Over the years, many of the people I have trained were asked why they don’t ask for more referrals during a seminar, they will usually tell me that they feel they don’t do as well as they would like to with the referrals they get, so it’s not a priority to them. They’ll even go on to tell me that they appreciate that other salespeople do really well out of referrals, but they have not been able to even get results similar to them. It seems everyone else has got the message, but they have not. Referrals are only as hot as the client that gave them to you. As the client cools, so does your power of referrals.
Gulliver Giles, heads up the sales team for the Jay Abraham’s Asia Pacific office, says he can tell you first hand how quickly referrals can go cold. Most times, in his experience, they go cold faster than 72 hours, at times, even 48 hours can be too generous. In our conversation on the subject, Gulliver passionately stated, “It’s hard to think that a referral can become so hard to work just a few days after you receive it, but if you delay making contact the referred person forgets what the referrer told them, misunderstood it or tried to analyse things without having all the facts, and the contact is no longer a workable lead. I know I have to get to those referrals as a priority, even delaying contact with other urgent matters, if I’m to be successful.” Now that advice comes from a man that spends his day selling successful outcomes, then working hard on his clients to ensure their success as well. How do I know that. I’m one of his clients, and at every instance possible, Gulliver makes me feel special.
Your referrals or client recommendations, as wonderful and as powerful as they can be, are only as warm as the mind of the person gave them to you. In most cases, their value decreases if just left for as little as 72 to 96 hours. In other words, as little as 3 to 4 working days. Then every day after the salesperson has receive that really special gift of a HOT prospective contact, referrals lose their effect, yet I still speak to seasoned salespeople that tell me they can take weeks or more to work through their referrals. They wouldn’t take as long to work a lead, so why do they do it to a referral?
Just like every other spectrum of sales, some are able to understand the value of referrals and work them accordingly, while others tend to put little value on referrals and work them accordingly. In fact, it seems the better the salespersons ranking and income, the more avid a supported of this lead gathering process they become. And it’s a known fact that the best salespeople in any organization are the ones that sell more on fewer leads and are also generally the ones that have the highest conversion ratio.
Gulliver Giles, heads up the sales team for the Jay Abraham’s Asia Pacific office, says he can tell you first hand how quickly referrals can go cold. Most times, in his experience, they go cold faster than 72 hours, at times, even 48 hours can be too generous. In our conversation on the subject, Gulliver passionately stated, “It’s hard to think that a referral can become so hard to work just a few days after you receive it, but if you delay making contact the referred person forgets what the referrer told them, misunderstood it or tried to analyse things without having all the facts, and the contact is no longer a workable lead. I know I have to get to those referrals as a priority, even delaying contact with other urgent matters, if I’m to be successful.” Now that advice comes from a man that spends his day selling successful outcomes, then working hard on his clients to ensure their success as well. How do I know that. I’m one of his clients, and at every instance possible, Gulliver makes me feel special.
An alternative to the referral, is also what many refer to as the second best type of referral. It’s called a testimonial. This is a referral type that can stay warm for months, or at times, even years. A testimonial is simply a written alternative to a referral because the referrer has committed things in writing. The testimonial can have a similar effect to a verbally provided referral, because it no longer relies on the emotion of a “HOT” buyer to transfer the feeling but the emotion and expertise of the seller to TRANSFER THE FEELING. And an experienced salesperson will use the testimonial to it’s desired effect and help create a positive selling environment that will transfer into a sale.
Over the years, many of the people I have trained were asked why they don’t ask for more referrals during a seminar, they will usually tell me that they feel they don’t do as well as they would like to with the referrals they get, so it’s not a priority to them. They’ll even go on to tell me that they appreciate that other salespeople do really well out of referrals, but they have not been able to even get results similar to them. It seems everyone else has got the message, but they have not. Referrals are only as hot as the client that gave them to you. As the client cools, so does your power of referrals.
Just like every other spectrum of sales, some are able to understand the value of referrals and work them accordingly, while others tend to put little value on referrals and work them accordingly. In fact, it seems the better the salespersons ranking and income, the more avid a supported of this lead gathering process they become. And it’s a known fact that the best salespeople in any organization are the ones that sell more on fewer leads and are also generally the ones that have the highest conversion ratio.
Copyright Profit Maker (Aust) Pty Limited and Peter Collins, 2009, Sydney, Australia
Far too many sellers either don’t work referrals or worse still allow them to go cold through ignoranceReferrals have a limited life span