The top 7 barriers to consistent quality referrals

Today I thought I would share with you what I have found to be the biggest barriers to consistent quality referrals in business. It would be very easy to do what most people do and share with you what does work. Lots of things do work, but I have found that there are just a few things that stop referrals – DEAD!

If you are interested in what does work, check out my articles here on LinkedIn.

I think we all know what prevents referrals, that bit is easy, here are a couple – not asking, asking too early and not following up. Today I’m sharing with you what stops consistent quality, which I hope you see is somewhat different.

Here we go – starting with my number one barrier, bar none, to consistent quality referrals:

1. Asking before trust is built.
2. Asking the wrong people.
3. Not knowing what quality means to us.
4. Not knowing why we want what we want.
5. Not training our network.
6. Not understanding how to exchange value.
7. Trying to ‘buy’ referrals.

I would love to go through all of these points in detail; you can call me for the answers if you like, or just wait for my book next year. Because of space, I will just share one line on each point.

1. Asking before trust is built. Consistent referrals happen when relationships are formed, just because we participate in a network, it doesn’t mean that all we need to do is ask. Yes, we might get the odd one-off referrals, but we won’t get consistent quality without relationships – see my article on Trust here: 👉 Know, Like, Trust, Learn, Refer

2. Asking the wrong people. Please note, here, I am talking about what we want next, not more of what we already get. Quality comes from always aiming for better. This means that what we want next may not be available from the people we are currently around.

3. Not knowing what quality means to us. A simple answer here – if we don’t know what we want how on earth do you think our network will know?

4. Not knowing why we want what we want. At this level, I have found that consistent quality referrals come from those that buy into us; why we do what we do and what we are aiming for. Clarity brings consistency.

5. Not training our network. As in the above points, consistently sharing with our key people what we are looking for next, will bring us the referrals and the business opportunities we want. Please note, next in this case, means BETTER not MORE.

6. Not understanding how to exchange value. At this elevated level, simply exchanging referrals is not enough. Understanding how to exchange real value in our network is the key to consistent quality.

7. Trying to ‘buy’ referrals. I will simply state here that if you are looking for volume then incentivising your referral sources can work, BUT. If you are looking for consistent quality, I strongly advise you develop a value based reward system that is NOT a percentage or monetary system.

I appreciate that my explanations are short, I hope they have at least got you thinking. Do please check out my other articles as they go into more detail about what real quality and consistency in referrals actually means.

Book a call with me here to talk about removing your barriers to growth in your business.