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Increase Small Business Sales – Stop Asking for Referrals

Written by: Cheryl A. Clausen

Article Overview: Why would I tell you to stop asking for referrals when every sales “trainer”, sales manager, or sales mentor you’ve ever met tells you to ask for referrals? Oddly enough many commonly held beliefs are based on myths rather than facts...

Increase Small Business Sales – Stop Asking for Referrals

Why would I tell you to stop asking for referrals when every sales "trainer", sales manager, or sales mentor you've ever met tells you to ask for referrals? Oddly enough many commonly held beliefs are based on myths rather than facts. When you follow that advice you get 3 negative results you don't want. However; if you'll follow my suggestion you'll get the referrals you want plus 3 very positive results. What you are told to do is to ask for referrals from clients that aren't even sure they like you or people who don't even know you. Is it any wonder if you behave like an ordinary sales person you can expect to get treated like one?

Acting like a typical salesperson guarantees the people you ask for referrals will get defensive. They don't want to give you the names of the people they like so you can go sell them. They don't want those people to have to endure a sales pitch. It makes them look bad and hurts their relationship.

If they thought they liked you up to this point they suddenly won't like you because you've damaged their trust in you. You've only come to know each other and now YOU want a favor. Now you want to act like every other sales person they've dealt with. Plus the favor you want is a favor they DO NOT want to give you.

Even when they knuckle under to your pressure and give you the referral that referral isn't a good referral. When you contact that referral it's like making a cold call. So, if you aren't good at cold calling you won't be good at converting these defensive strangers into appointments. It will be even harder to convert them into clients because they come to the appointment with one goal in mind. Their goal is to get rid of YOU.

Just because I suggest you stop asking for referrals does not mean I recommend you stop getting them. I just want you to stop approaching referrals the way you have up to this point.

There's an easier way to get referrals without asking for referrals. Rather than asking for a referral, ask your new client or the person you've just met if they can introduce you to someone they know that you don't that they've mentioned in the conversation. Asking for a referral triggers resistance, asking for an introduction doesn't.

In fact, most people are more than happy to introduce you to someone they know that you don't. This is especially easy when you arrange for the three of you to meet together. Then the person making the introduction can verify your behavior for themselves and feel good about the introduction. It's less awkward for everyone involved when all three of you meet at the same time. Plus the person you are getting the introduction to is much more willing to meet because the person they already know is there too.

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Article Tags: appointment, appointments, asking for referrals, cold call, cold calling, goal in mind, myths, referral, relationship, sales mentor, sales person, sales pitch, salesperson, suggestion



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