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Title: Building your Business with Referrals in 2006 and beyond,
Author: Fred Owens
Referrals, the actual gathering and harvesting is one of the most rewarding business building techniques around. Business have been training their sales staffs for years the right and wrong ways of going about building a flood of referrals...something that I hope to continue to help with in this article. One thing that I will also try to make clear is the huge mistake that many businesses make when they are collecting referrals, and what you can do for your organization to avoid the same mistakes
First, without being too elementary, what is a referral? Now, I am not going to quote Webster's here...as I am too grounded here on the real planet dealing with real live businesses to do that...so...what is a referral.
Well, a referral is an introduction from either a prospect or a current client to another individual. Regardless of whether this person who has been introduced to our business is in the market for our product or service...they are still a referral.
So, let's walk through this for a second...John...a new customer receives a thank you letter from Janet your ''top salesperson''. She thanks John for his business and goes on to explain how she gets paid in two ways. First, obviously through the commission that she was paid by selling the product or service to John, and Second...which is much more valuable...through the source of referrals.
John continues to read the ''thank you'' letter, and upon completion...the ''call to action'' is so compelling...that John actually gets out his rolodex and does exactly as Janet asks. Following Janet's steps...he send out a quick email to 5 of his buddies...telling them how wonderful Janet is and how they would benefit through a business relationship with Janet. (He copies Janet on these emails).
A couple days later Janet reviews the emails and commences calling these individuals. As she calls each one...she notices a common theme...none of the 4 that she has spoken to so far (out of the 5) are interested in her product or service. She commences to delete these people from her data base.
She then makes her 5th dial...ring ring...ring ring...Ted answers...and Janet goes into her ''pitch'', just as her sales manager taught her. She expresses to Ted that she is a professional at her craft...and outlines all of the benefits of dealing with her and her organization. Ted goes on to say that he just recently had the opportunity to buy exactly what Janet is selling...so he is no longer in the market.
Janet hangs up the phone...a little dejected...wishing that she had received a little better reception from John's referrals.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should...because as we do 100's of market surveys throughout the country...this is exactly what happens...over...and over...and over.
Let me suggest that there is a better way.
Listen, the first thing that we need to get through our heads is that we are building relationships with these referrals...and if we simply get that one concept through our head...we will be miles ahead of the competition.
What if we took this approach.
Ring ring...ring ring.... ''hello..this is Ted'', ''hi Ted...This is Janet over here at XYZ...I recently had the opportunity to do business with your good friend John...John didn't give me your number as someone who was in the market for the product or service that I have to offer, but rather just as someone that I should meet...get to know...and sometime down the road...if you should ever have a question about the product or service that I offer...you would have someone that you know that you could call. I was hoping that we could meet here at my office...perhaps over a coffee...to just outline some of what me and my organization can offer to the market...then...as I mentioned...if sometime down the road...you have a question that I could help you with...you would have some on the ''inside'' that could help you....regardless of whether you ever buy from me or not....sound fair enough.'' ''Could you come down to my office...say tomorrow at 3pm or 6pm (obviously paraphrased).''
''Well...to be honest with you Janet...I just bought the product and service that you are offering...so I don' think that I will be having too many questions in the future''. ''Ted, listen, if you told me that you were sitting around waiting for me to call...and couldn't wait to come down and meet me....I would literally fall out of my chair...I would be shocked. I realize that you will most likely never need my product or service, but the main reason that John introduced me to you was not so that I could sell you something, but rather so that we could meet...introduce each other...and perhaps down the road...if something ever presented itself...you would have someone to call...you wouldn't have an objection to that would you?''
By taking this low key approach, you are communicating a very strong message to the person that you were referred to...one that you are not desperate for business...and two that you are a true professional. These two reasons in and of themselves are more than enough to implement a solid referral program immediately.
You see...as you build these relationships...these individuals truly might not ever buy anything from you...but you can be sure as the sun will rise...that they will tell everyone they know about you...and about how professional you are. You will be blown away at how quickly you develop a data base of individuals that are out there hunting up business for you. Your own outsourced sales staff...all for the price of a cup of coffee.
We have managers from many markets, especially the auto market suggest that this strategy will not work for them...and all I can say is ''TRY IT''... you will be floored!
Some of the most successful dealerships in the country our implementing this process of gathering referrals...and they are all saying one thing... ''where the heck were you guys before''? Well...we were right here...minding our P's and Q's.
The last thing that I would like to outline in this particular article is the issue of turnover within an organization.
Perhaps you are an auto dealer, and you, as many of the dealerships in America have an issue with constant turnover of your sales staff. Well...might I suggest one thing...automation. Automation gives your dealership the opportunity to take over 100% of the referral gathering process...putting the dealership in charge of that database that is growing exponentially...rather than that salesperson that is leaving next week.
I contribute to a monthly newsletter where we discuss many of the same issues outlined above. I strongly recommend you subscribe if you are interested in many other strategies that work and grow your bottom line.
To subscribe to the newsletter simply visit www.breiterstrom.com and scan down the right column to the Newsletter Subscription area. I am sure that you will enjoy the newsletter.
Fred Owens
About the author:
Fred Owens is a sales specialist, training in all area of building a business through the art of successful selling. Learn many of his highly successful strategies through his monthly newsletter that he publishes with several of his colleagues at Breiter Strom, a highly successful Marketing Company located in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Visit www.breiterstrom.com to subscribe to the monthly newsletter now.
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