# 7L by Michael Maher: The Book That Confirmed My Referral System Works

> Source: [https://icharles.com/articles/7l-by-michael-maher-the-book-that-confirmed-my-referral-system-works](https://icharles.com/articles/7l-by-michael-maher-the-book-that-confirmed-my-referral-system-works) (canonical)
> Author: Chuck — iCharles, https://icharles.com
> Published: 2015-04-30 · Updated: 2026-07-07

## Why I picked this up

I read a lot of these get-more-referrals books because I'm in real estate and referrals are the whole game for me. 7L: The Seven Levels of Communication by Michael Maher showed up with a five out of five average on Amazon across hundreds of reviews, so I picked it up expecting a lot.

One thing upfront: it's a fiction story wrapped around a business book, and I'm not usually a fan of that format. You follow a guy in real estate who meets a banker and a coach, and the coach walks him through exactly how to go from relationships to referrals. It works fine here, but I'll take a straight playbook over a parable most days.

## The idea that isn't new to me, but is still right

The core of 7L is calls, notes, and pop-bys. Call your clients, write them a note, then physically show up with something of value. Stay in front of people consistently enough that when they hear someone's buying or selling a home, your name is the one that comes up.

I already run on this system. My coach is Brian Buffini — B-U-F-F-I-N-I — and this book tracks his "work by referral" system almost point for point: calling clients, taking them to lunch, what Maher calls "power notes." If you've worked with a Buffini-trained coach before, you'll recognize the whole book by chapter two.

## Why I still gave it four out of five

I docked it a star only because I already knew the material cold. For someone with a coach and an existing referral system, there isn't much new here. It's confirmation, not revelation.

But if you don't have a coach, or you've never worked a business by referral, this is a five out of five. That goes past real estate — a cleaning company, a restaurant, any relationship-driven business runs on the same math.

## The number that made me trust it

I don't read reviews on Amazon before buying. I look at the volume and the average. My rule: 300 reviews at 4.5 to 5 stars, I buy it. Four stars flat, I need 3,000 to 5,000 reviews before I trust it's past the noise. 7L had hundreds of reviews at five stars, which is what got me to open it in the first place. That's a real signal, not just a nice one.

## What actually changed for me

I've been in real estate six years. The first three, I didn't work by referral. I was doing transactional business, chasing leads one at a time. The last three, I built a referral system, and it's not close. I control how much I make now. There's no ceiling on it the way there is when every deal starts from zero.

That's the actual promise of this book, and it's true. I own my company now, so I'm the one handing out referrals to my agents instead of chasing them myself, but the mechanics are identical at every level.

## One book that does this better, if you want fiction

If you want the fiction-wrapped business book done right, read Go for No first. It's around 110 pages, you'll finish it in a sitting, and the idea is simple: you go for no, because there's a yes on the other side of it. Most people stop at the first no — asking for business, asking for a date, whatever it is — and never find out what's past it. It's a better book than 7L on craft alone, even though the two are solving different problems.

## Who should read 7L

If you already work by referral and have a coach, treat this as a tune-up. Four out of five, still worth the read for the couple of things you'll tighten up. If you've never built a referral business, or you're running any kind of relationship-driven company without one, this is a five out of five and probably the most practical book you'll read this year on where your next client actually comes from.