Here is how most referrals end. Someone thinks of you, makes the introduction, and then hears nothing. Maybe the deal closed. Maybe the lead never picked up the phone. Maybe it was a great contact who simply needed something you do not offer.
The giver has no way to know, so the next referral they send you is just as much of a guess as the last one.
Referral Feedback closes that loop.
Rate a referral once it is closed
When you mark a referral you received as Won or Lost, ChamberForge asks how you would rate it. Choose a quality rating from 1 to 5, from Very low to Very high, and add a comment if you want to say more.
That is all it takes. A few seconds, right at the moment the outcome is fresh in your mind.
If you are not ready right then, close the window and come back later. You will find Leave Feedback in the referral's menu, and on a Won referral the congratulations banner offers it too: "Would you like to buy them a coffee or leave feedback?"
Only the giver sees it
Feedback is between you and the person who sent the referral. Nobody else can read it: not other members, not your group's managers, not organization managers.
That matters. Honest feedback only happens when it is private. "Great person, but they needed a bigger firm than mine" is useful to hear, and nobody wants to say it in front of the whole group.
You can edit or delete your feedback at any time from the referral page.
The giver hears about it
The first time you rate a referral, the person who sent it gets a notification in ChamberForge, a push notification on their phone, and an e-mail with your rating and comment. Edits after that do not send it again, so nobody gets flooded.
For a lot of givers, this will be the first time they have heard back about a referral they sent.
Lost referrals deserve feedback too
It is tempting to only rate the wins. But the most useful feedback often comes from a Lost referral.
A rating of 4 on a Lost referral says "this was exactly the kind of lead I want, it just did not work out this time." A rating of 1 says "please do not send me this kind of contact again." Both help the giver send you better referrals next time, and better referrals are what every member is really after.
Feedback and coffee
If you have used Coffee to thank a member for a referral, think of feedback as the other half. Coffee says thank you. Feedback says what made the referral good, so the next one can be just as good.
On a Won referral, you can do both.
Try it this week
- Open a referral you recently marked as Won or Lost.
- Choose Leave Feedback from the menu and rate it from 1 to 5.
- Add one sentence about what made it a good fit, or what would have made it better.