Referrals are very important in any type of business. Active Rain can be a very promising place to get those referrals. But is it a gimmie when searching here in the 'Rain'?
I just read this post by Alex Morris -
How does one become your "trusted" Rainman?
He brings up some good points, but I wanted to touch base on some key reminders.
Before I continue.... I think Active Rain is an excellent networking place to learn, to network with others, and a place to grow on so many levels. But remember, people are people no matter where found, what their titles are, or how long they have been in business.
Anyone that knows me knows that I am a very trusting person sometimes to a fault. I give the benefit of the doubt in most cases. And overall, I try not to judge. I try to live by these philosophies daily, and sometimes it will bite me in the rear.
What triggered my thought process in writing this after reading Alex Morris's post was because I am a firm believer that you just can't assume someone would be a good to excellent referral source just from a few good written posts. I know of a good friend here on AR that I met my first year, who was burnt by handing out a referral to a person across country because this person was #1 in points in a few categories and who was writing posts daily. This person sounded good, sounded sincere, and like a person that loved helping others. Well, it cost this person not only their reputation, but a listing that they had with this couple who was looking to buy in another state. It goes to that old saying that many can hide behind a mask, until they are truly uncovered.
I read several posts daily, here in the 'Rain' and out in the blogosphere. I am not perfect, nor am I God, or do I know everything. But if I am unsure of a certain product or idea, I am going to double and triple check it. I just read a post the other day that just didn't sound right. It was comparing a FHA scenario vs a certain kind of conventional loan program. It didn't sound right and I called the loan officer, who I knew who I was, because we both followed each other and had left comments on each others posts. We talked briefly about this post and after asking a few specific questions, this person wasn't 100% sure where or how the loan could be done. Excuse me? It was only 24 hours old. We spend the next 20 minutes on the phone and they still didn't have an answer. Well, it's been 4 days since then and even after I left a voice message and an e-mail. But you know what was more disturbing? Several of the comments that were left after the post.
"Wow, glad I subscribed to you. Good information and food for thought. FHA slowly fading away? That is a great topic for a blog. I'm a fan."
"Interesting ___________. I didn't know about this product. I'll indeed check into it, Thanks."
These comments scared me for several reasons. Not only was the information incorrect, but misleading in a certain manner. The example used was that of a 720 credit score. Sorry people, this is not the norm and it made the product more appealing. But once I dug deeper, there was a major pricing hit of about 2.5 pts that was missing in the whole equation. If you add this, then that FHA scenario is actually better.
Conclusion : I don't want to harp on those that post on Active Rain. But I see many that are in awe of specific posts because of the end result. And I guess many feel that all posts on AR are correct. In my opinion, you should not choose a person right away, no matter where you find them or how they sound. I could give many examples of what I have seen and read, but we just need to think before acting. How valuable is your client vs handing out a quick referral on Active Rain just because they had the most points.... or because they write excellent posts... or because everyone loves them? Just food for thought. Do more than research... follow them for 3 to 6 months. Call them, interview them... others.. etc, etc. Again, this is just my opinion and I am not attacking those on AR... just remember, we are just people on an excellent site. It doesn't mean that we are all above the rest.
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