Reactions of clients to referral requests

Referrals from existing clients are frequently used by organizations to obtain fresh prospects. The approach is commonly believed to be beneficial because the referred prospects are considered to be superior candidates relative to contacts gained from cold calling. However, the effect of the referral on the client is frequently ignored. Predictions of the Information Availability Explanation were used to develop a hypothesis concerning attitudinal effects among individuals who were asked for referrals. Clients who failed to provide a solicited referral developed a significantly less positive attitude than clients who were not asked for a referral. The results suggest that when considering the use of the referral method, the potential benefits of gaining superior prospects must be balanced against the potential undermining of clients' attitudes. Implications are discussed concerning referral technique implementation and suggestions for future research.The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments provided by Alice M. Tybout of Northwestern University and Richard Yalch of the University of Washington. The authors also wish to thank Phillip Corless for his assistance during the data collection phase of the study.