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If you watch HGTV, you have heard of the show Holmes on Holmes; the show follows a Mr. Fixit named Mike Holmes who cleans up after negligent trades people. The theme is always the same: Holmes gets called into a home by some poor family who have been completely taken by a general contractor and their roof is leaking or the addition wasn’t complete or some other renovating and/or home disaster. Mike and his crew always fix the shoddy construction and saves the day. But as my brother always points out, there are some shows, as much as you empathize with these people, where you just shake your head at the foolhardy and unreasonable nature of these families. They want to undertake a $15,000 renovation but are only willing to pay $10,000 for it and they hire the first general contractor they find in the phone book. In other words, they forget two rules of life:

1. You get what you pay for
2. Never trust a stranger

A friend has a saying: “in life, always have a good electrician, plumber, lawyer and accountant handy.” But finding a good service provider may be one of the hardest things to do in life. If you buy a product, you can usually go to some website where people have posted reviews. However, the nature of service provision- whether they be doctors, lawyers, financial planners- is personal in nature and highly subjective. What I may consider good service from an accountant may be different than what you consider to be good service and, for most service providers who assist individuals or small businesses, there is rarely posted reviews on the Internet but yet, strangely, that is always the first place people go to find a service provider.

I don’t think I have hired a service provider- whether a painter, financial advisor or accountant- through a cold call. Instead, I always rely on word of mouth which sounds really simple but you have to drill down on how this reference comes to you for effective word of mouth referral.

I usually have these rules before I hire someone through a word of mouth referral:

1. Always discount the word of mouth referral unless the referrer is a user of the service: Most professionals usually return a professional courtesy. Thus, if Mary Accountant gets a referral from Gus Lawyer, Gus Lawyer is probably going to return the favor to Mary Accountant BUT what if Mary is the wrong accountant for you and the referral serves Gus’ sense of professional courtesy more than your needs? This is not to say that Gus is deliberately giving you a bad introduction to an accountant but remember that Gus has certain obligations to Mary (especially if Mary and Gus are in the same professional networking group then, by the rules of some groups, Gus has to refer Mary to you) which may take priority to your needs. You should always ask “do you use this service provider yourself?” If not, why not? Sometimes, Stan may introduce you to Natalie as a home stager simply because Stan is a family friend to Natalie and wants to support her business and not because he used her services and enjoyed it.
2. Is the referring source in the same life context as you? If not, discount the referral. Even if your buddy Jim refers you to Martha to fix your computer because Jim uses her service, think about whether Jim’s context is the same or different than yours. If Jim owns a business with 15 employees and Martha is his business IT person, chances are Martha is not going to enjoy fixing your computer because the job is too small for her and, unconsciously, she may not do a good job since the fit isn’t right. As someone who once practiced law, the other frequent mis-referral is to lawyers. Lawyers over a certain age (typically 50) really don’t want too many new and younger clients; their book of business is typically full and they don’t want to stay late at night anymore (sometimes people turn down your business because they want a life; a small secret professionals never tell you). If Jim is 50, his lawyer is 52 and you are 29, his lawyer may not be the best fit for you.
3. The less time the referrer has used the service provider, the more you should discount. This is pretty obvious. Look at sample size and track record as indicators as to the strength of the referral. People who go to the same barber or hair stylist for years on end are pretty darn happy with how their hair looks. Someone can fluke out and simply give you one or two good hair cuts but its hard to disguise incompetence over a long period of time. To use a non-professional example, if my friend is ranting and raving about a girl he dates after 2 dates, that’s great but after a year of dating- well, you know they have something special.

Great service providers are gold. They are hard to find because they are good which makes them busy which means they can’t take on many new clients so they are not marketing themselves very much. It may take a long time to find a good service provider but they should be long-term relationships and not treated as commodities (service-providers are human too; money alone doesn’t drive the good ones). But don’t take the first referral that comes your way from a causal friend who may or may not be thinking about the best referral for you. Dig deep into the word of mouth referral to find the best for you. Otherwise, prepare to call Mike Holmes. Good luck.