At R+M we start every Monday with a status meeting. We talk about our weekends, the status of each project and what we call THIRST®/Anti-THIRST moments.

These moments are customer service encounters that are either awesome, or unawesome; whether that’s the plumber who not only fixed the running toilet, but also changed a light bulb just because, or some surly employee who couldn’t be bothered to answer a question. These moments make you THIRSTY or Anti-THIRSTY for a brand. And from these THIRSTY moments come referrals.

Referral Grown

We all have our favorite people, places or things, that we consider referral worthy. I have a great HVAC guy who goes above and beyond every single time. Greg has a great deck guy who’s a meticulous craftsman and a great communicator.

When I asked Susan who she has referred to friends and family, she said, “I recall referring 3 businesses in my life: my realtor, my accountant and my chiropractor. Notice the ‘my.’ I think that’s key to the referral – I’ve claimed ownership of them, that’s when I know they are living their brand.

“When you get a referral from someone you trust, your decision process goes from a leap of faith to a step. It’s much easier to decide, and we all know deciding is half the battle.”

To us, a referral is the ultimate compliment, and we are driven every day to earn a referral from our clients. That drive is reflected in the fact that 80% of our growth comes from referrals. To remind ourselves of its importance, we developed an icon to say we’re proud to have served our clients so that we are Referral Grown. You’ll see it on our Work page indicating clients who have been referred to us. And you can read how it is tied to our Brand Promise on this page.

We’d love to hear who you refer people to, whether that’s a great handyman, restaurant, whatever, and why you refer that person, place or thing. Let’s get a dialogue going in the Comment section below this blog. And by the way, does anyone know a great house painter?