Customers can mislead you - here's why.

Imagine a highschooler who has a crush on one of his classmates. He might join the drama club just to bump into her more often. But if you ask him why he joined, he will lie. Why? He's embarrassed, and he definitely doesn't want her to know.

Customers do the same thing. Think about it. Say you decide you need an attorney to help you read a contract. And let's assume you don't know who to call, so you head to the yellow pages.

Now when you sit down with the attorney, and she asks where you found her, you might hesitate before you say, "yellow pages". Why?

Two reasons actually. You want to seem sophisticated and knowledgeable. You don't want people to know that you didn't know where to go, or who to call. Better to say, a friend mentioned your name, than to come clean...

If you don't think this is true, ask any attorney who uses the yellow pages. Many (not all) clients are embarrassed to say so, but will only admit it was the yellow pages when prodded.

And the number two reason why people like to pretend they were referred, or at least not a random customer, is because they perceive that as a "referral" you will provide them with better service, etc.

So if I call you to investigate my employee theft, and I say another local businessman gave me your name, you now have two customer obligations at play. If you do a poor job, word might get back. So I, the customer, have a perceived incentive to lie. If I'm just browsing an online directory, you might not be so anxious to satisfy my needs.

Now, rather than make up a source, when pushed, many customers will feign no knowledge of how they found you. So they make tracking hard.

Keep this in mind. When people claim to be referred, or to have heard about you from a friend or coworker, but don't volunteer a name, or claim not to remember who the person was, they might just be telling a little white lie. And since they are the customer, they must be right. Just remember that this category of customer might come from your web directory ad, yellow page listing, or airport brochure.

Want more Business - make yourself into a goto Expert

One proven method of developing business is becoming known for what you do. Everyone wants to hire a known expert. They also figure that if reporters and technical writers go to you for the skinny, that you must know something about what your are doing...

We found a few of the experts and investigators on the Rominger Legal site could be found quoted around the web. A recent example is Sherlock Investigations.

One private investigator interviewed by CNET News.com, Skipp Porteous of Sherlock Investigations in New York, said he believed the FBI planted a physical bug somewhere in the Nextel handset and did not remotely activate the microphone.

"They had to have physical possession of the phone to do it," Porteous said. "There are several ways that they could have gotten physical possession. Then they monitored the bug from fairly near by."

Want to be quoted similarly? A few tips.

• Advertise on expert sites.
• Always call reporters back, even if you can't answer questions about the case they are calling about, they will appreciate knowing you are not ignoring them.
• Let media outlets know you'll provide expert comment, and make yourself available to answer questions about your expertise, even if they can't always quote you.
• Make sure when you do speak to the media that you avoid controversial points, be a thoughtful fact expert, not an opinion spinning machine.