Most Sales people I meet tell me the same things. They believe that getting referrals is a good way to spread the word about your business. Yes, they have heard this from the Sales Industry before, from their Sales Managers, and even the Sales people they work with. I ask every salesperson I meet to tell me about the last four or five solid referrals they received.
Let me ask you this; just what are those referrals doing for those salespeople?
There are two main activities you can lay the foundation for next.
#1. If your Referral source gives you someone who is interested in your products or services, and asks for some information or a quote, how many times do you think they will go to a website to obtain that information?
This is a measuring stick for all referral sources. If you ask for their information, and they never provide it, politely let them go. Don’t waste their time, you don’t want them to raise any red flags.
#2. If your Referral source gives you someone who doesn’t maintain interest, the timeline of when they will get a chance to go to a website is set up. Within this time frame, the chances of them going to a website are also established.
Obviously, no time frame is set up for someone who is just surfing around, as it’s simply too late. No time frame is established for someone that is just casually interested in what you sell. The only true time to get someone’s attention is when they are not looking specifically at what you sell
So what you should have next is a “pre-interview”, which is basically an email message that is sent to your prospect. Yes, I’m talking about a “How can I help you”, or “What are you interested in” type of pre-interview. The rest is marketing information.
#1. I don’t care what any of your referral sources tells you about how you should prepare your pre-interview. Your pre-interview must be written all in one sitting. That is not possible. It must be written in a conversational tone, without a sales talk, and without a package.
#2. Your pre-interview package should be written as a package containing several paragraphs, cover letters, quotes, and information about your products or services. You need to let your potential prospect know where you are headed, what you plan to sell, and what they could do to get access to resources you have in your library.
#3. Access to them. Some of your potentialnew customerswill be existing customers, making it even more important that you get them to show up at your booth. In order to do that, you need to develop a system to get them to your booth, taking advantage of the fact that they are already interested in what you sell. Also take note that they are unfamiliar with the type of products or services you provide and may have been referred by someone on your team. Leverage this to your advantage.
#4. The only value you can provide your new customer is a Parks and subsequently your bottom line. You need to make sure that you have developed a “permission capital” so that other firms can disclose your clients to you. This is not something you are going to use right before you open your mouth for any introductions. Instead you need to let them on the set date, let them know why you are doing this, and then price your services.
Once you have done this one, and only this one, you truly think you are an expert, and know how to get more referrals.
If you are a small or medium business, if you are a start up, if you sell services or baked goods to the package retailer, if every industry on earth is advertising, and if I were you, knowing how to get more contacts is a critical expertise in your business.
