Sales and Sales Management Blog

December 18, 2009

Blast Your Pipeline with Dozens of Quality Referrals in 30 Days

Filed under: lead generation,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 8:59 am
Tags: , , , , ,

This is chapter three from my e-book: Recession Proof Your Pipeline: A Dozen Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline in 30 Days

Blast Your Pipeline with Dozens of Quality Referrals in 30 Days

Large numbers of high quality referrals are difficult for most salespeople to generate.  Certainly, many will manage to get a name and phone number here and there.  However, most of those names and phone numbers are little better than taking out the phonebook and pointing a finger at a name. 

It need not be that way.

By learning a disciplined, effective, proven process for generating a large number of high quality referrals from each of your clients and even your prospects, referral selling can become a reality.  It is for many of the top producers in every industry.

Yet of course, you can’t possibly learn and implement a systematic process of referral generation and expect to see significant results in only 30 days.

The good news, however, is that you can still generate a substantial flow of business in only 30 days if you learn to turbo charge your client’s ability to give you a large number of quality referrals in a very short period of time—virtually overnight.

Whom do You Want to Be Referred To?

If you expect to use referrals as an igniter of your pipeline in short order, you’ll have to do all of the work for your clients.  Asking your database of clients for referrals will generate referrals if done correctly.  However, the fruits of that request won’t be seen quickly.

You, of course, don’t have the luxury of waiting.  You need business NOW.

Therefore, you’re going to make giving referrals easy—for your client.

Sit down right now and draw up a list of 100 individuals or companies YOU KNOW you want to be referred to.  Be specific.  List the name, the phone number and the address of each individual or the name, phone number, address, and the specific person within the company for each company you wish to be referred into.

You may have to do some serious research.  Nevertheless, your list is the critical part of this strategy.

Don’t stop at 50, or 70, or 90.  List a minimum of 100 individuals or companies.  Remember, you’re going to make it easy for your client to refer you.  Someone must do the work—and that’s you.

When making your list, leave room on the right side of the sheet beside each name to put the name of the person who is going to refer you to that person or company.

Who Is Going To Refer You to Whom?

Great.  You know 100 individuals or companies you want to be referred to. 

So, how are you going to get referred to them?  By your clients, of course.

Now, take your database of clients and examine each one.  Which client do you have reason to believe can refer you to the first person on your list?  The second?  The third?

The more you know about each of your clients, the easier this part of the task will be.  Hopefully, you’ve come to know the majority of your clients well.

Beside each prospect, list the client–and their phone number–that you believe can refer you to that prospect.

If you have a list of 100 people or companies you know you want to be referred into, you’ll probably be able to identify 70 or so that you have reason to believe one of your clients may know and can refer you to.

If you have 70 prospects your clients may know, you’ll probably find they can actually refer you to about 47.

If you are referred to 47, you’ll probably set appoints with about 35

If you set appointments with 35, then multiply 35 by your average close ratio—that is what you can expect to close.  If your close ratio is 40%, you should have in your hand 14 short-term sales

Get the Referrals

Now the question is: how do you turn your list into referrals?

Naturally, you are going to go back to each of the clients that you have identified as a potential referrer to someone on your list.

Start with the clients you have the strongest relationship with first.  Better to get some positive reinforcement from your best relationship clients before you approach those you have a weaker relationship with.

However, before you approach anyone, you need to get comfortable with what you’re going to say.  You don’t want to stumble and stammer.  You want to come across to your client as comfortable, confident, and in control.

Referrals can be tricky.  They are hard to generate if your client doesn’t believe you expect them and that you have earned them.  If you doubt, that doubt will be picked up by your client, who will be less likely to agree to give them.  After all, if you don’t believe what you’re saying, why should your client?

Get your act together before you make your call to your first client.

Don’t ask for referrals via a letter or email.  You will be far more successful if you ask in person.  Short of that, you must make a personal phone call.  Generating referrals is a relationship action, not an impersonal request.  You must deal with your client on a one-on-one, personal level. 

When you call, before bringing up the referrals you seek, find out if your client has ANY needs, concerns, or requests regarding your product or service.  In other words, make sure you still have a happy and fully satisfied client.  If you don’t, you cannot expect referrals.  If the client is dissatisfied for any reason, instead of referrals to get, you have customer service work to perform.

Then, once you know your client is still ‘on the team,’ explain that you have a favor to ask.  You have two or three people you believe you can help but have not been successful in being able to meet through the normal course of business.  These are people that you thought for whatever reason the client might know and are hoping that if they do know them, that they would be comfortable referring you to these prospects. 

If you have done your research and matching of prospect to client well, your client will probably know one or two of the prospects you ask about. 

Once they acknowledge they know them, find out how well.  With a referral, you are hoping to build a relationship with the referred prospect based on their trust and respect for your client.  If the prospect trusts and respects your client, some of that trust and respect is imbued to you—so you start your relationship with the prospect from a positive position.

However, the person you’re asking about may not trust and respect your client.  If they are just casual acquaintances, their trust relationship is neutral, as will be your starting point.  In addition, if the prospect distrusts and disrespects your client, your starting point will be from a negative position because some of the distrust for your client will also be imbued to you.

It is important that you know where you start–the stronger the relationship between client and prospect, the better your chances of getting an appointment and a sale.

If you have done your job for the client well, they should have no problems referring you into the prospects they know.

Work your way through your list of 100 prospects.  You should have more than a month’s work ahead of you.  Again, you will probably have about 70 prospects to contact and set appointments with.

Don’t Just Get Referred, Get Introduced

One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a referral is to simply get your client to agree to refer you.  That’s what the average salesperson does—and it doesn’t work well.

Instead of just getting a verbal referral, that is having your client say, “Sure, I’ll refer you to them,” get a direct introduction to the prospect.  Not only is a direct introduction more powerful than an agreement to use the client’s name, a direct introduction, if done correctly, almost guarantees a private meeting with the prospect.

Although there are a number of ways of getting a direct introduction, when under the time pressure of a 30-day explosion of production, you have 3 realistic options:

  1. A Letter from Your Client Written by You for Your Client’s Signature.  A letter of introduction will probably be your standard format for a direct introduction.  Don’t ask your client to write the letter because they will not have the sense of urgency you need, nor will they write the letter you want written.
            Instead, write the letter for your client, on your client’s stationary, in your client’s voice.  Use a standard format:  1st paragraph informs the prospect of what you did for the client; the 2nd gives the prospect an idea of what you might be able to do for the them; the 3rd states an exact day and time the client has asked you to call the prospect; and the 4th has your client asking the prospect to call the client after your meeting with the prospect so the client can get the prospect’s opinion of you and your company ( the reason the client requests this is because the client respects the prospect’s judgment).
           Have your client sign the letter and then mail it to the prospect.  A day or two after the letter should have arrived, call the prospect.  Assume the prospect has not read the letter.  When you reach the prospect, immediately refer to your client and the letter, not to yourself.  If you introduce yourself first, the prospect may determine you are nothing but another tele-marketer before you have the opportunity to mention your client’s name and they may mentally block you out.  Don’t give them the chance.  Gain their interest with your client’s name first.
             Some salespeople think they can get around the letter by simply acting as if a letter has been sent.  Bad move.  Some prospects, after getting off the phone will look for the letter.  If it isn’t there, only one of two things could have happened—the letter was lost in the mail or the salesperson lied.  Guess which one they’ll assume?
  2. A Phone Call to the Prospect From Your Client While You’re in the Client’s Office.  This is, of course, a more powerful introduction than a letter.  Don’t’ let your client call without you being present.  You want a direct introduction and you want to know everything that is said during the conversation. 
         Although powerful, this format has some drawbacks.  This method is powerful because it is unusual and because it allows the prospect to ask direct questions about you, your product and the client’s purchasing experience.  This format can backfire if there are questions you’d rather the prospect not ask.  If there are weak areas in your client’s purchase, this may not be your best choice.
    However, this format almost guarantees a meeting with the prospect since it is difficult for the prospect to decline a meeting request when the client is also on the line.
  3. A Lunch Meeting with Your Client, the Prospect and Yourself.  This is, by far, the most powerful introduction format you can use in this circumstance.  A lunch format allows you to get to know the prospect as a friend prior to getting to know them as a prospect or client.  In addition, in this format, your client acts as your salesperson during the lunch, you’re there as the consultant.  As with the phone call format, it is very difficult for the prospect to decline a meeting request in front of the client.  Furthermore, since the meeting format is informal, you’ll have the opportunity to learn a great deal about the prospect and their business long before you begin discussing business.  If you pay attention, you should have a great deal of ammunition before the subject of business comes up.

Execution

Developing referrals from your clients can take some time.  You must develop your list of prospects you want to be referred to; you have to match those prospects to individual clients in your database; you must contact each individual client for the referrals; write the letters or arrange the calls or lunches; and then have the actual contact with the prospect.  All of this before you even have the individual meeting with the prospect. 

This method requires you to be disciplined, very well organized, and committed to working the process.  You must have a sense of urgency or time will slip away and you won’t meet your 30-day goal. 

Commit yourself to having your prospect list completed within 2 days.  Keep in mind, developing this list may take some serious research.  Then, once you have your prospect list, you should have matched prospects to clients by the end of day three.  By the end of the fourth day, you should have contacted and received referrals from several clients.

As soon as you have referrals, start the introduction process.  Don’t try to go through all 100 prospects prior to beginning getting introductions.  You’ll run out of time.  Again, this format calls for good organizational and coordination skills.  You’ll have to be gathering referrals while working referrals.

More than likely, you’ll find that you’ve filled your pipeline and still have more referrals to pursue.  Good job!  Not only will you have jumpstarted your sales again, you’ll carry that momentum into the coming months as well.

Want more strategies to help fill your pipeline quickly?  You’ll find 11 more strategies for using the phone, networking, creating marketing partnerships and more in Recession Proof Your Pipeline.  Order it here

November 24, 2009

Using Incentives to Get Referrals

Filed under: business,lead generation,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 12:01 pm
Tags: , , , , ,

I’m often asked why I don’t advocate using incentives to influence clients and prospects to give referrals.  My reasoning is two fold:  first, if your referral generation process is effective and you execute it correctly, you don’t need to give incentives; and second, if done correctly, incentives can be very effective—but most salespeople find giving effective incentives to be cumbersome and time consuming.

Let me explain.

I coach and train clients who use incentives very effectively.  They are a key part of their referral generation process.  They follow the PWWR Referral Generation System™ to the letter—with the exception of their explanation of why it is in the client’s best interest to give them referrals.  Instead of explaining to the client how their being referral-based is an asset to the client and why giving referrals insures the client receives the purchasing experience they want, these salespeople prefer giving incentives.

The difference between the incentives they give and those most salespeople give is the secret to why their incentive program is so successful—and why it is so cumbersome.

Typically, salespeople will make one of three mistakes when giving incentives:

  • The incentive is not an incentive, it’s a bribe—a sizable chunk of money, at least in relation to the cost/value of their product or service, in the hopes of getting referrals.
  • The incentive is not an incentive, it’s a come-on—it is nothing more than a discount for their own products or services which many clients see as nothing more than another way for the salesperson to get more business from the client.
  • The incentive has limited appeal.  For instance, they’ll give a $10 gift card to Starbucks or coupon for a car wash.  That is, an incentive given to everyone but with limited appeal.

Incentives need to be just that—an incentive, something that encourages people to give referrals, not a reward, not a bounty. 

What does an effective and reasonable incentive look like?

Let me give an example from one of my clients.

I have a small IT client who uses incentives very effectively.  As a matter of fact, prior to working with me, they gave cash incentives believing money would motivate clients.  Although they initially resisted changing their incentive program, since changing they’ve increased their referrals by over 1,700%.  Much of that change is due to implementing the PWWR Referral Generation System, but the incentive they provide is their reason referrals are in their client’s best interest to give.  Not only have they saved a small fortune by not giving large cash incentives, the incentive itself is far more effective.

They focus mainly on installation and service work for small to mid-size companies.  They, of course, are constantly looking for other small to mid-size companies that don’t have an IT department that they can help with both their installation and performance issues. 

They use incentives as their reason that it is in their client’s best interest to give referrals.  But their incentive isn’t a discount nor is it dollars.  Rather, they get to know their clients very, very well.  They get to know their clients so well that they can focus their incentive to meet that individual client’s personality and interests. 

For instance, one of their clients is a small publishing company.  The company publishes cookbooks.  The owner of the company collects antique and rare cookbooks.  Although her collection is quite large, she is still constantly looking to add to her collection.  Every time she refers someone to her IT service company, they go to a used and rare bookstore and purchase her—you guessed it, an antique cookbook.

They never spend more than 25 or 35 dollars.  The incentive is small—nothing compared to what she will spend with them over the course of the year—or what they would have given her in the past.  But she will kill to find new referrals that she can make because she appreciates the attention they give her.  Obviously, they aren’t giving every client who refers someone to them a cookbook.  They go out of their way to show their appreciation to her by doing something unique just for her.

Another of their clients is a minor league baseball team.  This team has been around since the 50’s.  Over the years, they’ve had hundreds of players come through their team and eventually go on to the majors, some for only a few days, others have become stars.  What do they do for this client?  Every time the team gives them a referral they find and purchase a baseball artifact associated with one of the players that had played for the team who eventually went on to the majors.  The team has started a “museum” (read trophy case) based on the artifacts they’ve received from their referrals.  Again, they only spend a few dollars on each item.  The dollars they spend isn’t what gets the client’s attention—it’s the attention to detail and the uniquely personal nature of the incentive.  Like the publisher above, the baseball team is always looking for referrals to give—and new artifacts to include in their display.

Obviously, this incentive system requires getting to know the client well.  That’s actually the easy part.  The tough part is finding the incentive item.  The IT company above may spend weeks looking for the appropriate incentive gift for their minor league client.  Instead of investing money in the client’s incentive, they invest their time, their effort, and their creativity.  Most importantly, they invest their attention and their sincere interest in the client.

Using incentives can be very effective and need not be costly if done correctly.  Avoid costly bribes.  Don’t give money; give personal attention.  Certainly, don’t give a discount coupon or any other “incentive” to spend more money with you.  And avoid blanket incentives that are easy to give and have little impact.

The key to an effective incentive program isn’t the dollar value—it’s the personal value.

November 20, 2009

An Immodest Proposal

Filed under: Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 12:21 pm
Tags: , , , , , ,

The holidays are upon us and many of you sales leaders may be wondering what you might get for your team members.  Certainly there’s the typical take ‘em out for lunch or maybe a drink a day or two before Christmas.  Maybe you plan on doing what most team leaders do—nothing other than wish them a Merry Christmas.

Well, I have an immodest proposal for you.  Why not get them something that is inexpensive but that will significantly increase their production next year?  That’s a win/win situation since it will increase both your and their income, make you both look good, your sales reports will shine, and you just might get that promotion you’ve been wanting—all for about $15 per team member.

So what’s going to do all of this for only $15?

I suggest you purchase each of your team members a copy of my book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals. (Wiley, 2007)

No, the title doesn’t claim that every one of your team members will be making a million dollars a year after reading it.  The title comes from how the book’s referral process was developed.  I interviewed 47 sellers across the US and Canada who each make a minimum of a million dollars a year and who generate the majority of business from referrals from their clients.  I wanted to know what they were doing to be so successful with referrals while most sellers were struggling to get even a few great referrals a year.

What I found, not surprisingly, is they don’t ask for referrals like most of have been taught, but instead generate referrals by working closely with their clients to earn the right to get referrals and then to identify highly qualified prospects for the client to refer them to.

That’s the crux of the book—the disciplined process they use to generate a large number of high quality referrals from each of their clients.

Best of all, it’s a process you and your team members can learn and implement to greatly increase the number and quality of referrals you and your team members get.

A Few Book Endorsements and Reviews:

David Straker, ChangingMinds.com

“In the end, the joy that earns this book a rare five stars is the practical, thorough and innovative treatment of referrals that can have literally massive benefit to anyone, not just in sales, who wants to connect with valued other people.

Quite simply the best book on gaining and using referrals.”

 

From Dave Stein’s Review of Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income

“Here is my recommendation for sales leaders. (A full-fledged plan will contain considerably more detail—this is just a starting point….) 

  1. If your sales team hasn’t been effectively leveraging existing customers for referrals, determine why. 
  2. Benchmark the level at which referrals business is being converted to sales.
  3. If the reason is that (you and) your salespeople don’t know how, invest in this book.
  4. Take the time to study Paul’s referral process and his recommendations.
  5. Set an objective.  For example, referrals will be the source of 10% of our business next year.
  6. Devise a plan for adopting his process across your team.
  7. Build appropriate coursework, tools, coaching mechanisms.  (This is a difficult proposition for a busy sales manager.  You probably don’t have either the time or the skills. I’m sure Paul would be delighted to engage with you on this…)
  8. Train your team or get them trained.
  9. Deploy the process, measure results against your benchmark and objective and refine.”

 

CRM Magazine

“required reading.”

 

Rolf Dobelli, get abstract

“You can keep working hard all alone clearing stumps and moving rocks with your current approach, or move to more fertile ground where your best clients can make your life easier by helping you find new clients just like them. getAbstract recommends this book to any professional who needs to sell . . . .”

 

Frank Rumbauskas, NY Times best-selling author of Never Cold Call

“Having spent over ten years as a top-producing sales rep, and now having spent over four years teaching and training salespeople – and having read hundreds of sales books in that time – I can tell you that Paul McCord’s book is hands-down THE BEST book on referral selling ever written!”

 

AllBooks Reviews

“Salespeople from every industry will find this a useful and comprehensive sales referral guide. Chapter after chapter of excellent advice that dispels myth and rumor related to referral selling.”

 

Dave Lakani, best-selling author and coach

“This book lays out in systematic detail the most effective selling and referral system I’ve seen. It doesn’t make getting referrals easy but it does make getting them predictable.

Even though I consider myself a good referral sales generator, I cringed more than a little at the mistakes I identified while reading this book and how much money I left on the table through missed sales and missed opportunities.

I also like this book because it is a quick read with plenty of great examples, the author doesn’t belabor points to fill space, he just gets right to the point . . . so you can implement and earn.

Excellent book, I highly recommend it.”

 

Selling Power Magazine, Sales Management Newsletter

“Referrals are a tricky business if you don’t know what you’re doing – and many reps don’t. Many say they don’t want to ask for referrals because they don’t want to irritate a customer with whom they have good rapport. Or, in an effort to be casual about it, they ask in such an oh-by-the-way manner that the customer quickly dismisses it. Or they ask once and drop it. And none of these approaches will result in good, solid referrals.

So what’s the answer? Referrals must be an integral part of your sales approach, from first contact through post-sale. (McCord’s) PWWR system addresses the issues that keep most sales people from generating large numbers of quality referrals.”

 

Forbes Book Club

Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals was, I’m proud to say, selected as an offering of the prestegious Forbes Book Club.  Unfortunately within months of my book’s selection the book club closed  I’m hopeful–and fairely sure–that selecting my book wasn’t the cause of them going out of business.

 

You can find Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals at all find booksellers, including:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

My website

Want the audio book instead?  It’s Here

June 5, 2009

Boost Your Sales Series: “Turn Your Cold Calls into Welcome Introductions,” by Paul McCord

Filed under: cold calling,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 7:33 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Here’s the last article for the “Using the Phone to Generate Business” week.  It’s my contribution about the process I use to connect with prospects via the phone.  I never make cold calls, but I speak with a lot of decision makers I’ve never interacted with before.  This is how I turn what would be a cold call into a referred introduction.

Next week we’ll deal with Successful Networking.  First up will be The Sales Hunter–Mark Hunter; Tuesday bring in Andrea Sittig-Rolf; on Wednesday it will be Jonathan Farrington’s turn; Thursday I’ll introduce you to Will Kintish; and then Friday, as always, it will be my turn to tackle networking.

Come back everyday to get your daily dose of great, actionable sales and management guidance and discussions.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–Never a Cold Call, Always an Introduction
By Paul McCord

Are you a business-to-buisness seller who must use the phone to generate buisness and who is frustrated with amount of time you must spend, the number of calls you must place just to get a single appointment?  I feel your pain.

Are you tired of trying to find ways around the gate keeper, create voice mail messages that will be returned, and find a way to capture and keep your prospect’s attention?  Again, I feel your pain.

I’m a salesman, too.  I sell sales training, management consulting, coaching and speaking presentations.  My clients are companies, individual salespeople, business owners, and business and industry associations.

I prospect.  I have to if I want to stay in business.  I, like every other seller, am constantly looking for potential new business.

I also market my services and myself.  I have to invest a significant amount of my time and effort in getting my message out to potential clients.  The marketing I engage in takes many forms–from writing articles to giving interviews to writing newsletters to attending events and functions to networking and seeking referrals.

In other words, my business is exactly like yours.  I engage in the same activities you do.  I face the same obstacles, the same setbacks, the same disappointments, and enjoy the same victories. 

Whether you sell insurance, parking lot maintenance, copiers, communication systems, or the most sophisticated computer networks, business-to-business selling is in its essence the same for all of us.  The details are different.  The process may be vastly different.  The sales cycle may be months or even years apart.  But the basic essence is the same, and the most basic is you have to have a prospect that will accept your efforts to connect with them.

Like almost every other seller, I must use the phone to connect with some of those prospects.  Nevertheless, I refuse to make cold calls.  In my opinion, there is hardly a more worthless use of my time and energy than cold calling.  Cold calling is time consuming for the sellerCo and it immediately signifies to the recipient of the call that the person making the call isn’t an expert in their field because most prospects assume that true experts aren’t sitting at a desk pounding the phone.

Yet, that creates a dilemma for me—there are prospects I can’t find a way to reach without picking up the phone and calling them.  Despite being a strong advocate of referral selling, networking, developing referral partnerships, and using PR to create interest and get prospects to pick up the phone, those methods, no matter how expertly I implement them, just can’t get me to every possible prospect that I’m interested in reaching.

Not having a way to connect through other means and refusing to cold call presents a serious problem.

Fortunately, there is a solution that allows me to NEVER make a cold call and still call prospects that I’ve never interacted with before.  In fact, it always allows me to begin establishing a relationship with almost every prospect I connect with that I can expand and nurture over time.  In addition, this simple method allows me to gather a wealth of information about the company, their needs, their plans, and in many cases, key information about the person I’m about to speak to before I ever make the call.  Before I call, I know whom I’m calling, why I’m calling, and I have a very good idea of where the conversation will be going. 

And if my prospect doesn’t answer the phone, I almost always get a return call from the voice mail I leave.

What is the incredible system I use?

Actually, it is so simple and so obvious I almost hate to admit it.  But it works.  It takes the pressure off me, as well as off the prospect.  When I call, I’m simply doing follow-up work, fulfilling my obligation to one or more of the prospect’s employees.

Once I’ve identified a company to approach about any of my services, I do my homework.  I call three or four of the company’s salespeople (remember my prodict– I’m selling sales training and consulting).  My hope is to speak to a salesperson that has been with the company for only a short time, to another who is an old hand with the company, and one who is a top producer. 

When I speak to these individuals, I am upfront with the purpose of my call.  I let them know who I am, why I’m calling them, what my intentions are regarding calling the company about my services, and request their permission to ask them some questions about the company and their experience with the company.  Seldom does anyone refuse speaking with me.  If they do, I’ll just call another salesperson within the company.

I ask a number of information gathering questions such as:

  • what type of sales training the company provides
  • their personal evaluation of the quality of the training
  • whether training is provided by outside vendors on in-house trainers
  • if they use outside trainers, what companies do they use
  • what training needs do they see the company has that aren’t being met
  • who in their opinion I should speak to about training
  • if there is anything else I should know prior to calling the person they suggested I call
  • prior to ending the call, I ask for permission to use their name when I make the call.

Three or four short calls—each will only last a very few minutes—gives me a tremendous amount of information about the company and potential opportunities for me.  Often I learn a little bit of personal information about the person I’m about to call that helps me connect with them.  Typically, at least one and often two or three of the individuals will not only give me permission to mention their name, but will encourage me to call, giving me a referral into the company.  Now, I’ve not only upgraded the call from a cold call to a warm call, but I’ve upgraded the warm call to a referral. 

When I do call the company, I use the introductions provided by the salespeople to break the ice and gain credibility.  Those introductions turn the call into a conversation about their needs and observations rather than a sales pitch.   In fact, most prospects actually appreciate my call.  In many cases I’m informing them of issues and concerns their sales team has that they aren’t aware of, and in virtually all cases I’m not calling them wasting their time fishing for  a reason to meet with them, I’m discussing a real specific issue that their team has that needs to be addressed.

If I am directed to voice mail, I don’t panic.  I don’t hang up without leaving a message.  I don’t leave some misleading message hoping to trick someone into returning my call.  I leave a very brief factual message that introduces myself and mentions that salesperson X and salesperson Y asked me to call about some issues that concern them.  I almost always get a return call.

Naturally, the person I’m calling wants to know how and why his or her salespeople encouraged me to make the call.  Again, I don’t beat around the bush.  I tell them that I was doing my homework prior to making my introductory call.  The fact that I was willing to spend time learning something about the company, their needs, their salespeople, and their processes tends to impress the person with whom I’m speaking. 

Seldom do sellers take the time to be prepared before making a call.  Seldom do they find a way to turn a cold call into a referral.  So unusual is it that when someone calls who is fully prepared, the impression is not only positive but also deep and lasting.  Furthermore, by demonstrating my ability to find a positive, honest and effective way to connect with them that pricks their interest and almost demands they pay attention to me, they make the connection that I just might have something of value to teach their sales team. 

Naturally, I don’t turn every call into a sale.  I do, however, begin the process of developing a positive and trusting relationship that will, hopefully, turn into a sale in the future.

My method of reaching the prospects that I otherwise cannot find another way of reaching doesn’t allow me to make tons of calls.  I give up quantity for quality.  And to tell you the truth, I’d much rather have an introduction to a quality prospect than sit and pound the phone hoping that sooner or later I’ll fall into an appointment.

No matter your product, you too can find individuals within your target companies who can give you the information you need—and their endorsement when you do make the call.  Getting past gatekeepers and gaining the prospect’s interest doesn’t have to be a game of deception or manipulation.  Investing a little time before calling your prospect opens doors, eliminates resistance, pricks interest, and helps begin the relationship building process. 

You virtually never have to make another business-to-business cold call.  With a little bit of research and effort you can turn almost every cold call into a referred call.  Give it a try, it makes life much easier and making those calls much more enjoyable—and productive.

Paul McCord, a leading Business Development Strategist and president of McCord Training, works with companies and sales leaders to help them increase sales and profits by finding and connecting with high quality prospects in ways prospects respect and respond to.  An internationally recognized author, speaker, trainer and consultant, Paul’s clients range from giants such as Chase, New York Life, Siemens, and GE, to small and mid-size firms, as well as individual sales leaders.  He is the author of the popular Sales and Sales Management Blog (http://salesandmanagementblog.com). 

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Do you like the content of the Sales and Sales Management Blog?

If you do I encourage you to do two things:

1.  Tell your friends, associates, and colleguges and suggest they come visit the blog for themselves

2.  Send me a quick email with your name and address and get signed up for my POWER SELLING newsletter that twice a month will give you additional great content right in your email box.  Just shoot me an email at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com with you name and email address an put “subscribe” in the subject line.  I’ll know what to do with it.  And by the way, we never sell, lease, rent, or give you information to anyone–ever.

May 22, 2009

The Four Pillars of a Successful Referal, Part 3: Your Client’s Relationship to the Referred Prospect

Filed under: business,Handling Prospect,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 7:27 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Most salespeople and business owners assume that all referrals are equal.  Even a great many trainers act like they’re all equal.  They’re not.  The strength of a referral depends more on the relationship between the client and the person they refer than on any other factor. 

Clients don’t just refer you to people who know them, respect them, and trust them.  It would be great if that were the case, but it isn’t.  Clients will refer you to people who are just casual acquaintances—and even to people who don’t respect them or don’t trust their judgment.

You can successfully convert any of these relationships into a great client.  But in order to so,

you must know EXACTLY

what the relationship between

your client and the referred prospect is.

When you get a referral you’re hoping to be able to set an appointment with the referred prospect based on the recommendation and endorsement of your client.  That’s the theory.  The reality is often very, very different.  Unless you know what the relationship between your client and the person they referred you to is, you don’t where you’re starting your connection with the referred prospect.

Prospects will initially judge you based on what they think of the person who referred you.  That means that your referral won’t necessarily have a positive impact on the prospect.  In some cases the prospect will have no pre-conceived opinion about you, while in other cases their pre-conceived opinion will be decidedly negative.

If your referred prospect trusts and respects your client, some of that trust and respect will automatically be imbued to you because someone they trust and respect endorsed you.  Consequently, you begin your relationship with that person from a position of strength.

If your referred prospect is simply a casual acquaintance of your client, they may have not developed an opinion about your client—good or bad.  In that situation you begin your relationship from a neutral position.  Although relatively rare, these neutral relationships do exist, and you will encounter these types of referrals.

Likewise, if your referred prospect distrusts or does not respect your client, in particular your client’s judgment and opinion, you begin your relationship with that prospect with some of that distrust and doubt imbued to you.  You begin the relationship from a decidedly negative position.

Your referred prospect will view YOU

the same way they view your Client–

Good, Bad, or Indifferent 

If you are not aware of the relationship between your client and the prospect—and in particular how the prospect views your client–you run a very real risk of blowing your opportunity to connect with the prospect. 

If your prospect trusts and respects your client, you will want to emphasize your relationship with the client and bring their name up often to reinforce the good feelings the prospect has regarding your client. 

On the other hand, if the prospect distrusts your client or doesn’t respect their judgment, simply use your client’s name for the introduction, and then seek to build your relationship with the prospect based on who you are, not on your relationship with your client.  Your client’s name gave you the opportunity to speak to the prospect; the rest is up to you.  Be aware, however, that the prospect will have reservations about you based on their opinion of who referred you.  It’s an uphill climb with a significantly lower potential for success, but one that can be made successfully if you’re aware of the obstacles in your path prior to making contact.

In those few instances where the prospect has virtually no opinion of your client, your client’s name should open the door.  Certainly you can continue to mention your client—they are neither an asset nor liability, but again, you’re faced with the task of building trust and respect based completely on your own, without any help from your client.

Next, the fourth pillar of a successful referral—How You Contact the Referred Prospect

May 20, 2009

The Four Pillars of a Successful Referral, Part 2: Your Client’s Purchasing Experience

Filed under: Client Relationships,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 7:49 am
Tags: , , , , ,

Of equal importance to your relationship with your client is your client’s purchasing experience. Just because your client trusts you doesn’t mean he or she had the purchasing experience they wanted. On the other hand, just because your client had a good purchasing experience doesn’t necessarily mean they trust you.

To get the QUANTITY and QUALITY of referrals you want,

your client must trust you

AND

they must have the purchasing experience THEY want,

not the one YOU want to give them

Although we prefer to treat all of our clients the same, each is an individual. Each has their own idea of what they want to happen during the course of the sale. Certainly it is easier on us to treat them all the same, doing the same things the same way for each client; but that’s simply trying to make it easy on us rather than trying to give each client the experience they want. To generate a large number of high quality referrals, we have to change our perspective and rather than trying to make the purchase as easy as possible for ourselves, we have to concentrate on delivering the exact purchasing experience each individual client wants.

That’s a tall order. It means getting out of our comfort zone. It means taking on more work for ourselves. It means really getting to know our client’s wants and expectations rather than assuming we know what they are.

You earn referrals by

giving each client what they want,

not what you think they should want

To do this you have to talk to your client. You have to ask them to clarify exactly what they want to happen during the course of the sale. That is, you have to find out what their expectations are because meeting those expectations is how you earn their referrals.

This idea of asking clients to define their own purchasing experience is not only a foreign concept for many salespeople and business owners, it’s a foreign concept for most clients. More than likely, you’ll be asking a question that they have never been asked before. That alone begins to set their purchasing experience with you apart from any other they’ve had.

But more important than beginning to differentiate yourself from any other salesperson they’ve dealt with, by specifically asking them to design their own purchasing experience you:

1. Establish objective criteria for them to decide if you’ve earned the referrals

2. You have the opportunity to address any unrealistic expectations they may have right up front to insure those unrealistic expectations don’t become issues later

But how do you deal with existing clients that you didn’t have an opportunity to go through this process with during the sale? Naturally you can’t go back and recreate the purchase; but you can make sure that they are happy and satisfied with your performance and their decisions. If they are, you have a relationship that can be leveraged to help build your business.

If, however, you discover they have issues with either you or your product/service, you have some work to do before you can expect to successfully leverage the relationship. Rather than seeking referrals or an additional sale, your job is to mend fences, to put your relationship and the purchase back in order. You must correct your client’s issues before trying to leverage your relationship by:

• Discovering what the client’s issues are

• Asking point blank how you can make it right

• Either doing exactly what the client wants or if that isn’t possible, finding a resolution satisfactory to the client

• Implementing the resolution making sure that you know what your client expects to happen and that you do exactly that

Once you are completely satisfied that you’ve built the trust with your client and their purchasing experience meets their expectations, the third pillar comes into play–Your Client’s Relationship With The Referred Prospect

May 18, 2009

The Four Pillars of a Successful Referral, Part 1: Your Relationship to Your Client

Filed under: Client Relationships,marketing,Personal Marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 5:47 am
Tags: , , , , ,

What’s so tough about getting a referral from a client? Once you’ve met your customer’s needs, all you have to do is ask them if they know of anyone who might be able to use your products or services. You then go back to your office and call the person you were referred to and set up a meeting. Couldn’t be easier, right?

That’s the core of traditional referral training.

Almost every seller knows it just doesn’t work very well. In fact, it works so poorly that vast numbers of have just quit trying to generate referrals.

The problem isn’t with the concept of generating referrals. The problem is that most trainers have simply accepted the traditional referral ‘training’ and simply regurgitate the pap they were taught about referrals.

For the 47 million-dollar-a-year-income sales superstars who generate the majority of their business from referrals, referral generation isn’t a weak question at the end of the sales process, but is rather a disciplined process that begins from the moment they meet a new prospect and continues throughout the relationship with their client.

Generating a large number of high quality referrals requires that we recognize the foundational aspects on which a quality referral is based and how we might be able to control these aspects. Over the next four posts we’ll take a close look at the four basic foundational pillars of generating a quality referral.

Pillar 1: Your Relationship to Your Client

Conventional wisdom from sales trainers is that clients “love to give referrals; they want to help; all you have to do is ask.”

What bull! Although there is a small contingent of clients
who love to give referrals, most clients HATE to give referrals.

Clients believe that whomever they refer you to will be more demanding and more critical than they have been and they fear they will be embarrassed because the prospect they refer you to will have a bad purchasing experience and will be unhappy with your performance or your product or service.

Clients will only give referrals–that is, real, quality referrals–once you have established a relationship with them that:

• Demonstrates you are honest and trustworthy

• Demonstrates you will do what you say you will do

• Gives them reason to BELIEVE that you will live up to the expectations and demands of those they refer you to

Your relationship with your client must be one built on their EXPERIENCE of your trustworthiness and honesty.

Not your claims.

Not your promises.

Not your intentions.

Referrals are EARNED, not given.

To overcome your client’s natural resistance to give referrals, they must KNOW you will not only not embarrass them in front of the people the refer you to, but that you will HONOR them by giving their friends, colleagues, and associates SUPERIOR service that is based in HONESTY and INTEGRITY.

Honesty extends to how you generate referrals. Many clients don’t appreciate being cornered at the end of the sale with an unexpected and uncomfortable request for referrals. Not only does that last second request annoy the client, even for those few clients who want to give referrals it makes it difficult for them to give a quality referral since it doesn’t give them time to think about whom to refer, not to mention it doesn’t define for them who a quality referral is. Letting your client know early in the relationship that your business is referral based and that once the sales process has been completed you’ll be working with the client to acquire high quality referrals.

Every salesperson promises honesty. All claim superior service. Most intend to be trustworthy. Every client has heard the promises and the claims. They may even believe the intent is there. But they have had few relationships with salespeople where the promises, claims and intent have come to fruition.

You only get quality referrals when your client trusts you with them and that trust is earned by your deeds, not your words. If you don’t back up what you say, don’t be surprised when your client is uncomfortable giving referrals. The good news is this pillar isn’t dictated by chance since you have total control over your honesty, truthfulness, and actions, almost guarantying your client’s trust.

Next Post: Part 2: Your Client’s Purchasing Experience

January 23, 2009

It’s Not Your Client’s Responsibility to do Your Job

Filed under: business,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 12:38 pm
Tags: , , , ,

Most salespeople want referrals.  Almost all sales trainers preach the need to generate ‘em, usually by saying something like, “all of my clients give me four or five great referrals to their friends and family, while I’m filling out the paperwork, just write down the names and phone numbers of four or five people who might need my services,” or, “by the way, do you know of anyone else who might need my service?”

Most salespeople learn very quickly that these approaches don’t work well.  Sure, a salesperson might get an occasional name and phone number, but usually they aren’t much better than taking out the phonebook and pointing at names at random.

There are several reasons these approaches don’t really work such as not defining for the client what a good referral is, not giving the client time to get comfortable with the idea of giving referrals, and not giving the client a reason why they should give referrals.  In order to get a large number of high quality referrals, you must address and overcome each of these issues. 

But one of the major reasons clients don’t give lots of quality referrals is that they don’t know whom to refer.  They just don’t know enough about your business to give you really good referrals.  They really don’t know what you’re looking for-even after you define whom a quality referral is.  Besides, they have enough to think about, they don’t need to be doing your job for you.  It isn’t their responsibility-it’s yours.

Does that mean you can’t get great referrals?

No, not at all.

It does mean, however, that you can’t rely on your client doing your job. 

So, how do you get referrals from clients without them having to do the work?  Simple.  You do some investigation to figure out whom your client knows that you know you want to be referred to. 

OK, it isn’t simple.  It takes work on your part-detective work.  But it’s your business, not theirs.  You have to take responsibility for building your business, not pass it off to your clients.

Being a referral detective means you have to listen to your client.  You have to ask the right questions.  You have to observe his or her surroundings.  You have to be alert to discover who you have reason to believe they know that you know would be a good prospect for you.

Most often you’ll uncover referral opportunities through casual conversations with your client and observing their office or home surroundings. 

A few examples:

  • If you’re speaking with the VP of Finance for XYZ Company, during your rapport building, casually asking them whom they worked for prior to joining XYZ will reveal a potential referral. 
  • If your client is purchasing a car, asking who’s next in their family to purchase a vehicle may reveal a referral
  • If your client has a plaque from the local chamber of commerce for his work as one of last year’s directors, whom in the chamber do you know you’d like to be referred to?
  • If your client is a purchasing agent for ABC Company, what companies do they purchase from that you’d like to be referred to? 

Instead of asking your client a general question that he or she may easily answer in the  negative, ask your client if they would refer you to the person or company you’ve uncovered from your detective work.  If you’ve done a great job and you’ve uncovered someone they know, they will refer you.

Then, take it one step further.  Instead of just getting a name and phone number, get a real referral-a direct introduction to the referred prospect.

Yes, this isn’t as easy as asking the typical ‘referral’ question; but are you looking to build your business or just slide through doing as little as possible? If you’re serious about building your business, take responsibility for its success and do the work for your client.  You’ll get a lot more referrals-and a lot better referrals-for your effort.

November 22, 2008

The Four Pillars of a Successful Referral

Filed under: Client Relationships,marketing,Personal Marketing,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 6:27 am
Tags: , , , , ,

At first glance, a referral is a pretty simple thing.  For most salespeople, managers, and trainers, a referral is just a name and phone number that a client has given the salesperson once the salesperson has completed the sale and has done a good job for the client.

Once a salesperson has received a referral, contacting the referred party is just as simple.  The salesperson either will call the referred party mentioning to him or her that the client, which they know, referred the salesperson to them, or will ask the client to write a referral letter to the prospect and then the salesperson will call the prospect after they have received the letter.  A very simple, straightforward process.

Unfortunately, this process is totally and completely wrong, and has been proven by millions of salespeople to not work worth a darn. Nevertheless, this is what is taught in almost every sales course in the world.  And not only is it a waste of time and effort, it deceives the salespeople who don’t succeed with it into believing that the fault lies with them, not with a “system” that doesn’t work.

Generating a large number of high quality referrals requires far more than “doing a good job and asking for referrals.”  It requires a systematic process of planting referral seeds, watering them at every chance, weeding out problems and issues, and then reaping the rewards.  That is what my PWWR (pronounced Power) Referral Generation System does.

If you want to generate a large number of high quality referrals from your clients, you must understand what a referral is based on.

A Referral is Based on a Foundation with Four Pillars-and you can control 3 of them:

The relationship between you and your client:  you can control this pillar of the foundation.  By instituting the full client relationship building process in detailed in Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), you can create a strong relationship with your client built on mutual trust.  Clients don’t give referrals because they like you or even because you did a good job.  Clients hate to give referrals and unless they have a deep trust that you will not embarrass them and that you’ll deal honestly with the prospect they refer, they won’t be willing to give quality referrals.

Your client’s purchasing experience: you can control this pillar of the foundation.  You must discover exactly what your client’s expectations and priorities are, then meet-, and hopefully exceed them.  You cannot afford to guess or “think” you know what these are-you must know exactly and you can only do that by discussing them with your client and then making sure you meet them or exceed them-nothing less will do.

The relationship between your client and the prospect: you have no control over this pillar.  Clients will refer you to people they have very strong, positive relationships with and people they have very negative relationships with.  If the prospect trusts and respects our client, some that trust and respect will be automatically imbued to you.  On the other hand, if the prospect distrusts or doesn’t respect your client, some of that distrust or disrespect will also be imbued to you.  Your job is to find out exactly what the relationship between client and prospect is and then plan you approach accordingly.

Your initial contact with the prospect: you control this pillar also.  If you have built your relationship with the client properly, your client will be happy to contact the prospect in whatever method you desire.  As outlined in Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income, there are a number of methods of contacting clients, each with their own pros and cons, depending on the strength or weakness of the client/prospect relationship.

As seen above, you have control of the majority of the pillars upon which a referral is based.  If any of the above is weak, your likelihood of generating quality referrals will decline and the weakness must be made up elsewhere.  In actuality, if one of the first two segments is weak, you will not be getting quality referrals-period.  However, you can mitigate the affects of the last two.

If the relationship between client and prospect is weak, use a stronger contact method.  Moreover, if the contact method is weak, convert the method into a stronger one.  For example, if your contact method is a phone call to a prospect who has a weak relationship with your client, try to bring in one or two other clients the prospect may know by reputation to build additional credibility.  Better yet, try to arrange a conference call between the prospect and your client.

Generating a large number of quality sales isn’t done by chance or luck, and neither is generating a large number of high quality referrals. Just as you need a well thought out process to consistently sell, you need a well thought out process to generate quality referrals.   You can significantly increase the volume and the success of your referrals if you understand the dynamics that generate quality referrals and then control those dynamics.

October 24, 2008

Why Clients Resist Giving Quality Referrals

Filed under: marketing,prospecting,Referral Selling,sales,selling,small business — Paul McCord @ 8:43 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Virtually every advisor has been taught that generating referrals from clients and prospects are the way to success, but less than 15% of all advisors generate enough referrals to significantly impact their business.  Most of the time, the problems advisors have generating referrals is due to the training-or lack thereof–they have received, rather than with the their performance.  The traditional referral selling training has been to “do a good job and ask for referrals.”  Yet, it has been obvious for decades that it really does not work very well.  Using the traditional approach, the typical advisor will get an occasional name and phone number or two from their clients, but seldom do these names and phone numbers result in a sale.  Certainly, on occasion, these referrals become clients, but the close ratio tends to be quite poor.

The failure to generate a large number of high quality referrals actually lies in the traditional method’s approach to the client.  The traditional “do a good job and ask for referrals” approach creates several roadblocks to getting referrals.

First, by waiting until the sale is complete and then asking for referrals, your client has not had the opportunity to prepare for your request.  To the client, the request comes from out of the blue.  When you approach your client with your request without giving them an opportunity to think about it, you have put them on the spot.  You are only giving them a few seconds to go through their mental file cabinet.  More than likely in this situation, they will not be able to immediately produce the number or the quality of referrals you want.

Second, even if your client takes a few seconds to think about it, they really do not know what you want.  It may seem obvious to you, but your client really has not a clue what a good referral for you is.  This may seem a little difficult to accept, but it is true.  You assume that because you sell a whole array of financial products and services, your customer is immediately going to think, “Who do I know who needs or uses any type of financial advice, guidance or products?”  Wrong assumption.  What they actually think is “what does this person want from me?”  Or, more likely, “how can I get out of answering this?”  Without having defined for your client exactly what a quality referral for you is, you stand a very little chance of getting quality referrals.

Third, the traditional method of “do a good job and ask for referrals” does not give your client a reason to give you referrals.  We make the assumption that if we have done a good job, the client will like and respect us and be willing to give us referrals.  Again, this is far from the case.  Most clients will not give good, quality referrals just because they like you or because you have done a good job for them.  You must give them a reason to give you referrals.  They need to understand why it is in their best interest to give you referrals-and after the sale is complete, it is too late to try to explain how giving you referrals benefits them.  Clients assume that whomever they refer you to will be more demanding and critical they have been.  When a client gives a referral, they are putting their reputation and image on the line with the person to whom they are referring you.  They are concerned about what their friend or acquaintance is going to think of them, particularly if you mess up.  Consequently, you must give them a good reason why they should go out on the limb for you.

Fourth, the traditional referral generation method does not give the client an objective standard by which to measure the quality of your performance.  You and your client may “feel” you have done a good job, but when you ask for referrals, they begin to think back over the sales process more critically and question whether you have really performed up to standard.  If the two of you agree up-front on exactly what you need to do in order to “do a good job,” they will have an objective basis to decide if they trust you enough and if you have earned the right to be sent to the people they really know and respect.

And finally, although not a direct result of the traditional referral generation method, an equally serious issue is studies show that the majority of the times advisors do not really ask for referrals-rather they suggest referrals.  Instead of asking a direct question seeking referrals such as “John, which of your friends, family members or acquaintances do you know that I may be able help solve some crucial issues?” the typical advisor will make a weak request such as “John, if you happen to know someone I can help would you mind letting me know?”  Or, “John, if you run across someone who could use my services would mind giving them my card?”  Rather than a request for referrals, these are throwaway sentences, quickly forgotten by most clients.

Traditional referral training is inherently unfair to you, the advisor, and your client.  It does not give the you the tools needed to successfully work with your client to generate quality referrals, and it does not give your client a reason give referrals, nor a chance to become comfortable giving you referrals.

Yet, it is possible to generate a very large number of high quality referrals from your clients.  You need to make sure that your interaction with your client eliminates these shortcomings.  Preparing your client during the sales process to give referrals by informing them up-front that you are a referral-based advisor and expect referrals after the sale; defining for your client exactly what a quality referral for you is; educating your client on why it is in their best interest to give you referrals; and then coming to an agreement with your client on exactly what you must do during the course of the sale to earn their referrals will quickly give you a large pipeline of quality referrals. 

By recognizing and resolving the problems of the traditional referral generation method, you can turn these issues into your strengths, generating a large number of high quality referrals from almost every one of your clients and prospects.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Theme: Rubric. Blog at WordPress.com.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,396 other followers