I must admit that I fell into the category of not saying thank you one time and word got around. Here is what happened. A 'part-time pro' referred a potential client to me. I of course followed through, but the client never booked the gig. Now, since I perform magic for a living, not to get a gig is part and parcel of my business. So to me, not getting the gig was just something that happened and I moved on to others, so I never gave it any thought. Once word got back to me, I talked to the guy and explained to him what had happened, but he was still upset.

I guess the lesson is that I should have thanked him JUST for the referral even though I didn't get the gig.

Any thoughts?

Tim, I stopped referrals along time ago when I started to get feedback from return customers. I was told that the person who I thought was a professional was in return bashing me to make themselves look better and trying to drum up thier business. I really don't care to confront people so I just stopped referring altogether. I really don't know if the other person actually meant to bash me or whether he was aware of what he was doing, but I think it makes everyone look bad when you talk bad about someone.