Referrals

If part of your sales job requires you to make cold calls, you know how difficult they can be. How can you melt the ice with that potential customer and speed up the selling process? The best way to warm up a cold call is by using a referral.

Getting a referral is the action of obtaining a prospect's name from one of your existing satisfied customers.

Why should you do this? For most of us finding buyers is our biggest challenge. As aggressive sales people we never have enough buyers for our products and services.

Buyers are constantly bombarded with sales people calling and e-mailing trying to get in to see them- people and companies the buyers don't know and probably don't care to know. They don't know these people and they don't trust them. Trust is very important in the selling process and a good referral goes a long way in helping to develop that trust. We all know how long it takes to build trust in a relationship.

With a good referral, the buyer will enter the discussion being more receptive to your sales story. They will listen more carefully and have a tendency to trust you more since you are a good supplier to someone they know. Looking at the number, studies suggest a typical cold call generates only a 10% closing rate while a referral call generates a 25% - 80% closing rate!

How do you get referrals? Simple- just ask.

Talk to your existing satisfied customers and ask if they know of others who would benefits from your products or services. Remember to use benefit statements in your request. For example you might say, "Mary, thanks for your order. While we are talking, who do you know that would benefit from our...." (cost savings, speedy delivery, customized work, or whatever it is you are providing.) Using the phrase "Who do you know" will make your clients think of someone specifically. Using the phrase "Do you know anyone" will make it easy for the client to say they can't think of anyone. Use your probing skills here. Remember to always ask your client for permission to use his/her name before you call the referred prospect.