Well, for me...

Hi!  

So I think its a kind of a common courtesy that if you are going to use a provider as a referral after a certain amount of time (like a year), you pay that provider another visit, especially if you have not maintained loose contact with the provider such as email.

I keep records, but my memory doesn't serve me well past 6 or 7 months, so I don't feel comfortable giving a reference because I can't give the other provider an honest account of the time I spent with that person.  Since references are for safety and I care about her safety when she's depending on me for it, I can't very well just look up an old email and just tell her all is fine.

However, I do have a client or two that has seen me once, several months back, that keep in contact with me via email and still use me as a reference.  These clients stay a bit fresher in my mind because they maintain friendly contact.  So even though I haven't seen the person in 6 months, I can still remember them because of our email exchanges.  I even have one client who emails me ahead of contacting another provider to just check that its okay I still be used a reference...I just love when a man behaves like a gentleman!

Some gals are different and keeps different kinds of records, so I'm just talking for myself here.  But I think that its important to keep a positive and ongoing relationship with the provider you want to vouch for you.  Send an email every once in a while to say hello and, if you liked her enough to visit her and then you want her to vouch for you, maybe visit her after 6 months have gone by...and ALWAYS be a gentleman, us girls LOVE that!

I generally request my clients whitelist be semi current

-- Modified on 4/15/2011 1:22:09 AM

I'm not sure what a provider is really looking for when it comes to a referral.  If the client showed up on time, was clean, courteous, and was "normal" and didn't give the provider any problems, I would assume that the referral would be something like, "Client x was fine".  If someone was a complete jerk and the session was horrible or someone you just didn't want to see again because the client wasn't clean, courteous, or "normal" etc, then I would think you'd remember that person or have record of that person on some type of "Do not see this person again" list.

I hope I'm not over-thinking this but most sessions are fine.  Performance is subjective and YMMV is always in play.  Since referrals are all about "safety", then unless the person is a complete nut job somehow not trustworthy, the referrals should be a matter of course regardless of number of times you've seen a specific provider or keeping in touch with them.