There are several problems you run into when a business asks you for references before green-lighting your proposal or hiring you:

(1) Your references may be irrelevant. For instance, I have clients in niche businesses, for which Ive done great work, but what does someone in the swimming pool supply business have to say to a senior executive at a financial company? Can his experience be generalized, across industries?

(2) Lets say you have a perfectly relevant reference, but its a competitor. What, then? By giving out his name, you have a great chance to offend both people, at once!

(3) What if your reference should be very strong, but you performed your work a few years back, and there is a new management, in place? They didnt work with you, directly, so what can they be expected to say?

(4) What happens when youve pitched a small deal to a small company, but your references are from big deals that you did with big companies? Are you going to have someone potentially offend your million-dollar reference when a more modest $10,000 deal is in the offing?

(5) Why is the person asking for a reference, especially if youve been in business for years, and possibly, you have a strong and public reputation for integrity? Have you sold value? Is the prospect shifting the responsibility for being sold to your past customers? Is the prospect trying to learn about your methods, for free, by chumming it up with someone who has already paid the bill?

Past performance is not a slam-dunk predictor of future performance, in any circumstance, so if the prospect is seeking to reduce his risk by contacting references, hes barking up the wrong tree.

To reassure, and to close the deal, I think it makes more sense to craft and to offer a performance guarantee, than to rely on references. With a guarantee, youre saying your involvement will be effective, or the buyer is off the hook; you and the program can be terminated.

How can a reference compete with that assurance?