The Golden Goose and the Golden Egg

Today, I am referring to the perennial story of the Golden Goose and the Golden Egg, and will tie it into how to treat contacts, connections and referrals in a networking environment.

I was sitting in a Team meeting last Thursday where a member there described in reasonable frustration at how he felt he was treated by his partner in a referral generation team that he belonged to. He had engaged his partner to conduct some odd-jobs in his own home. And was then relating the experience.

According to him, there was no extra value given by the partner in the context of the relationship they had in a networking group.

I will describe this as follows:

Customers are very important. They are the ones who pay us for services/goods that we supply. In other words, no customers is as good as no money coming in.

Therefore in the networking context, I label a customer as a Golden Egg.

In that regard, going a notch up, a person who brings in a customer via referrals and word-of-mouth is even more important! He is your Golden Goose!

So, how would you treat your Golden Goose, who brings in the eggs for you each morning?

If this Golden Goose itself was buying your services, how would you treat the transaction?

I am not talking about giving discounts or throwing in freebies such as dinners and gifts (though that would be nice) but what I mean is that, what extra value will you offer?

For example, will a call from a Golden Goose be more important? Will you give the matter a higher priority? Will you go the extra mile to ensure that while you were serving the Golden Goose, you resolved as many problems she is having from your own initiatives?

Simple things like: if a Golden Goose was buying a new software from you, then when your team is installing the software, would you offer a complimentary system maintenance and tune-up?

Would you ensure that all peripherals are in optimum working order?

If say you are an electrician company servicing air-conditioning, would you, offer freebies such as changing all other fused light bulbs, or offering to conduct minor repairs?

It is along these lines, that we encourage our Golden Goose to lay more Golden Eggs for us.

So, is it time to access your service levels to your customers (golden eggs) and customer sources (golden goose)?