Are You a “Connector”?

My father refused to use a phone book to find a business.  He forbade them from our household.  When the phonebook delivery teams swarmed our neighborhood, he was incensed.  “Why would ANYONE trust a perfect stranger to do something for them , when all they have to do is ask their friends…someone ALWAYS knows SOMEONE”.  The phone book was the representation of the possibility of an impersonal business transaction, something my dad believed wasn’t necessary.

I asked him once, “Dad, how are we going to get the muffler fixed on the car when you have to work this Saturday AND Sunday?”  We only had one car, and Dad wasn’t much for being dropped off at work, and he certainly wasn’t going to let my mom handle the details of the repair.  His answer?  “Well, I talked to Bob, who talked to his buddy Phil, and they’re gonna get the muffler from John at the parts shop and change it in the parking lot at my work while I’m there”.  WHOA.  Can you imagine that level of service from any muffler shop today?  Even IF they’d aspire to that level of in-person commitment, you’d be charged an other-worldly premium….one that most of us wouldn’t care to pay, even if we had the means to do so.  These guys (who weren’t even close friends of my dad’s) did for him because friends of theirs got them the work, and they were happy to do it for the extra money it represented to them.

We all know someone that “knows a guy”.   Problem is, we lack the confidence that the job done will be done well.  What we’ve forgotten is the value of a personal referral.  When you present your social circle with a problem you’re having, it must be done in a way that inspires confident referrals, referrals that you CAN rely on, or the request shouldn’t be made.  When offering referrals, one must remember that any referral made, is, in essence, a reflection on you as the referrer.

If you do a good job for me, I will promote you to my friends and family all day long.  If you didn’t, I won’t. I’m attaching my name to you, and I want to be certain that you won’t sully my reputation as a referrer.  I take pride in being a “connector”…someone that people trust enough to ask my advice when they need something.

Are YOU a connector?  In my opinion, one of the biggest failures of the current generation of business owners is that we do precious little in the way of personal referrals.  If you’d tell your mom and dad about the great electrician you just hired for a wiring job, why wouldn’t you extend the same courtesy to your business contacts for a great cell-phone salesperson?  When someone you deal with from 8 to 6 knocks the ball out of the park for you, don’t you want to make sure that person succeeds, so that you can be sure they’ll be there for YOU the next time you need them?  Make sure to promote those people that take care of you .

Much is made these days about the positive benefits of social networking.  While I understand it’s value in making our worlds smaller places, I see many people collecting contacts for no apparent reason.  If you have hundreds of LinkedIn connections,  if you’re following a small army of people on Twitter, what are you doing to leverage the value of those connections?  Are you putting people together?  Are you making contacts with people, and then not letting them know the value of your connections that you’ve brought to the table?

For those of you that know us, you’ll know that we at UTEC are great connectors.  If you don’t know who to go to when you need something done….call us.  Chances are, we’ll know someone that can help you get what you need, or, it won’t take us long to find someone that does.  If you DO know us, and we’ve done a good job for you, say nice things to your contacts about us, won’t you?  If you do happen to refer us, please be sure to tell the contact you’ve referred to tell us you’ve done so, as we appreciate the generosity of others, and like to reward those who do so.

If you’re NOT a connector…..why aren’t you?