Sometimes I get people haggling on my fees, and using the promise of future referrals to convince me.

“Do this for me Marc, I know (insert important person’s name here), so I’ll throw you a lot of business over!”

First of all, in the words of Shania Twain:

“That don’t impress me much” …

For all I know, you bought a ticket to a conference for that important person, and it included a 2 second meeting afterwards and a pic.

Maybe he’s your kid’s godparent, or was the best man at your wedding, or plays poker at your house every Friday night. It doesn’t matter …

If we do business together and it’s the right fit, we’ll refer business around.

And it’s win/win.

But to use the promise of future referrals to haggle, with a tone of “Don’t you know who I am?” isn’t the way to start a relationship.

Find good people to hire, and pay them what they’re worth – not peanuts and promises of future referrals