The Law of Referability
We live in a very exciting time when it is easy to connect or network with people. In fact, several web sites have been created just for creating social networks. Many times each week I receive requests from my “connections” and “links” to refer them or connect them with others they would like to meet or do business with.
Referrals and networking are not new to the electronic age. Being referred has always been the best way to do business. With so many businesses trying to get our attention, it is easy to ignore them unless we know them. Being referred is important, but being REFERABLE is even more critical. If others do not want to refer us, afraid of losing their own credibility, then we need to look inward and make the necessary changes. When we know that we are referable, then we can confidently expect our network to assist us.
In my business I have found certain values that I try to measure and manage into our business. These same values are helpful when determining whether someone else is referable. I have used this model for many years and simply call it The Law of Referability. Let me share these values with you.
Be On Time
When we first opened Alexander’s in 1979, it seemed that most printers weren’t on time with anything. As the concept of Quick Printing developed, printers began to face the reality that deadlines were important and needed to be real. As a retail quick copy center, Alexander’s realized that one of our greatest advantages would be to deliver product on time. Today, delivering on time is not only nice, but it is a minimum requirement of our customers.
Being on time goes significantly deeper than just product deadlines. Have you noticed in Today’s world how seldom a salesman or a job applicant is on time for an appointment? What is it about being on time that many people don’t get? With all of the technology around us, it should be easier to be on time. Yet, we use that technology to squeeze more things into our schedules and therefore compromise our commitments to others. And the issue that I will never understand or accept is the increasing occurrences of employees or others not showing up and not even bothering to notify anyone. Worst of all, some even expect to move forward with a relationship as if nothing ever happened. Like our parents used to say, What is this world coming to?
What would happen if your business or mine went against this trend of taking advantage of others valuable time? What if we decided NOT to be late or keep other people waiting? If we do, those we meet with will have increased respect for our concern for their time, and when we commit to do something the trust level our customers have will be high.
When we are late with a service there could be hundreds of people inconvenienced, and major projects or sales opportunities lost. We don’t just hurt ourselves; we may hurt everyone that works with us.
When we are on time, people learn they can depend on us. It is an indication of our integrity. Today people don’t have time to waste on those they can’t trust.
Do What You Say You’ll Do
“Do what you say you’ll do” are not just idle words. They are the words others say about the people they trust, and trustworthy people follow through on what they have committed to do. People that learn to keep commitments are like money in the bank for a business. They are the people the customer or the boss will depend on when it really counts.
Doing what you say you’ll do is as simple as calling back when you say you will, or following up on an assignment as promised. We all want to be trusted, but we need to understand that trust is not given, it is earned. It only takes a few times of following through, doing what you say you’ll do, for anyone to earn a great deal of trust and become the “go to” person for that urgent need.
The best part, in my opinion, about being a person or company that does what they say they’ll do is that they don’t have to make excuses. Because things get done when promised, accountability is never a concern. Champions love to be measured, and “doers” love to be accountable. Most of the companies that do what they say they’ll do are companies that we love to refer to our friends and contacts.
Finish What You Start
Have you ever been in a company strategy meeting where new projects were started or research begun, only to meet again in a week or month and find that nothing had been done on the assignments taken? Have you implemented new processes into your business only to have them fizzle out in a few weeks? I have, and sometimes I’ve been the one that dropped the ball.
Starting a project is extremely important. The saying , “Nothing ever gets sold until you find someone to sell to”, is so true. Yet often worse than not starting is not finishing. When we don’t finish what we start, we have wasted a lot of energy and resources, and those around us start losing faith in us and our ability. As with all the other values, learning how to finish what what you start is critical to developing trust and respect.
A couple of items have helped me a great deal in learning how to master and help others to acquire this value of finishing what you start. First, recognizing a person’s personal nature as a single- or multi-tasker is critical to how they start and finish projects. Of course, single taskers like to work on one project at a time. Because they want to do it right, they often procrastinate beginning a job until they have all the right tools and materials and enough time to complete the job. The best way to aid a single-tasker is to help them break up the work into achievable pieces, help them assemble the tools and then help them prioritize the pieces by urgency or importance.
Multi-taskers love to get started, but when they find they don’t have all the tools and materials, or they get sidetracked when something more interesting comes along, they move on to those other things and forget the task at hand. We aid multi-taskers by allowing them to work on a variety of projects simultaneously, limiting those jobs to three to five at a time, and making sure the right tools are in place to complete the jobs.
Second, accountability with deadlines is a must. Milestones as well as final deadlines, with progress meetings along the way help everyone to finish what they start.
With these and other ideas, we can be successful in developing the value Finish What You Start.
Be Polite
The final value in the Law of Referability is to be polite. Sounds easy but it doesn’t always happen. Every single one of us wants to be treated politely and with respect, yet we don’t always reciprocate. The world is becoming a very tough place. Some people never have a kind word spoken to them and so they don’t know how to treat others. Parents aren’t polite to children. Bosses aren’t polite to employees. School teachers aren’t polite to students. And we wonder why there is so much distrust and meanness in the world.
Exactly like the movie “Pay It Forward”, it would only take a few thoughtful people saying please and thank you for politeness to spread to those around them. If parents would be polite and expect the same from their children that feeling would spread to their schools, friends and jobs. If bosses would show courtesy and respect to their employees, that would transfer to other employees, friends and families. If teachers would show respect and be polite to students it would make the students feel more positive about their education and their abilities. What a change all of this could bring to the world.
In our business, when something goes wrong, we ask the customer, “What will it take to make you happy?” We don’t want to just solve a problem. We want happy customers.
Let’s take a few minutes and just think about the people we influence and what type of changes we could make in their lives if we were more polite and genuinely interested in them, as individuals. We are all in the “people” business. We want to do business with our friends, and when we are treated with respect, those people become our friends.
In Summary
By now it should be obvious that these four values – Be On Time, Do What You Say You’ll Do, Finish What You Start, and Be Polite -- can change our lives and the way we do business. If we think of those people we really look up to and respect, they understand and follow these values. Not only do we want to be around these people, they are easy to refer. It doesn’t matter if we are selling a product, applying for a job, applying for education or running a business. We all need to be referred sometime. We can’t wait until we need the referral to deserve it. We must start now.
If we start now to live the Law of Referability, we will become referable, and our customers and friends will love to be asked to recommend us. Because he is referable, a friend of mine continues to build a bigger and bigger network of great customers as contacts switch companies or meet others needing his services. In fact, the other day one customer asked him to help her hire a new buyer so that he would feel comfortable working with that person. Now that is living the Law.
So, think of the Law of Referability first when giving a referral and when asking for one. If we do, the world will be a better place.
Most important of all, ask yourself the question, “Do I live the law of referability?” Better to find out now than later.