It would be easy to simply say a good referral is one that closes, right? But how would we explain the referral where we took a loss just to get the deal done? Or the guy at the club who referred his dentist-the deal that ended up taking 3 weeks of your life and gave you an ulcer. Are those good referrals?

I would say that a good referral, by definition, is one that generates more energy (value) than what was put in. To coin a term, a good referral is a “Fission Referral”. Fission is the energy creation process whereby certain atoms are split into the various nuclei, eventually producing more photons, which, ultimately produce huge amounts of energy through a chain reaction, much more than was originally put into the process.

Stepping back from the The Science Guy’s lesson on nuclear physics, let’s talk about how this relates to a referral. A Fission Referral is one that has the potential to generate multiple deals and a long term supply of new business stemming from that one spark or connection. A Fission Referral is one that continues to send business your way for weeks, months, and years. It has a chain reaction and continues to generate added business from multiple sources.

It’s a good thing that fission reactions don’t take place in everyday life–those are called atom bombs! We should be very glad that it takes a controlled environment to create fission. However, we don’t always know when a Fission Referral comes along. We need to be looking for potential Fission Referrals and then nurture them. Fission only takes place when action or pressure is placed on something. So what’s the lesson? Fission Referrals will only start from the pressure you place on a situation to make it happen.

What is the type of pressure you need? Superior service, trusted consulting, placing value in the relationship, being a client’s advocate as you deliver your service. What are the results? You never know when the fruit of your effort will bring about a chain reaction of relatives, patients, clients, employees, or other relationships from that one initial deal.

Ultimately, a good referral is a Fission Referral, one that produces much more than you thought possible, but the only way it can happen is through being diligent in the basics every time.