In the great children’s book by Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – the hero, Charlie received a Golden Ticket that could – if he followed the correct path – change his life forever.
Businesses too get golden tickets which we call business referrals, yet like Charlie’s companions in the book these golden moments can be a waste of time if not downright dangerous. You may not become lost in a chocolate river like August Gloop, but a business could lose an important referrer, lose reputation with a potential client or grow a reputation as being ungrateful and thankless.
In the book our hero Charlie did a number of things that turned his Golden Ticket into a life changing event and I encourage businesses to do the same with their business referrals.
1. Charlie turned up on time – Charlie’s ticket provided access to Willie Wonka’s factory, but only if he turned up on a certain day at a certain time. Like the golden ticket, business referrals have a use-by-date. This is about 24 hours from when the potential customer first heard about your offering. If businesses do not follow up within the first 24 hours of receiving a referral they might as well never have received it in the first place. This does not mean closing the deal, it is simply contacting the potential customer to outline next steps.
2. Charlie followed the rules – Willie Wonka had rules around the factory visit, he was very exacting about what could and could not be done by the ticket holders while on their tour. For business referrals, the key rule is to provide the best service the business can offer. Providing top service ideally is what businesses do naturally, but sometimes referred in business is taken for granted and can be fast tracked through the usual customer experience process under the assumption that the referred customer already knows the drill. If anything referred business should be loved and cared for more than direct response business, if they have been referred they may well refer future business themselves at sometime.
3. Charlie said thank you – At the end of the book Charlie inherits Wonka’s factory and moves his whole family in to help. Of course he said thank you. And, you would think given the huge benefits that referred business has, referrers would always be thanked. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Referrer’s are often the overlooked party in the whole deal. A simple card, or for a higher value transaction a bottle of wine or similar can have huge value in securing future similar referrals.
Steve Hockley is a business coach and BNI Director Consultant in the Wellington region.
