If your prospecting efforts yield more rejections than appointments, here's how
to increase your face-to-face contacts by putting the power of referrals to work.
Referrals lend instant credibility and a sense of familiarity to a cold call and
can establish strong customer relationships in a fraction of the time it usually
takes to earn a prospect's trust.
These six tips will help show you how to prospect for referrals that get more appointments
and close more sales.
1) The Golden Rule of referrals. Be indispensable to your current contacts. Before
they freely give you referral names, your customers need to know their friends or
business associates will be happy with your product, service and company.
What's the best way to earn your customers' trust? Let your product and service
speak for itself. Sell a great quality product, and when something goes wrong, fix
it quickly. Go out on a limb for your customers. Ask yourself what kind of salesperson
you'd want to recommend to your friends and be that person. Remember that your present
customer relationships help determine the number and quality of the referrals you
get.
2) Know how to ask for referrals. Instead of requesting referrals as a postscript
to a more important conversation, make asking for them a point all its own.
You might say, "I've done my best to provide you with the best possible product
and service. If you've been happy with the results so far, I would very much appreciate
a referral. Could you give me the names of one or two friends or business associates
you think could benefit from what I have to offer?"
Use words that encourage the people you ask to comply, and reassure them that you'll
continue to bend over backwards for them and for the people whose names they're
giving you.
3) Take advantage of all your resources. Most of your referrals will come from three
sources: customers or clients, prospects and strategic alliances. As for customers,
the happier the customer is with you and your product, the more confident they'll
feel giving you an associate's name.
When a customer compliments the reliability of your product or the great way you
prevented a delivery delay, seize the golden opportunity to get a referral. When
you make follow-up calls on customers, continue to ask for referrals. You won't
know how many great prospects your customer might be meeting in between your calls
until you ask for their names. You may not get a referral every time you ask, but
you'll let your customers know that referrals are an important part of your business.
Especially if you've qualified them somehow, your prospects may be positioned to
provide names of other people who could benefit from your product. Even if the prospect
doesn't buy, try to establish enough rapport and trust to ask for a referral in
a comfortable way.
Strategic alliances are the mutually beneficial business relationships you form
with others. Strategic allies like and trust one another, and can help advance one
another's business interests. Look for people who might be potentially profitable
strategic allies. Offer referrals, advice or free services to help them, then let
them return the favor with a steady supply of quality referrals for you.
4) Warm up the referrals you get. Scott Kramnick outlines three types of referrals
in his book Expecting Referrals (I've added a fourth):
1. Cold - Consists of referral's name and number, but you're unable to mention the
anchor (the referral source).
2. Lukewarm - Includes referral's name and number and permission to mention the
anchor.
3. Warm - Anchor provides name and number, allows you to mention him or her as the
source, and offers other specific information about the referral.
4. Hot - Same as warm, but the referral also includes information that indicates
a specific need for your product or service.
To be a proactive (and more effective) referral prospector, don't settle for a name
and number only. Extra information prepares you for your first contact with the
referral, which improves your closing odds.
Ask your referral source why John Smith's name stood out, and identify Mr. Smith's
hot buttons by asking what Mr. Smith will really like about you and your product.
This technique may also work well for you: Tell your referral source, "Mary, thanks
so much for giving me John's name. I'd like to send him a brief letter to let him
know his name came up in our conversation and that I'd like to help improve his
business as I have helped improve yours. If I send you the letter to John with a
stamped, addressed envelope, would you write a quick little note to him at the top
or in the margin of the letter?" Just make sure your service is so good your referral
source will happily grant your request.
5) Know how to approach your referrals. Quickly mention your anchor's name to establish
the three-way connection between you, your anchor and your prospect. Let the prospect
know that the referral source benefited from your service and kindly gave you the
prospect's name in the hopes that you could be of help to him or her.
Continue to refer to your referral source throughout the conversation to strengthen
your connection to the prospect via the referral source. Citing examples of your
excellent service record with the anchor may help persuade the prospect to place
an order with you as well.
6) Keep your referral source informed. Whether or not a referral ends in a sale,
keep the referral source updated and show your appreciation for the referral.
Your anchors may have put their reputation on the line by giving you a friend or
associate's name, so thank them profusely for their faith in you. As your relationship
with a new prospect develops, let your anchor know how things are going. When a
referral brings you a sale, a small thank-you gift to your anchor shows your appreciation
and may ensure more quality referrals to come.
As long as you deliver products and services you can be proud of, don't be shy about
asking for a referral. The contacts you make as a result not only help increase
your closing ratio, but give you a source of still more referrals. For each link
you forge in your referral chain, you'll make one less cold call and possibly one
more sale.