Over the past several weeks, we’ve been dealing with the building of a relationship with a potential referrer, one who is going to want to bring you referrals because of the trust and benefits of the relationship you have built with him.  At this point in the relationship development, it is time for you to begin a dialogue with him that will serve one of two things – to steer him into the final phase of actually beginning to deliver a referral or to learn where the relationship needs more development to bring you and your referrer to the spot where your goal of getting referrals will be realized.

Let’s start the process.

• In your conversations with your potential referrer, ask him how happy he is with what the two of you have been doing/building together…in other words, how comfortable is he with where the two of you are.
• When the client responds that, yes, he is happy; it is time to share with him your business philosophy.  i.e., “Let me share with you our business philosophy. I spend 80% of my time servicing clients, and 20% of my time developing a client base. In order to maintain that service level, I work by recommendation only.”  Then you can move him a little closer into that referral ring by asking him something like, “Based on your experience, would you be comfortable recommending our program to others?”
• You’ve now developed a fork in the road which will determine how you proceed from here.  If the client responds in the negative, you need to determine what the reason is that is driving the client’s hesitation.  Before you can move on, you need to discover and resolve any issues or misunderstanding.  This is not the point in time when you should push the issue.  Understand the hesitation, work to resolve it, and move toward gaining his acceptance and permission.

When you get to the point of receiving an affirmative answer to the question (in bullet above), it is time to move forward and to move your client inward.  Consider creating a scenario like the following:

“Bill, have you ever been to a party and you saw someone and you recognize them but can’t remember their name?” Wait for a response. “Then 2 weeks later you’re walking down the street and out of nowhere you remember their name. This is what I find happens when people decide to recommend others, at that moment they cannot think of anyone. So I have designed a game to access your data bank. Would you like to play?”

From here, you will move into the data mining operation of his contact list.  And, in the blog next week, we will steer you though the rest of the process.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Let’s return to those steps in building a relationship.  Where we left off last week was the first one…Profile and Qualify.

Once you have done your up-front work – the consideration of developing a new referral relationship, you should move on to the second phase:  Assess Priorities and Problems. Make it a practice to find out what potential referrers see in their future. If they have goals and problems, you can likely benefit them and win their support. If they do have goals, you can provide information, introductions, direct help, and many other resources. Your best referrers will have a vision of success that will motivate them to seek your help. Make it a habit to discover goals and problems.  When you do, you will find ways in which you can be a benefit to them which will build that platform of trust and friendship from which you will ultimately be able to launch yourself into becoming the recipient of benefits from the trust you have built.

But, now, you must move to Step 3, thinking about where your relationship with your potential referrer is at the moment.  It’s time to Determine any Problems.  You need to ask yourself, “What’s in it for the potential Referrer?” remembering that you need them to sell themselves on the idea of referring.  In the garden of referrals, you are supplying your contact with the seed of an idea (wanting to refer to you) so that they can come up with the idea of planting that seed themselves and watching it grow.  In other words, you are letting them come up with the idea of helping you in this way.  Make him feel like he wants to do something for you because of the trust he feels in the relationship you are building.

Now you have passed from the Twilight Zone of referrals into real world where the two of you are now beginning to work together because your prospective referrer wants to and because he is beginning, as are you, to see the benefit in continuing with you in building a partnership.  Now it’s time to sit down with your new partner and move forward.  Draw a line in the sand. Agree on target dates for getting together to work on referrals.  Let them notice you writing them into your calendar and mention dates for follow-ups.

Watch for hesitation or backsliding at this point.  You may need to adjust his benefits…or even adjust what it is you are asking of your referrer.  They need to continue buying the benefits and, if they don’t, you may have to tweak the entrance to the path down which you need him to move.  Maintain a good relationship with the referrer…it is just as important, if not more so, as keeping customers.

In the next blog, we’ll begin the review process of what we have learned and, perhaps, even explore ways to improve or strengthen what we have learned.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Let’s begin this week with a look at building relationships through referrals.  Since this referral strategy building is all about relationships, you should pause and ask yourself the following four questions:

1. How will the referrer and the prospects they refer benefit? How will you benefit?

2. How much time might your referrer give you; what do you want them to do?

3. Do you foresee roadblocks? If so, how can they be prevented or solved?

4. Is this the way you typically think going to move you forward?

Considering these questions and the first round of answers, you might already see that building relationships through referral requires some forethought, some planning, and, most likely, some creative thinking.  In other words, in order to be successful with referrals as a means of gleaning new business, you are going to have to create a referral strategy.

Your referral strategy will include more than just one step.  Following are 10 suggested steps for developing that strong referral relationship:

1. Research to find the problems and priorities of the referrer. Find his/her ability to refer and desire in referring.
2. Brainstorm to find out what’s in it for them.
3. Whether or not they become clients, you never want to embarrass referring associates.
4. Set the stage by inspiring referrers through referral stories, client benefit stories, rewards program.
5. Give your referrer a gift, do them a favor, help with a problem, or refer them.
6. Be able to describe in detail your ideal prospect.
7. Prepare and make requests to refer.
8. Set up a return and report system.
9. Follow-up to move the referral process along.
10. Do the unexpected extras to build the relationship and to develop a comfort in referring.

It is possible to incorporate many of those suggested steps into your personal referral strategy.  Here’s how it might begin for you:

Profile and Qualify. Just like you profile and qualify prospects, you can and should profile and qualify referrers. To profile referrers, you might target specific professions, membership organizations, years in business, and willingness to bring opportunities like yours to others. When you consider developing a new referral relationship that may require your time and reciprocal referrals, qualify your referrer. Determine the contacts they have, whether they have influence, whether they will be accessible to maintain contact with you, and whether they have needs you can meet.

Take this week to review and consider what has been proposed here.  Think about different ways you might handle different situations – different sources of referrals.  Next week, we’ll move on from Profile and Qualify to several more important process steps that you will use to become an expert in gleaning referrals.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Last week we spent a few paragraphs in an overview of the differences between Referral Tactics and Referral Strategies.  While both of these means of generating new clients – and new business – work for you, there are definite benefits from either/both of these methods that deserve a closer look.  Following is a listing of each of those tactics for you to compare:

Referral Tactic

• Elicits a simple action such as giving a name
• Targets potential referrals as a general group
• Action-oriented
• Reflex action, done quickly
• Is usually added to the end of another meeting to create a limited referral opportunity
• Used routinely in selling, servicing, and social situations – no qualification
• Seeks personal benefits only
• Does not consider obstacles
• Used to get referrals
• Consists of one action — most often a script to ask for referrals that can sound somewhat “canned”
• Can create a sales orientation and risk your relationships

Referral Strategy

• Elicits a series of actions to find and introduce prospects effectively
• Targets one specific referrer at a time
• Results-oriented
• Requires creative thinking and is accomplished over time
• Defines a challenging referral opportunity that has its own schedule of events
• Used for top referral opportunities only
• Seeks on-going benefits for the referrer and the prospects they refer in addition to personal benefits
• Focuses on preventing obstacles and solving problems that do occur
• Used to develop referral relationships
• Consists of developing a structure for gathering referrals
  May include several actions including research, qualifying, brain storming benefits, providing benefits, planting seeds, preparing materials, meetings, scripting communication (as determined by the plan), follow-up, etc.
• Designed to enhance your relationships and create a quality orientation

Clearly, there is a major difference in the goals, processes, and results of each of those methods of gleaning new clients through referrals.  With Referral Tactics, you find yourself in a situation where you can begin a process that is, in its own way, similar to a cold call.  But, if you look at Referral Strategies, you will find that the process is more about building a relationship that will bring both you and the prospect benefits.  The key thing is to remember that relationships built over time are built on trust and acceptance.  These kinds of relationships are the ones that bring overall the best, most long lasting and most beneficial results in any sales situation.

Next week, we’ll discuss the steps you take in creating a Strategy in creating a strong referral relationship.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This week, let’s take a look at cold calls a little more closely and in the process, let’s also look at other ways of gleaning new clients.  When you read what follows, you’ll find that cold calls are only part of the process.

Pre-call Planning

Let’s not confuse pre-call planning with Paralysis by Analysis.  I see all too many times salespeople cherry pick, review files, do research, review prospects’ web sites, try to figure out what to say to get to the decision makers and generally waste a tremendous amount of time getting ready to get ready.

Let’s make one thing very clear:  THE ONLY REASON YOU SHOULD BE COLD CALLING IS BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH REFERRALS!

Take a look at the hierarchy of prospecting efforts and which ones produce the most fruit.

Cold Calls – They don’t know you and you don’t know them. You got their name off a list, ad advertisement, a flyer, or some other lead source. In general if you made 100 cold calls you might get 1-5% to turn into sales.

Leads – are like bananas…the older they are the faster they rot!  Leads are defined as a prospect that you might know something about but they don’t know you and are not expecting your call.  You may have a tip that they are in the market for your ‘stuff’. But they do not know you or your company.  History shows that if you made 100 attempts to develop business relationships with your leads, you might be lucky and take 10-25% to the bank.

Referrals – They know of you and you know of them and they are in the market for your stuff and they are primed and ready to take your call.  These referrals are one of the best places to work.  All of our surveys show that referrals have about a 50-75% chance of turning into business.

Introductions – The king of prospecting!  Introductions are the same as referrals except the referral is executed face to face. Work with our clients tells us that introductions generally have a 75% or better chance of turning into business.

So, what’s the bottom line?  You need cold calls to get some new clients, but you cannot depend on them alone.  You can use your new … and your older clients to give you leads that they might know through their networking and trade associations.  Then, of course, there are referrals from your existing customers AND from the contacts you have made through your networking and attending trade association meetings.  And, finally, there is the old Introduction!  Whether you walk up and introduce yourself or have an associate introduce you, you will have a great chance of turning that introduction into business.

Next blog, we’ll spend some time on improving your self presentation skills and with some networking techniques that are sure to improve your bottom line!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Getting yourself into the habit of making those prospecting calls today and every day.  Not putting them off until later is the key.  Now let’s take a look at the next two steps of successful prospecting In the last blog, we discussed the first step of prospecting…Do it and do it some more!  .  Let’s talk about beyond picking up the phone.

In prospecting, Attitude is 90% of everything!  Your results from those prospecting calls will be in a direct relationship to your attitude.  Don’t fall into the trap of waiting for your attitude to improve before you begin making those calls.  Attitude affects behaviors and behaviors affect attitude.  If your prospective client gets even a hint that you are in a hurry or being needy – if your client thinks you are being superior or challenging, you can bet your bottom sales dollar that you have just turned him off on the sale.  Be a listener, be helpful, make suggestions that he can turn around to believe they were his ideas.  The trick here is to come across as the potential solution, not as one of those pesky sales people that call every time he is in the middle of something important.  Remember that along the road to sales success, there needs to be a relationship between you and the client…and it is up to you to come across as the kind of person with whom your client would wish to have a relationship.

Going hand in hand with that relationship building is what we like to call the never let them see you coming approach!  Again with the attitude!  A lot of salespeople will leave messages, send e-mails and continually come up with excuses that are disguised as efforts they classify incorrectly as “prospecting”. You might think, “I’ll send some mail before I call, if they are interested they will call back. I’ve sent several e-mails and left messages but they haven’t called back yet.” Attitude counts here. Your goal is contact not activity. Statistics tell us that to reach a decision maker it takes on average 5-7 attempts. Never leave a message until you made 7 attempts. Try calling at different times of the day, on different days of the week, ask the gatekeeper for more info, but never leave a typical sales message. If you look like a salesperson, act like a salesperson, and sound like a salesperson, then you be treated like a salesperson!  Try to remember that, while you are a salesperson, you need to come across in both your messages and emails in a manner that says, “Oh, it’s Charlie!  I would like to talk to him about thus and so.”  There’s two important points in there:  Oh, it’s Charlie – he’s happy to hear from you, and I’d like to talk to him – he thinks he has a reason to want to call you back! Your attitude in your messages has set a positive stage for his attitude and you chances of him returning your calls will go up like a rocket!

It’s all about relationship building!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Over the past three weeks, we have talked about how appearing needy to your client can derail you sales.  Remember?  Maintain an even keel, don’t appear to be in a rush, make your messages short and concise, listen, and take notes.  Now let’s take a look at perhaps one of the most difficult phases of all sales work – Sales Prospecting.

Prospecting is the LIFE BLOOD OF SALES and often, the most dreaded and feared activity in sales.  Take a day off from prospecting and you get two days off next month, and they will not be very lucrative.

The problem with prospecting for most of us is that it just does not lie within our comfort zones.  Actually, most of us dread that wretched prospecting!  And, when we dread something, well, that’s about the best excuse there is for putting it off.  But, when you put it off for a couple of hours, those hours quickly turn into days and, before you know it, prospecting for new business has been pushed to the back burner, perhaps even off the stove entirely.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to address the problems with prospecting and give you some fresh – perhaps non-traditional – ways to address prospecting, ideas that will make that dreaded activity much easier to face … and overcome.

Let’s start with the top ten sales prospecting rules, kind of like breaking all this stuff down into a step program!  They are:

1. Prospecting – do it and do it some more.
2. Attitude is 90% of everything
3. Never let them see you coming
4. Give the prospect a reason to get back to you
5. Keep the right focus
6. Schedule prospecting time … and stick to it.
7. Prospect on a daily basis
8. Set traps for yourself
9. Use different strategies
10. Get your clients to do your prospecting for you.

Step one:  Do it and do it some more!  It is too easy to just put this crucial first step of Prospecting off.  When we really don’t want to do something or when we really would rather be doing something else, our mind set is not right.  The thing we are really doing is letting our subconscious rule our conscious behaviors.  Set a goal of making two prospecting calls today before lunch and make them.  No matter what the outcome, you can be pleased with the effort.  You have begun to overcome the fear, dread, whatever you call it, that is connected to making those prospecting calls.  And you have made the first step in a journey of self discovery and improvement that will lead you to find the gold that really lies in them thar hills!

Next blog, we’ll deal with steps two and three…but don’t wait for the blog to show up here.  Start working on making those prospecting calls right away.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

When we mail messages with critical information or too much information before a meeting, it communicates to your client that you are desperate for the meeting…I’m sending this in case we don’t meet this week and I’m in a rush for you to have this.

We’re doing the same thing when we call and leave a phone message.  And it is something we don’t stop to consider before we start speaking.  In fact, we often do that one thing we dislike the most about our own received messages.  We make it too long and try to get too much information into that minute or two we have to say what we have to say!

What we are doing, often without even thinking about it, is appearing needy to our clients.  And, when you appear needy, you begin the process where they want to push you back from taking the control of your business relationship…the decision making control…from them and transferring it to you.

Think about it for a moment.  I know you’ve received messages like what we’re talking about!  And you know the kind of message we mean – the message that communicates that you’re desperate for the meeting or to talk with them.  Perhaps you start out with a greeting that contains detailed information about your title or situation, your schedule for the day or for the week.  You really don’t have to impress the client with how busy you think you are.  You’re probably no busier than your client, but you are conveying your own sense of importance which he or she needs to recognize and get back to you before they do anything else.  The last thing you want to impress upon them is your conception of how fortunate they will be to fit into YOUR schedule!  This, my friend, is totally counterproductive.

Think back through several of the messages you’ve received in the past week or so.  Which ones demonstrated a sense of confidence?  What was it, specifically, that message contained (or didn’t contain) that gave you that impression?  What is it you could do in your message to exude that same confidence without being egocentric to the point of pushing them away?

Keep your messages and your e-mails short, succinct, and open ended.  Remember, you only have two or three lines of text or 8-10 seconds to grab and keep their attention.  After the first 15 seconds or first paragraph, you have come across as being needy and they have begun to lose interest.

Follow the KISS principle.  It works!  And your business image will be the better for it!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In the last blog, we talked about how talking too much and listening too little can derail your sales by making you appear too needy to your client.  This is the third in a series of how different traits of appearing needy can kill a deal even before you start.  Even if you have wiped your expectations slate clean before you meet with your client, if you successfully hold back the trait of talking too much, you can still find yourself in the same boat – appearing needy by demonstrating your excitement…in need of making this sale!  Perhaps you don’t realize how very needy to make this sale you can appear just by the “normal” trait of demonstrating your enthusiasm for your product or service!

Have you not yourself been in a situation where the salesperson’s excitement and enthusiasm makes you wonder just why he or she is trying so desperately to unload a particular item on you?  Haven’t you ever thought to yourself that he’s just too darn eager and begun to wonder what exactly is wrong with whatever you’re looking at – what hidden problems is he not telling you about?

Yeah, you’re a salesperson too and you can recognize several traits in this guy as he speaks to you about the product.  You notice that his voice has gone up in pitch, perhaps in volume as well.  You notice his body language that is telling you that he’s just a little too much in a hurry.  And that ties right into his presentation which seems just a tad rushed to you.  And, as a potential buyer, you find yourself reacting to those signals by sensing his excitement and stepping back just a bit (both physically and emotionally), looking for just a little more time to think this thing through and to try to satisfy those little red flags that you find popping up.  You are slowly moving into a protection mode which, to this salesperson, probably spells doom to this sale he seems to be trying so desperately to make.

Yeah, you’re a salesperson (and probably think you’re a pretty good one, too) and it is fairly easy for you to recognize all the signs of being needy to make a sale that this salesman is displaying through his excitement.  So…what do your clients think of you?  Do you, through your unintentional display of excitement and emotional attachment to and pride in your product come across to him and this salesperson’s came across to you?

In sales, you need to always maintain an even keel in how you make your presentation.  In times of inner turmoil, slow down and lower your voice. Work at being lower and slower with your voice.  Don’t tell your client in these often overlooked ways that you are overly anxious to make this sale now.  Instead, let him be the one to get excited and move towards closing the deal, but with your calm and assured guidance!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In the last blog, we talked about how setting expectations can derail your sales by making you appear too needy to your client.  This is the second in a series of how different traits of appearing needy can kill a deal even before you start.  Even if you have wiped your expectations slate clean before you meet with your client, if you carry the trait of talking too much, you can find yourself in the same boat – appearing needy…in need of making this sale!  There’s no bigger turn-off for most people than the proverbial used car salesman approach – bombard the client with so much information that he feels overwhelmed and backs off.

Unfortunately, perhaps, when we call on a client, we all have the same reason to be there, to make a sale.  Whether it’s a product or a service, we still have the objective of convincing the client to separate himself from some of his money.  He knows this, too.  So we’ve wiped clean the expectations slate as best we can, and we show up at the appointed time, talk a bit with the client (relationship building) and find that we have just what the customer is indicating that he needs.  And we know our product!  So the next step is to start the spiel, perhaps with a demonstration or power point display.  And, in the process, we begin to expound on the virtues of what it is we have to offer.  Now we have entered upon dangerous ground!

We know our product!  We know how we can help the client meet his need.  We may even think we know his needs better than he does.  And we begin to demonstrate that by expounding on the virtues of the product and the benefit he’ll realize by going with us instead of the competition.  In the process, our self need of feeling important in this deal begins to lead us down the wrong path.  That need to show off – to be the most important and or knowledgeable one in the room begins to come through in what we are saying, or in even more subtle ways, how we are saying it.  This is not the time to exhibit – in any way – that we want to be liked – that we want to appear smart or important.  This is the time to let the client carry most of the conversation.  You’ll have a better chance of closing the deal if you steer the client into carrying the conversation while you actively listen to what he is saying and actively try to sense what it is he is actually feeling.  Be sharp, be available, be aware, and, above all, be effective and professional.  Work to direct your talking to providing answers and solutions to the client’s situation without flooding him with a verbal flood of your product information and vast experience.  In short, be professional.  Do not appear needy.  If you keep your expectation slate clean and your talking like a stream and not a raging river, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting to the other side of making a deal, arm-in-arm with a happy client.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites