I gave a referral to a competitor recently. Here’s the story and why giving referrals to competitors is a good idea.
At R2R Marketing, we don’t work with two clients who are competitors in any given market. For example, we’ll only work with one replacement window company in an area. We recently had someone approach us to help market a home services business, but we already work with a similar business that targets the same customer base. Instead of simply telling the person (let’s call him John) no, I explained why we couldn’t help, and offered to connect him with a few other agencies who might be a good fit.
Two of our core values are to Seek Solutions and Delight Others. So I contacted a few other agencies that do good work and explained the situation. I confirmed they don’t already have a client in the prospect’s industry and asked if they are open to a referral.
I then made introductions between the agencies and John. I don’t know if the other agencies will be a good fit, but that’s between them and John. Regardless of the outcome, both the agency contacts and John appreciated the referrals and it strengthened my relationship with all of them. It took about 15 minutes out of my day – a worthwhile investment in goodwill and future opportunities.
Perhaps someday, the agencies will be in a similar situation and will send a potential client our way. Or, we may have a need to use their agency services to augment what we can provide in-house. John may tell someone else about how R2R helped, even when we weren’t able to serve him directly.
All of these outcomes are positive.
There will be times when you can’t help a prospect. You may be booked too far out for their needs, your service isn’t a good fit, their budget doesn’t align with your pricing, etc. Whatever the reason, consider turning your “no” into a referral for a trusted competitor. It’s a win for everyone involved.
