referrals

Easy Steps to a Proven Referral System

January 19, 2011 By Bill Rice

Tips for Creating a Sales Referrel Funnel

Some of the best prospects in a sales professional’s pipeline are referral leads. These “warm” leads can be a great source of business if they are properly cultivated. Here are some quick sales tips on what steps you can take to create a proven referral system to supplement your sales pipeline.

1. Speak Up!

Make it a habit to ask for referrals throughout the sales process. Once it becomes second nature to you, you’ll easily work it into your everyday sales vocabulary. Also, it’s never too early in the sales process to work in this habit. For instance, even if you receive an objection during a cold call, that prospect may know another contact that may have a need for your product or service. The sooner you adopt this practice the better as you’ll find out those flat out objections turn into new opportunities.

2. So and So Said…

When you get a referral, make sure you get permission to reference the original prospect or client in your initial dialog. This is an indispensable bridge to the referral and allows you to more easily circumvent early objections or gatekeepers.

3. Keep in Touch

Tap into your existing client base. Even if you’re new to your position, often times companies have clients that were acquired by predecessors who have fallen through the cracks. These can be valuable sources of leads and referrals and it’s a perfect opportunity to warm up current relationships. If you have been at your position for a while and have not made it a point to schedule your existing clients for periodic follow up calls in which you ask for referrals, you have cost yourself plenty in wasted opportunities.

4. Incentives

Added incentives. This step is appropriate for some business models and industries and highly inappropriate for others. For some products and services, discounts and referral programs to existing clients is a natural part of doing business. For others it can be tacky. Whatever the case, understand that most people like to help others. Being needed and appreciated for your help and expertise is a natural part of being human. So understand that about your clients and even if it’s not appropriate to add an incentive to referrals or employ a company referral program, a simple thank you card or springing for a lunch can be an unexpected touch of class that will only benefit you in the long run.

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Social Selling Tagged With: Lead Generation, Lead Management, referral sales, referrals, refferal funnel, sales funnel

The Power of Gratitude

November 26, 2009 By Bill Rice

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 20: Two days before Tha...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Thanksgiving should be the patron holiday of sales people. We spend every day convincing customer how we can make their lives easier, businesses more profitable, and future brighter. And a lot of them agree with us and buy.

The natural next step is to say, “Thank You!”

Certainly this is common courtesy and makes your customer feel appreciated, but it is also a secret weapon in your sales process.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, a notable French author of memoirs and maxims, tapped into this secret in his obtuse explanation of gratitude: “Gratitude is merely the secret hope of future favors.” And, Robert Cialdini confirms the power of this maxim in creating influence in his principle of reciprocity.

Okay, before you stop reading this article because you think I am some self-serving S.O.B., hear me out.

Gratitude is an essential element in any sales process. It does provide the sale person enormous value. However, it all crumbles if it is not genuine.

John F. Kennedy reveals the weakness of an empty expression of gratitude: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

Gratitude also returns value beyond future sales and referrals. It makes you a better person.

Cicero might have captured it best when he said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

So, let’s review why being thankful and showing gratitude is so important to a sales person:

It (unfortunately) probably makes you unique
It keeps you top of mind with the customer
It helps build your relationships
People like to work with people that appreciate them
People like to feel they are contributing to success
Gratitude makes you a nicer, more confident person

Take a little time today to think about who you are thankful for. Consider who (your customers, right?) are the real founders of your feast today.

Over the next week or so, start thanking them!

Filed Under: Social Selling Tagged With: gratitude, reciprocity, referrals, Social Selling

Real Sales

September 23, 2009 By Bill Rice

What is “real sales” these days? My email is full of gimmicks and gadgets for avoiding cold calls, getting more followers, flooding myself with leads, and I assume closing more deals. The ironic part is very few of sales wins come from those gimmicky techniques.

Don’t read me wrong, I’m not anti-social Web. I believe these are increasingly powerful tools; however, you are probably in the business of closing deals. So, I want to talk about real sales. Techniques that really close deals.

Getting Involved

The fastest way to land sales is to engage lots of people. That means turning off the TV and getting up off the couch. Get involved in your community, in service organizations, in schools, and in athletics. Customers are people, surround yourself with prospects.

Giving back and helping make our world a little better is humbling and invigorating. It puts your attitude in the right place to generate trust in clients.

Being Nice

You know if you make smiling and being helpful your primary attitudes you will bring deals. Our world is full of hustle and bustle, people stressed out, and folks bee-lining from one task to the next. Your quick smile or a moment of pause to help a passerby will win you sales.

You probably won’t make a sale from that person, but someone else will catch a real glimpse of you–they’ll buy from no one else.

Getting the Word Out

Most first conversations start something like this: “…so what do you do?” Don’t be shy. Make sure you are ready with that one line pitch.

Not, “I sell enterprise software.”

But, something more like…”You know when you book a plane ticket online and you get all your dates picked, selected just the right seat, and entered your credit card? Then it pops up and says ‘unable to process your transaction’–I sell software that makes sure that never happens to a customer.”

They will remember that and tell someone.

Relationships

Nothing produces real sales like relationships. Taking the time to build meaningful relationships will net real long-term results. Relationships are built on things like:

Checking in from time to time, for no reason
Looking for opportunities for others
Putting yourself out a little to help
Doing things “on the house” occasionally

Relationships are built on action and engagement, not invoices.

Relationships yield referrals and referrals close 90 percent of the time. The biggest mistake most sales people make is mishandling referrals. These are gold–they need to be handled as such. That means:

Immediately follow-up and contact with the referral
Immediately follow-up with the referrer (don’t forget to say Thank You)
Do back flips for the referral–they are the key to more

Nothing a theme here? Real sales come from real people, doing real things, making real contact. Virtual is not real sales, budget your time appropriately.

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Filed Under: Social Selling Tagged With: referrals, relationships, Social Selling, techniques

Easy Steps to a Proven Referral System

The Power of Gratitude