16 Comments

  1. Rebecca Coleman on June 1, 2011 at 11:49 am

    Yeah, I’ve gotten these invites, too, and they make me leery.
    One of the invites I got was from a realtor, and I don’t really know how we can refer biz to each other. To me, the connection was tenuous… so no.



    • punchmedia on June 1, 2011 at 11:51 am

      Thanks Rebecca, for your feedback. I’m with ya!

      I’m open-minded to think there may be a new Social Media site on the horizon but this one just isn’t hitting the mark.



  2. Karla Lim on June 7, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Great post, I have been looking around for information about this and I think that this one isn’t hitting the mark. I believe we all have networking principles and we wouldn’t necessarily give away contact information right away either. I saw Chris responding to your previous blogpost too, and while it makes a lot of sense, the method that they use doesn’t seem to be very client focused, but just about the one who is searching. True, it would be great to reach out to the people we want right away through this system but recommendations are still prime from actual introductions (or ones from LinkedIn) better than getting spammed. Especially when you’re doing job recruitment, you’re going to get tons of people calling emailing you directly in hopes of getting the job.



    • punchmedia on June 7, 2011 at 5:14 pm

      Thanks Karla!



  3. referralkeyhris ott on June 10, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Hi guys,

    The email you received went out to less than 1% of our network and it was a glitch that occurred when we moved to the larger servers. It was certainly a sleepless night when that went out, a mock email from 2006, and if we could take it back we would in a heart beat. Nobody would knowingly send an email like that.

    On a side note regarding perceived Spam, Referral Key is growing in the same way the major players did; people recommending the site. Since most people were not using social media from the beginning, they do not remember a time when all of their friends weren’t on Facebook, and we’d often receive email invites from Facebook or whoever. I understand that everyone’s threshold for emails has gone way down over the last 5 years but please bear with us as we establish ourselves. We are constantly improving the site and plan on releasing some neat features over the next two weeks.

    We are growing at a rapid rate which is why you’re likely to receive more than one email in a day; it’s the way that networks move. But if you are open to the idea that innovation in the sphere can develop beyond the handful of established players, then you will need to afford us the same patience while the network builds itself.

    That’s part of being an innovator, working with new companies as they fine tune a good idea and work out the kinks.

    Remember, all invites sent from RK are sent by people trying to share the site with people they already know. The site is free, we aren’t selling anything, not even ad space, and taking the hit out of pocket to offer a service we believe in. Now whether every single email you receive is from an amazing referral source, we obviously can’t control. We can’t tell Karla ” You can’t invite Rebecca to Referral Key because you may not know her well enough.” It would be unethical.

    Please understand that it doesn’t help us when people send out invites to people they don’t know either. We allow people to customize and hand pick who they want in their network at every turn, other than stifling our own growth, what else should we be doing?

    We are always open and one of the few free sites that offer a number to call at any time.

    As far as the site not being customer focused, it is a “business-to-business” platform not a “business-to-customer” platform. We find through our research that if a trusted colleague refers you to another business (i.e. your trusted accountant refers you to a realtor) the consumer wins. Think about it, what’s more customer focused, if someone you trust refers you to their friend or if you use the Yellow Pages or a review site? Inherently referrals are solid.

    Regardless, your public Referral Key URL was made to be a place that even non-members and consumers can go to, to give you leads. Referral Key is very effective but we did experience some growing pains last week but we are learning and evolving.

    Thanks for the write up. Call us anytime 857-241-3764

    Best,
    Chris
    http://www.referralkey.com/chris



    • punchmedia on June 10, 2011 at 11:27 pm

      Thanks Chris for your post and feedback.

      I’m sorry to hear The Referral Key has been having some glitches and it’s horrible that this is happening as you launch and grow your business.
      I think a lot of people can be patient as long as a company admits it’s faults and is transparent about its mission and objectives. I’m still hanging in there to give this site one more opportunity to add value to my day-to-day operations.

      In regards to your comment:

      “Now whether every single email you receive is from an amazing referral source, we obviously can’t control. We can’t tell Karla ” You can’t invite Rebecca to Referral Key because you may not know her well enough.” It would be unethical’

      I’m sounding like a broken record but I don’t think it would be unethical at all if The Referral Key were to encourage people to connect with people they know, like, and trust. You don’t have to restrict these parameters obviously, but as LinkedIn outlines RIGHT before you click on the connect key:
      ***********
      Important: Only invite people you know well and who know you. Find out why.

      (With a link to the following content:)

      Connecting to someone on LinkedIn implies that you know them well:

      They’ll have access to people you know
      Others may ask you about them and vice versa
      You’ll get updates on their activity

      LinkedIn lets you invite colleagues, classmates, friends and business partners without entering their email addresses.

      However, recipients can indicate that they don’t know you. If they do, you’ll be asked to enter an email address with each future invitation.

      *********
      As you may have read from the other posts, many people find their list of connections very personal.

      While it may have been a glitch that was sent out to less than 1% of your network, exposing phone numbers, emails and other contact information from other (strangers) who are connected to my connections left me feeling very uncomfortable and had me wondering — what other information of mine was your site sharing with others?

      I don’t recall ever seeing a follow up email to admit any fault of The Referral Key for this error.

      I agree with Craig Harffey’s comment, that your website doesn’t have adequate information readily available about what to expect from your service.

      Like most business owners, we’re passionate about what we represent and sometimes don’t see anything the potential and good our business can bring.

      Unfortunately for The Referral Key, ALL of the posts I’ve received have been 100% negative. I’m delighted to see that you are listening and responding with your perspective.
      I sincerely hope these comments provide a learning opportunity to help your business become better. Many of us are at least interested in giving The Referral Key a try, but so far we’ve all been left with a bitter taste in our mouth.

      Leslie



  4. Mitch Comstock on June 15, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    I’m with you Punchmedia… Referral Key seems like something that sounded like a great idea on paper to someone who doesn’t understand what a real referral is. I can hear in my head what the pitch sounded like. It started with “I’ve got a great idea.” and ended with “we can make lots of money.”

    I’d love to see the study of their claimed 99% satisfaction and where it came from. Three people who’ve connected with me have apologized for it later. That should be a sure sign that they didn’t fully understand what they were doing.



    • punchmedia on June 15, 2011 at 2:16 pm

      Yes, Mitch – the consensus from most is not good.



  5. David on June 20, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    Hi!

    I’m pretty new to Referral Key but I’m not in agreement with most of the comments posted on this site. When I signed up, I didn’t send it to all of my LinkedIn contacts, nor did I send it to any of my “customers”. I sent it to other contacts (i.e. CPA’s, Bankers, Attornies; etc.) that I would typically see at networking events looking to pick up customers. I think you have to be smarter than the computer and be methodical about how you use this, and every other, service. Just my two-cents.



    • punchmedia on June 20, 2011 at 1:21 pm

      Hi David. Thanks for your input.

      Thankfully, I didn’t send the invitation to my LinkedIn contacts or customers either. I did connect with a few people who had sent me invitations and just haven’t been impressed with how the correspondence from the Referral Key has been handled.

      I agree that a strategic approach is important for correspondence and for using marketing tools such as social media. In my current experience, LinkedIn is still the most powerful business-to-business connection tool and I don’t see how the Referral Key will revolutionize the way I connect for business.

      Leslie



  6. computerlegend on June 20, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    For another company to try and take some of LinkedIn’s share, you might check out the new BranchOut facebook app. I’d love to hear what you think about it. I have mixed opinions so far.

    Leslie.



    • punchmedia on June 20, 2011 at 10:01 pm

      I haven’t been impressed with the offering from Facebook’s BranchOut either. Particularly when I saw the prompt “Who would you rather work with?”. It’s quite juvenile to be playing “who would you rather” with business contacts.

      Facebook’s omnipresence and lack of security is disconcerning. BranchOut also has done nothing since its initial launch. Nothing is off the table as far as Facebook is concerned but as of today, I feel much more confident with LinkedIn as a business-to-business tool.



  7. Char on August 17, 2011 at 2:55 pm

    Thanks for this blog post. I just received an email from The Referral Key today and I was trying to figure out how the individual sending the message found me on this particular email address. It’s an address that I maintain, but nothing is ever sent by me personally.

    I’m still confused, but at least your information has convinced me that I should probably let this particular connection slide. Thanks!



    • punchmedia on August 17, 2011 at 3:25 pm

      Thanks Char. I’m glad the post is helpful.
      Leslie



  8. François on August 22, 2011 at 6:01 am

    Thanks Punchmedia to blog this topic.

    I received today my first invitation to Referral Key (from a previous boss) and didn’t knew what to do. I first guessed it was a simple spam.

    Thanks to your blog I will refuse any further invitations and mark it as spam.

    I fully agree with you that LinkedIn is the best business-to-business tool. I used it very often with many successes. And got nice referrals via LinkedIn.

    Best regards,
    François



    • punchmedia on August 22, 2011 at 8:55 am

      Hi Francois – I haven’t seen any improvements on the Referral Key’s usefulness. It’s sort of fallen flat like Facebook’s Branch Out. LinkedIn is still the way to go 🙂