Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Providing References to potential clients

Interesting take: at yesterday's home inspection in Silver Spring, Maryland, my client's home inspector said that when people ask him for references,he says no. To find out more about me,look me up on the internet. Am I really going to give you the name(s) of somebody to contact who isn't going to say anything other than I walk on water.

You were already referred to him; met him in person on purpose/by accident and decided to talk to him down the road when you had a use for his services;you saw an ad he placed;you saw him on the internet; or other. Whatever led you to discuss business at hand,it was obviously compelling to you and you decided to enlist his services. So, in his view there is no reason for you to ask for references other than shopping price.

I think most of us are "taught to ask for references", and if we don't, we are being careless. But,he does have a point. I would only provide sterling references. If you were in sales or interviewing for a job,wouldn't you only provide excellent references?

I think references help validate a potential client's instinct on retaining your services and can talk about the quality of your work,anything unique about the transaction,how you are to work with,the type of personality the person you may retain has and help you decifer if their is a good match between you and the contractor. If somebody asked you to provide references,how would you respond? If you asked somebody to provide references and he or she said no,how would you respond?

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