Bob Bly and referral payments

One of my Bloglines favorites is Bob Bly’s blog. Today I posted a comment to his post: “Is paying referral fees wrong?” . Basically, the question was whether being promised referral fees compromises a person’s integrity. If clients come to you for objective, unbiased advice and you are getting a kick-back from the vendor you refer to, how objective will you be? You can read my response here, but to expand on my answer on his blog, this is a topic that has been on my mind quite a bit. I’m still struggling to figure out the best course of action. I recently had a client that send a very good client my way. I thanked him profusely and offered him a finders fee for the first project. He accepted and I’m fine with that. However, that was not a condition of the referral. My CPA specializes in doing taxes for independent contractors and has saved me lots and lots of money for the past two years he’s been doing our taxes. I refer other people to him because he’s so good. He has a program that gives you a $25 discount off your taxes for each new client you bring to him. I guess the point here is you have to have the mindset that you’d give the referral even if you got nothing in return. Let’s face it, your reputation is way more important than a $25, $50, or even $100 check. I try to be flexible. Some people send me business and tell me upfront they’d like a referral fee. As long as it’s reasonable, that’s fine. Others refuse any offers of payment and just want their client to be happy. I have to admit that I respect that more.

There is a wide range of strong opinions on this matter. Do you offer some cold, hard, cash; do you send a gift; simply thank them, give them a discount on your bill? What works best? Has anyone been really unhappy with your “thank you” program, no matter what it is? When you give others a referral, which would you like to receive? (Be honest)!