A good referral and a bad referral can look remarkably similar on a spreadsheet.

A good referral and a bad referral can look remarkably similar on a spreadsheet.

Both may contain a name, telephone number and email address.

The difference is what happened before the introduction.

A good referral usually has some degree of fit.

The person needs something I can actually help with.

They understand why they’re being introduced to me.

And I have enough context to make the first conversation productive.

A poor referral may simply be: “You two should talk.”

No context.

No qualification.

No clear reason.

That creates work for both people and sometimes puts the referring person’s credibility at risk.

When I gave referrals, I tried to make sure the introduction made sense first.

I’d rather give someone three good referrals than twenty names that happen to be in my contact list.

Volume isn’t the same thing as value.