If you haven’t had a successful referral partnership in a while, you may be asking yourself what you’re doing wrong. It could be, though, that it’s not you. Oftentimes, it’s what the other person or company is or isn’t doing.
When business alliances don’t produce referrals, it’s disappointing and frustrating. However, in the research we have done on cases of successful and not-so-successful alliances, failure seems to be caused a few clear issues. So before we throw in the towel on referral partnerships with other professionals, it may be worthwhile to address these key issues.
Here are 3 reasons your referral partnership might not be working:
1. The wrong professional. You may be attempting to have a referral partnership with the wrong professional. Some people are simply not inclined to refer their clients to other professionals. They are slow to trust or are solely focused on their own business situation. This alliance will likely never work. Just because someone has a client base that’s a good fit for what you do, doesn’t mean that person will be proactive in sharing you with those clients. It’s time to take these people off your list and find others.