One of the best ways to open the doors to new opportunities is through a recommendation.
If a product you are selling is good and is recommended by your customers to their friends, they have practically sold the product for you. If you provide a service, a good word from a reference makes selling a lot easier. If you were looking for employment and you were highly recommended to the employer, you have a greater chance of getting an interview than if you were not recommended.
The question is: How can you get yourself at the top of others' recommendable list?
The fact is that people may have a wide list of people that they can recommend to others; you are in competition with all these people for that recommendation.
What is the recommendability factor?
The recommendability factor is the quality you possess that makes a person willing to risk their reputation to promote you to others.
Do you have the recommendability factor? Are you on the top of people's recommendable list when opportunities arise?
Regardless of the industry that you are working in, i.e. sales or service, regardless of the types of opportunities you are seeking, there will be people you know who can introduce you to others who can help fulfil your objectives.
The trick is to get yourself on the 'recommendable' list of the people you know. Let me explain a little further. Let's say you are working in the financial services industry. It is very likely that a person knows an average of two to four people having careers in the financial services industry. If someone wishes to purchase some financial products and asks one of your close friends to recommend a financial advisor, are you the first person he would recommend to that person? After all, he does know quite a few other financial planners.
In order to be on the top of a person's 'recommendable' list, you need to understand that the worst fear of recommending you to others is that the person's reputation is at risk of being damage.
If you do a bad job or eventually fall out of favour with the customer, the customer will return to that person and say, 'Why did you recommend this person to me?' Not only does the person now think poorly of that sales person, but may also have a change of impression of the one that did the recommendation.
To be on the top of others' recommendability list, here are some great attributes to have.
Top qualities to make you recommendable for business are
Reliability (deliver what you promise and deliver it on time)
Competency and Quality (being professional and meeting the quality standards expected of you)
Likeability (adaptable / flexible / well mannered)
Top qualities to make you recommendable for regular social opportunities
Sincerity
Reliability
Likeability (Charisma)
Top qualities to make you recommendable for more sophisticated social opportunities
Good dress sense
Great social skills
Intelligence
Sincerity
These qualities here do not exclude the other necessary qualities you may have in mind. However, without these qualities stated above, you may wonder why some opportunities did not come your way.
As you would expect, different opportunities will require different qualities. So sometimes we wonder why we were not recommended for a certain job or invited for a social outing even by a very close friend. The fact is that they risk their reputation when they recommend you or even bring you to a social function. It takes more than being a good friend to be recommended to opportunities.
If you find that your peers are more recommendable than you, I suggest you reflect on the reasons why you are less recommendable. Note your flaws and correct them. You could sometimes be offensive, insensitive, boring, or irritating. You may have poor grooming habits, or you might just be obnoxious. Being aware of these factors is a great starting point for making improvements in these areas.
Work on your weaknesses and apply the other People Magnet skills that are suggested. If people do not feel comfortable recommending you, take it as a strong feedback. Reflect as to why this has happened and be aware of the changes that need to be done.
Christian Chua (www.christianchua.com) will be delivering a lecture on 'How to be a Success Magnet' organised by the SIM Membership Services on 16 August 2008 at 9am. For registration, please contact Ms Patricia Lee at 62489447 or email : patricialee@sim.edu.sg.
