulate the generation of red blood cells.

The amount of toxic chemicals (e.g. mercury, pesticides, fire retardants) circulating in the blood stream is reduced by the amount contained in given blood.

The good news is you can give blood again and again to help save more lives!

If you're a regular blood donor, you can give blood once in 12 weeks.

http://www.blooddoners.org/

Help Yourself By Helping Others

What’s the need to do social service or to join politics? Can’t they look after their own? What’s there in it for me?” You probably would have heard these kinds of statements a lot. Some people might just say “I do it for my self-satisfaction. I just want to see smiles on others faces“. But as the only species on Earth that can think logically, will the answers pertaining to heart be enough to suffice the reasoning of the brain? After all, we have evolved from primates based on our basic instinct i.e., the survival of the fittest, where survival of oneself is far more important than anything else. Then, how can anyone stand the reasoning which asks us to help others by spending a part of our time and resources? For all you people who support this view, I have only one thing to say “Help yourself by helping others.”

You might wonder how it helps you if you help others. Isn’t it pretty obvious that you can live better in a developed Nation Y, where luxuries are basic needs, than in an underdeveloped Nation X, where even basic needs aren’t satisfied? Wouldn’t you work a bit more harder if it was possible to make X into Y and thus have a better life? What fun would it be if you were to give up even without trying making X into Y and choose to remain stagnant, which would be totally against the law of evolution? Wouldn’t you commend someone who tries to help you, and then why not help yourself?

Let me give you some examples from our daily life which will make it clearer. Let’s say, if you want to go to a place A from a place B in the same city and it takes at least 2 hours to travel keeping in mind all the traffic and waiting time, if its via a public transport system. What if the previous generation was more socially active and made the government build better roads and provide a better public transport system? The travel time would have definitely come down by at least 30 minutes and may be even an hour also. Well all isn’t lost yet; you can definitely travel much more conveniently and faster after 10-15 years if you can act now and make the government work for you.

If you aren’t satisfied with the previous example, let me give you another example. Every one of us will obviously want to study in the best of schools and colleges there is. What if the universities we perceive as best in our country are nowhere near the best universities in the world? We, Indians have been flocking the US universities for one main reason, they are far better than any of our Indian universities. Even though we are credited for being one of the most intelligent nations in the world; except for a few, most of us are studying in second rated universities for major part of our education period. Thus, wasting a part of our potential just because we didn’t care how our national education policy is. But what if our universities were better? No, not just better, what if they were the best universities in the world? We could have had the best education in the world and use our mind’s potential to the fullest. Then, why not work towards a better educational system at all levels and get a better quality and quantity education. Mind you, the better educated the nation is, the more developed it will become.

Still not satisfied? Okay, no problem. Let me try one more time. Ever had a power cut during one of your favourite games/serials on TV or during work/social networking on your computer and prayed to god that you would do almost anything to get the power back? Ever wondered what you can possibly do to have your fan/AC working by avoiding a power cut during the gruelling Indian summers? We could have avoided all of this, only if our government had completed all the electricity projects on time and thus use the saved resources for providing even more infrastructure. Only if we had made the government more accountable, it would have completed the projects in time. Then, why not work towards changing the scenario and make the government more accountable and thus help yourself?

You might be thinking, doing all this is just a big drag. Well, it is not. There are people who are ready to make an extra effort for both you and themselves. All you need to do is to just support them. And how it is to be done? Simple, vote for the good and honest guys, reject the corrupt ones and thus forming a better and working government for you. Also a Rs 100 saved out of your pocket/month shouldn’t be really much of a big deal for you. But on those simple savings of many, NGOs can totally change the face of many villages. If you are the one who’s willing to take up the extra effort, then you are surely laudable So, Lets help others for helping ourselves.

Written By Shanthi Swaroop