Several times a year people will ask me to recommend an attorney for a case. I keep a list of attorneys I’ve worked with and trust, and when asked I will recommend one or two names off that list. Typically I don’t hear back about the recommendation, but sometimes I’ll receive a note back from the person who asked for the recommendation saying something like “The attorney you recommended was great. Thanks very much.”

I like those notes. They let me know that I’m trusted to give good recommendations and that I can trust the attorneys I’m recommending.

That’s why I was shocked last night to receive the following email about a recommendation I made a few weeks ago:

[Name of attorney I referred] has been really disappointing. Take him off your recommendation list.

Ouch! Not only did this note tell me that the attorney I recommended was doing a poor job, it told me that my recommendation list has a problem. A bad apple. I wondered how many other people were dissatisfied after I had referred them to this attorney, but had not bothered to tell me about it. This attorney was losing the trust of his client and causing me to lose trust as a referral source. Like it or not, his sub-par work was reflecting poorly on both of us.

This experience made me realize three things:

  • I need to take a more active role with my recommendations. Instead of waiting for people to give me feedback on their experiences, I need to solicit feedback. That way I can weed out any potential problem attorneys before I recommend them again.
  • If someone recommends me, it is important — no, it’s absolutely essential — to make a good first impression. People can build long term reputations with a first project. If the first project exceeds the client’s expectations, they will be more likely to forgive a minor slip on the fourth or fifth project. It typically doesn’t work the other way though — if an attorney slips on the first project, it’s unlikely they will get another project to redeem themselves. In the services industry, first projects mean everything.
  • Years ago Vidal Sassoon used the tagline “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good; we take pride in you.” This holds true for anyone recommending the services of another. If the services are performed poorly, the person making the recommendation looks bad. If a service provider wants to get more recommendations, they must make sure the people recommending them can “take pride in them.”

Careers, reputations, brands and businesses have been built on recommendations. Marketers will tell you that the ideal marketing strategy is built around recommendations and referrals. But you have to earn those recommendations. You have to build pride. And you have to make sure no one ever says “Take him off your recommendation list.”