When I began in the wood flooring business I was sure that the business was going to explode if I had a few strategic referral partners. For me I thought architects and interior designers would open the doorway to a golden treasure room of flooring projects.

Architects and designers serve a vital role in the world of contracting. They just aren’t a good fit for my favorite market in contracting.

I have learned that my favorite market in contracting is residential homeowner refinishing. I tried for years to develop relationships with people who logically would be good referral partners, but I found a few key concerns:

1. It can be difficult to refer new contacts who are in the same field as your referral partners without stepping on toes
2. The strength of your own marketing could decrease if you rely too heavily on strategic referral partners. Why work on your marketing if you have a ton of jobs from your realtor? What if they move, go out of business, etc…
3. It can put a lot of stress on friendships that naturally develop if you have any problems during a project. I’ve experienced this and it really just sucks because networking events afterwards become awkward for everyone.
4. Some less than genuine professionals will take advantage of your good nature and ask you to discount your services or “hook them up” with the promise of a landslide of future referrals.

 

Networking really does work well. I would be a fool to tell you that it doesn’t. You still have to grow and nurture your professional network. Direct referrals still account for 50% of our wood flooring business.

So what’s the moral of the story?

Never become complacent with consistently marketing YOUR business because of strategic referral partners.

What are you doing for your business today?

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