What’s the shelf life of a referral?

Several years ago, I was introduced to Bill, who lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area. Bill is a sales entrepreneur in a business aligned with mine. The person who introduced us determined that it would be good for the two of us to connect. We spoke on the phone and I autographed my book and sent it to him, but we never met in person. He receives my newsletters, but the last time we spoke was a year ago.

Then, just last month, Bill sent an email introducing me to his client who wanted to build a referral program for his sales organization. I figured this was a perfect time to pick up the phone and reconnect with Bill. As typically happens, there was a lot of news to catch up on, and Bill and I talked about new ways we could work together. He gave me insights into the person he had referred and also told me about that person’s company.

It was a winning conversation. We marveled at the fact that though we’d never met in person and the two of us hadn’t spoken in a long time, he still referred me.