It’s amazing to me how few salespeople ask for referrals. According to a Dale Carnegie study 91% of customers would be happy to give referrals if only they were asked? In addition only 11% of Salespeople remember to take the time to ask?? Make sure you’re NOT one of the 89%!!
In today’s world of digital bombardment and super busy business and personal lives you can make your business life much easier by simply asking your customers to recommend your product or services to their colleagues, friends family or acquaintances. The best time to do this is after you make the initial transaction with them. This is an effective habit that should be included in your sales conversation. It should be a natural extension of your conversation before you wrap things up and move to your next appointment.
One of my friends whose a top Professional Salesperson would simply hand his customer a small card with three spaces for names of customers and their phone number. He would just simply hand this to his client and say something like, “I wonder if you could think of a few people you might know who would also like to save some money like you. (make sure you make reference to the benefit) Do you mind jotting their names and number down for me while I complete this paperwork for you?”
It’s as simple as that. He generally gets 90% (which is not too far off the 91% ) of his customers to hand him his next warm leads. This would keep him busy until his next new customer. And on it goes.
The next thing would be to ask your client if they wouldn’t mind calling their friend now so you can go ahead and see if they’ve got time for an appointment. We’re all busy so this just makes since right? This obviously takes quite a bit of skill and social tact but what I’ve found is that people love helping people if they can and you make it seem easy simple and fun. You end up being the great connector. You could offer your client a gift card so they could meet their friend for a coffee. Just a thank you for making the new connection.
I hope this serves you and you’re applying these suggestions to your daily business. Try it today and let me know how it goes by leaving a comment below.
And Remember…when you go out into the marketplace Be Bold, Be Strong Be Brave and Make it happen Today!
Dominic Kotarski Founder of Sales Success Academy
