You’re Leaving Money on the Table

Are you getting new clients the easy way or the hard way?

If you’re not asking your current clients to be part of your sales team, you’re leaving money on the table – every single day. If you ask them, they’ll be happy to refer you. But, you have to ask.

It’s All Who You Know

Most of my clients have numerous current or former customers who would be pleased to offer referrals. I’m not talking about the number of companies, but all the people they know in those companies.

The best part is they know many of these people pretty well, well enough to be getting a steady stream of referrals.

If you’re a good sales professional, you probably have at least 100 people on your contact list. If only 20 percent offered you referrals, you’d have 20 new contacts to satisfy. Once you did, and you actively cultivated them, they’d become your “sales team.” Can you see where this could lead, and how much business that could generate?

How many of your clients have you asked for referrals? When I ask this question of sales professionals, the usual answer is “not many” or “hardly any.”

Your Clients Will Help You Make the Sale

Here’s the hard fact -most clients think of us only when they need us. It’s up to you to get them thinking about you between orders. Your clients are not going to automatically offer referrals; you must constantly remind them that you exist, so when a referral opportunity arises, you’re the one who gets it.

The clients you serve well-the ones who know you, like you, and trust you-truly want you to achieve sales success. After all, they know what you do and they’ve received measurable business results from your solutions. Referring you will make them look good to their customers and business partners.

It’s time to ask.

Tags: business development, referral, referral network, relationships, sales

Filed under: Back in the Black Blog Posts, Get the Meeting