Tip # 20 – Ask for referrals

March 7th, 2011 @ admin

For all you sales pros out there …. this might not even be worth a separate mention. But all too often, I find that people do not ask for referrals. I believe there are several ways one can ask for a referral and several opportunities when one can ask for referrals.

Ask for referrals often. I push the envelope on this, because I feel one can ask for referrals even before you have consummated a sale. I did this a few years ago, when I was selling IT services into the Medial Communications departments of large pharmaceutical companies. It was a very small market segment and everyone in this industry knew other Medical Communications folks at the other pharmaceutical companies. The sales cycles on these deals were long and so very often I would begin asking the prospects I began having a good working relationship with, to introduce me to others they knew in the industry.

It worked well and we (our small Med. Comm. solutions department) got to sell about $9 Million worth of services over a 3-year period.

I believe there are two things needed before you can ask for referrals, and as soon as you have them, you should ask for one. They are simply ….

1. A rapport with your prospect or customer.
2. A reputation of Trust and Value.

It’s what Matters:
If you lack either of the above mentioned requirements, they will be hesitant to make the referral – simply because you don’t matter. Either you do not matter enough to them, to want to help you. OR you offer, service or solutions is not valuable enough to matter or make a difference to their friends.

It’s about Power:
There is one more perspective to hold; and that is how you ask for the referral. Always ask it in a way that does not seem like you are asking for a favor or for help.

Ask for the referral powerfully e.g.

* Ask them if they think what you have to offer might be of value to some of their friends.
* Or if what you have might be of benefit to their colleagues in other companies.

In Conclusion:
Get comfortable asking seemingly tough questions, learn to always stay in control of your conversations, always build rapport fast and always be selling something of value. If you do all this; you will be able to ask for referrals quickly, often and effectively – this gets you back into the numbers game and helps create more opportunities for you to go sell something. Yeah Baby!!

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