Claim 1: Social Media Has Changed Everything

Balderdash. Yes, we’ve got shiny new tools, and consumers can give more public, vocal feedback on your products and services. However, leads still need to be generated, sales need to be closed and invoices need to be sent; no business survives otherwise.

Furthermore, networking didn’t start with LinkedIn. Before there was social networking there was real-world networking. And you know what? It came with drinks and hors d’oeuvres, so it wasn’t all that bad.”  Read more…

It’s the sales mantra and referral drum I’ve been pounding for years. Sales are built on relationships. Our role as salespeople is to build relationships. Bottom line: People do business with people, not with technology. For more on building your business through relationships, read “How to Attract Sales Prospects in a Tech-Focused World.”

Let me know what you think.

The Great Cold Calling Approach

I recently received an email that provided tips on a great cold calling phone approach: write your script word-for-word, memorize it, practice, and master answers to common sales objections. Oh, and be upbeat and enthusiastic when we ask for the appointment.

Seriously? Empty promises for a no-win sales strategy. And, just plain stupid and a waste of your sales time.

Referrals: The Sales Approach that Works

Consider a sales strategy that works: Referrals. Think about it. When you receive a referral there’s no script, no interrupting people, no overcoming objections. The person knows you and expects your call. Plus you are pre-sold, you earn trust and credibility, shorten your sales process, gain a sales partner, and convert a sales prospect to a client more than 50 percent of the time.

Why would you waste your sales time cold calling?

Everyone Is a Part of Your Sales Team

If you don’t include your current clients in your referral-sales team, you leave money on the table—every single day. If you ask them, they will refer you. But, you must ask.

Get upfront and honest with yourself. Ask (and answer) the two most important sales prospecting questions:

1. How many client relationships do I have? (Translation: How many people do I know in all of my current and former client organizations?)
2. With how many of these clients do I have great relationships? (Criteria for “great”: They return my calls.)

Savvy sales professionals have at least 100 client contacts. If just 20 percent offered you referrals, you’d have 20 amazing new contacts. Once you actively cultivate them, they become part of your “sales team.” Can you see where this leads, and how much business you could generate?

Take a few minutes and imagine your new sales life when you talk to prospects who want to talk to you. When you receive a referral introduction, you:

• Are pre-sold (They know you and the results you deliver.)
• Have already earned trust (One of the hardest things for salespeople to gain.)
• Gain instant credibility (They know you’re not just there to “sell” them something.)
• Shorten your sales process by at least 25 percent (You decrease your cost of sales.)
• Convert that referred prospect to a new client more than 50 percent of the time (You decrease your prospecting time and increase your client-facing time.)

Really.

It’s Who You Know

Most salespeople have numerous current or former customers who they know pretty well, well enough to receive a steady stream of referrals. But they leave untapped referral riches at their fingertips.

How many of your clients have you asked for referrals? When I question 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 may not automatically offer referrals: Regularly 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 your work and the business results they’ve achieved from your solutions. Referring you makes them look good to their customers and business partners.

Our clients will refer us—if only we ask. With a little “instruction” you can empower your clients (your Referral Source) to refer you. Teach them how to introduce you (How do you want “what you do” to be described?). Teach them about your Ideal Client, and provide them with the answers to these critical questions:

• What business issues do you solve?
• What is the function of your Ideal Client? (CEO, VP, IT, Marketing)
• In what industry or geography do you work?
• What size company is your sweet spot?

The more specific you are, the easier it is for a client to refer you.

Referral selling sounds too good to be true. But it’s all true. Referral selling works. You choose how to spend your time. Get back in touch with your clients, ask them for referrals, and ask how you can help them. Your new sales opportunities will amaze you!

It’s time to ask.

You know who they are—the time-wasting, buy-nothing customers… By dumping them, you free up time to develop and care for the ones who really matter. Just do it.

The PITA Customer

You can see the warning signs a mile away: They push you on price, threaten to take their business to your competitors, make unreasonable demands, masquerade as the decision-maker, don’t return phone calls; yet expect fast, complete and reliable delivery of your service.

You know who they are: The “pain in the ass” (PITA) customers. Do you have a PITA client–or perhaps more than one?

PITA customers are never happy. They drain your energy, test your patience, and waste your time. They demoralize your entire sales team. Yet companies accept this bad business continually, thinking bad business must be better than no business. But is it?

Dump Hidden Costs

When organizations take on these bad customers, they pay a hidden cost–the lost opportunity to use those resources going after and servicing the phenomenal clients they want and need to make money! Collect too many PITA customers and watch your profits dwindle… not a compelling scenario.

Why accept business from a few customers who drive us crazy and drain our resources? Many salespeople say they sell to “anyone who fogs a mirror”–because of a looming quota, or because their company insists on certain deals. Many sales organizations create unrealistic expectations that they can turn a bad situation into a good one. Are you dreaming? Bad business is bad business. Period.

Dump the Junk

Targeting just “anyone” often means attracting more PITA customers. Never ask a PITA to refer you. Why? Because PITAs hang out with other PITAs. They belong to the same organizations, play golf together, and love telling stories about how they negotiated an unprecedented deal, or whipped a salesperson into shape. Your best sales decision: Fire the PITA. Don’t take them in the first place, and if you have one, recognize you have a PITA situation and fight back.

Yes, fight back–push back–whatever you call it. Don’t take their abuse. You deliver a service that boosts their business. If they push you on price, be willing to walk away. That really turns the tables.

To demonstrate this point, picture two people standing up with their arms out straight, pushing on and resisting each other’s hands. No one gets anyplace. It’s a stalemate. Now re-create the same picture: One person stops resisting. What happens? The other person moves toward the one who ceased resisting. The same thing happens when you’re willing to walk away. Sometimes you’ll walk, but many times the PITA comes to you.

Clean House

So Fire the PITA! We know them 90 percent of the time before we even begin to work with them. Say NO. It’s OK to walk away.

When you walk away, you have time to attract exactly the kind of clients you want, and watch your sales soar!

When I ask salespeople how I can help them with prospecting—who they’re looking for—they begin with “Anyone who…” “Anyone?” I’m confused. I don’t know who “anyone” is.

Every salesperson recognizes their Ideal Clients. You know who they are. Don’t you love it when you work with your Ideal Client? They value what you offer, communicate well, are forward thinking, reasonable, have a good sense of humor, and give you the time, money, and resources to make any project successful. Your task is to clone your Ideal Clients into more and more great sales.

When we work with our Ideal Client, our sales time collapses, productivity soars, deals are larger, and these clients refer us to other Ideal Clients.

Find Your Ideal Client

The best way to locate your Ideal Client is to ask your current clients to refer you. (Yes, you want someone just like them.) The second best way is to ask your network to refer you.  In either case, you must be specific. The more specifically you describe your Ideal Client, the easier it is for your Referral Source—current client or network—to think of and identify the perfect referral for you.

Think: Specific

Being specific is counter-intuitive. Many of my clients believe the wider the net they cast, the more clients they reel in. The exact opposite is true.

Think of yourself as a sketch artist: the more color, lines, and detail you present, the easier it becomes for others to envision, recognize, and identify your Ideal Client and refer them to you.

Think of a time when you looked at paintings in a museum. (With no judgment about modern vs. classic art or artist, I offer the following thought.) Perhaps you viewed, the “blue wall”—the modern painting, all one color, and mused about how you could paint the exact same thing. Perhaps you pondered what the “blue wall” meant. The artist’s “blue wall” is open to a wide and varied interpretation. Then, perhaps, you viewed a more specifically representative painting, a Rembrandt or a Vermeer. The artist’s intention was defined. You knew exactly what you were looking at, with very little interpretation. You identified people, what they were doing, and perhaps what they were feeling.

Art is often interpretive. In order for referrals to work, you need to do the interpreting for your Referral Source. You need to be specific, and to tell the story yourself.

Create the Profile

For some salespeople, being super-specific in describing their Ideal Client feels confining. It’s as if they’re leaving good business on the table. Sales pros often think that if you don’t mention everything you offer you’ll miss a sale. The opposite is true.

The more specifically you describe your Ideal Client, the easier it becomes to receive a perfect referral. As you consider your business-development strategies, review these categories:

• Industry: In what industries is your expertise? Where do you have a track record? In what vertical do you want to expand?
• Geography: Where is your ideal geography? (Regions within the United States, North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, or Africa, for example.)
• Company Size: What size company is the best fit for you sales offerings?
• Business Unit or Function: What group of people within the company are your ideal prospects-CEOs, CIOs, COOs, HR employees, or sales or marketing teams?
• Type of Person: Identify the personality traits of your Ideal Client.
• Situation/Need: What specific business problem do you address?

…you get the idea.

As an example, it’s too broad to say you want to meet VPs of Sales. In my case, I want to meet VPs of Sales with a technology company, software specifically, who have a re-seller channel, headquartered in Northern California, and hold sales meetings for their reseller partners. I can get even more granular if I stated the names of companies where I want an introduction.

Guess who I meet? You got it. Exactly those people. It’s not difficult to find my Ideal Client, and they know others just like themselves. Referrals to your Ideal Client are within your reach.

We get what we ask for, so ask for exactly what you want and get amazing referrals!

There’s nothing like getting the gang together. Salespeople have great combined power and energy when they gather in person and share successes, ideas and information. At conferences, they learn as much through conversations with peers in the hallways as in their sessions. But there’s no “hallway” on the World Wide Web.

Make the Live Connection

The digital world – as great as it is – threatens personal connections. Humans need face-to-face contact with others. Even with whisper-light computing power and immediate, 140-character Twitter posts, we are a face-to-face species, one that thrives on interpersonal communication and being in the presence of like-minded individuals working together to accomplish results. E-mail, texting, social networking – none of that takes the place of an in-person connection.

So if you want to get ahead in your career – and especially if you want to sell – put down the mouse and step away from the computer. Come out from behind the cloak of technology and learn to speak to people, whatever their language.

In an era when companies are canceling sales meetings because they believe webcasts and videoconferences are just as effective, they actually need to do the opposite – schedule more. Since the start of the recession, many companies have slashed business travel budgets by 20 to 40 percent, viewing it as expense rather than what it really is – an investment.  Face-to-face meetings aren’t luxuries. Even in our technology-driven world, nothing replaces a handshake and in-person interactions for both building and maintaining business relationships. In fact, 95 percent of business people agree they’re the key to building long-term relationships, according to a Harvard Business Review Reader Poll. And a 13-year study of American businesses by Oxford Economics (released last year) shows that for every dollar spent on business travel, organizations report around $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits.

Win the Numbers Game

Now more than ever, as businesses seek to operate more effectively and efficiently, they are depending on analytics in order to thrive and survive. Firms that recognize the relationship between business travel investments and increased sales, and then act on that knowledge, will see a big impact on the bottom lines.

One of my clients shared with me about a potential deal she was trying to work with a major prospect, but she couldn’t get the decision-makers on the phone. I strongly recommended that she schedule an in-person visit. Fast-forward two months. She not only met with potential buyers, but also got the opportunity to present to 60 people (who were notified the day before) and now has four strategic projects in the pipeline. She called me (elated) to say thank you. The personal visit, she said, sealed the deal.

Last summer I tacked a 60-mile drive onto the end of a vacation to meet with a prospect. That business-development visit resulted in two speaking engagements, which never would have occurred had I not taken the time to visit and build a new, mutually respectful relationship.

You don’t have to hop on an airplane. Drive your car; get on a bus; take a train. Just meet face-to-face with every major client and prospect. You will accelerate your sales process by at least 30 percent, spend less time prospecting (who wouldn’t want that?) and attract more quality clients.

Face-to-face contact will give you the edge over your competitors every time. You make the effort, you win.

Think about it: How have in-person, live connections impacted your sales business? Join the conversation, in the comments below.

Show Up

Woody Allen’s said: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Showing up counts. The more often you show up, the more visible you become, and the more people know you and recognize you.

Opportunities abound at the Holidays to meet new people at a very social and happy time of year. Invite someone you enjoy to go along with you—perhaps a new acquaintance or someone you haven’t seen in awhile. They make new connections, and you both win.

Many sales people refrain from actively networking. When I tell my clients that I expect them to attend at least one business networking event a week, they gasp. Am I asking them to do something so terrible?

We encounter so many people who network poorly. They shove business cards in our face and ask us to do referral marketing for them. They are loud and pushy and fail to understand that referral networking means connecting to people—one person at a time.

Get Involved

Consider networking an essential tool in building your Business Referral Network. The contacts you develop because you attend networking events emerge strong. You not only attend business networking gatherings, but you volunteer. Every organization needs and welcomes volunteers. Think about ways to contribute. Even if it is a small amount of time, you develop lasting relationships because others know your work, you deliver what you promise, and keep your time commitments.

Once you get to know people and they get to know you, you discover many opportunities to provide business referrals. Refer someone to a potential client, alliance partner, or to a person in a similar business. Give a personal referral—to an accountant, banker, or mechanic—a resource to help the other person. We become referral marketing sources for each other. How perfect!

One salesperson told me that she stopped going to certain networking groups because she didn’t receive any sales leads. She sounded desperate to me, and I bet she came across that way in her networking interactions. I told her if she relied on sales leads as a measure of networking success, she attended for the wrong reasons. Networking is building relationships and expanding our network of resources. Ultimately, we want to refer business back and forth. But that only happens when we take the time to get to know people. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Period. End of story.

Build Your Business Referral Network

Referral networking means building relationships and being genuine. You network to make friends, sell a product, promote your company, find a job, find new clients, learn the latest from others, or gain more visibility in the business community. Business networking opportunities exist everywhere—meetings, professional associations, alumni groups, sports groups, community groups, weddings, parties, and any place people come together.

Set a goal and attend at least one networking event per week, where you meet potential referral sources. In fact, my referral marketing strategy includes proactive networking. This is a non-negotiable. Attend a breakfast, lunch, or evening networking event—or all three. Get out of your familiar places. Go where you clients go, go and hear an exciting speaker, attend professional association meetings, ask your colleagues what events they attend. Just show up!

Want great networking tips? Learn from the Mingling Maven, the leading authority and original expert on how to work a room: Susan RoAne and get her latest book, FACE TO FACE: How to Reclaim the Personal Touch in a Digital World (check out page 50 for a mention of yours, truly.)

Three Networking Goals

Manage your networking goals. My three goals when I attend a business networking event:

1. Meet interesting people
2. Learn a tip from an engaging speaker
3. Have fun.

When I achieve at least two of these goals—and I make a point to do so—great things happen!

So go out there, build your Business Referral Network, meet terrific people, and watch your business soar!

“Ideas and guidance come from the most unexpected sources-if you’re open to receiving it. Anne Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox, once told Fortune magazine that the best advice she ever received was from a customer who attended a breakfast meeting she conducted. ‘When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed,’ the customer explained, ‘you gotta do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t go into the ditch again.’ ”

Get Out of the Ditch

“The pragmatic translation of this homespun advice: The first imperative is survival. Second is figuring out what happened. Then, learn from those lessons and put a plan in place to recognize the signs in the future so you never make the same mistake again.”

Understand the Ditch

The Economy is rebounding slowly. Will companies make the same mistakes again? We’ve ridden many economic waves-1987, 2001, now-and when things pick up, we quickly forget lessons learned and go back to the way we used to work, and we believe the economy-and our business-will continue to boom.

The National Bureau of Economic Research reported in December 2008 that the U.S. economic recession officially started in December 2007-that’s nearly 2 years ago. No one predicted then how deep a ditch the cow was in. And, our heads were in the same ditch as the cow.

However, some good news surfaced during this recession. People talked, they wanted to connect and exchange creative ideas. They challenged conventional thinking and adopted new ways of working. Continuing this exchange of ideas in a slowly growing economy is essential.

Alan Greenspan predicts economic growth will hit 3 percent or higher, but unemployment will continue to increase and will pass 10 percent. Greenspan told the ABC program “This Week” that he expected 3 percent growth in the third quarter, up from the 2.5 percent he previously predicted. A slowing or halt in job losses is different from reversing the rise in unemployment, Greenspan noted, adding that the nation’s unemployment rate-currently 9.8 percent-is “going to penetrate the 10 percent barrier before heading down.”

Economic pundits remind us that unemployment is a lagging indicator in an economic recovery. Uh, oh, the cow is still in the ditch.

“We are in a recovery, and I think it would be a mistake to say the September numbers alter that significantly,” Greenspan said, adding: “This is what a recovery looks like. … It’s premature to act on this type of information.”

Stay Out of the Ditch

So, what to do? I act exactly as I tell my clients to act:

1. Ramp up activity. Triple your activity-but not just any activity. Focus on the activity that produces results in the short and the long term. Talk to people-past clients, new clients, prospects, peers, and colleagues. Everyone wants to talk. We share information and insights about the economy, the valuable lessons we learn, and the smart strategies we then engage.
2. Show up. Attend networking events. How many? One a week, minimum. For me, I attend 2 or 3 a week. It’s energizing, I learn, and I develop new and exciting business relationships. Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Show up. Period.
3. Forge new alliances. Everyone works differently now because the business landscape continues to change and evolve. As business issues become more complex, the solutions become more complex. Companies partner with other companies to deliver relevant solutions. Sometimes, they even partner with competitors (see, “Deepen Your Client Relationships & Grow Your Business with an Unexpected Referral Partner“, April 2009).
4. Narrow your niche. Yes, this business strategy produces immediate results-anytime–but particularly in a challenging economy. Why? The generalist no longer counts. Companies hire experts. The client expects measurable results from the person he hires. The client keeps his job, the company grows, and everyone wins. The more granular, specific, and definitively you position your business expertise, the faster you obtain new, profitable business.

The cow makes its way out of the ditch slowly. We need to get out of our ditch quickly. Get out there, show up, talk to people, get creative, and become the expert. Position yourself for the rebound. But don’t get fooled. Don’t go back to the way you used to work. Use anything and everything to boost your sales and ensure that you and your clients never land in the ditch again.

No shovel needed.

The recession is old news. Get over it, already. It’s time to define your own business success with a proven, results-oriented sales methodology: referral selling.

I’m tired of recession talk. The National Bureau of Economic Research reported in December 2008 that the U.S. economic recession officially started in December 2007. That’s 19 months and counting…

It’s everywhere, everyday: Economic uncertainty, corporate reorganizations, layoffs, unemployment, large-industry bankruptcies, financial and credit industry crashes, foreclosures… Enough, already. I’m exhausted. And I’m tired of the malaise in sales:

• I have no leads
• No one will talk to me
• I can’t get a meeting with key decision makers
• No one’s buying…

… enough excuses. It’s time to stand up, take a deep breath, and construct your own business future.

Get a Move On

It’s time to move beyond paralysis, and take action. If you haven’t already shaken off the economic fear and loathing, now’s the time! Get moving with a solid, results-oriented business-development plan: Referral selling. Cold calling doesn’t work (it never does). Buying lists doesn’t work. Referral selling – and the tenets of a referral-selling strategy – help you get ahead, stay ahead, and ace out the competition in any economy.

Recently, a Selling Power Magazine survey asked salespeople their best strategy for this (down) economy. The top three (most popular) strategies were to:

• Make more calls
• Focus on better prospects
• Improve sales process

Shouldn’t we always be focused on these strategies? A smart referral-selling pro always has these sales tips in mind. You’re sales savvy. You’re resourceful. It’s time to get a move on.

3 Key Tips to Referral-Sales Success

Shake off the recession inertia with these No More Cold Calling tips. Referral selling is the only proven business-development strategy – in any economy. If you aren’t already onboard, start now, and get on the business end of sales success.

1.    Find a New Niche: This is not the time to do “everything.” No one wants a generalist. Decide on where your company is the expert, and the more granular you can be, the better. As an example, targeting insurance companies is too general-do you deliver the best value to employee benefits providers, financial advisors, senior market, life insurance sales? Technology is too broad-is your expertise in software, hardware, Internet, virtualization, storage, etc. And then go deeper. Define your niche by:

• Geography
• Type of buyer
• Global vs. local reach
• Channel vs. internal sales organization

You get the idea…

2.    Be Innovative: Unprecedented events demand unprecedented solutions. I don’t believe in the saying “Think Outside the Box.” There’s no “Box” anymore, and there hasn’t been for a long time.

• Get critical: Get rid of your “sacred cows.” Toss processes and strategies that aren’t driving revenue.
• Get fast: When the economy slows, the pace of your decision-making must speed up. You’ll never have all the facts, so go with what you know-now. Sharp, quick decisions.
• Get focused: If the U.S. founding fathers could lock themselves in a room during a sweltering Philadelphia summer in 1787 to write the Constitution in just a few weeks, we can make tough decisions and tough choices.

3.    Dazzle Your Current Customers: It’s just important as (if not more) to care for your current customers as it is to secure new ones.

• Get connected: Talk to your customers. Pick up the phone or schedule a face-to-face visit. Email is efficient, but it’s not personal. Find out how your customers are doing and explore specific strategies for helping them in their business. Customers are more willing than ever to think differently, and are open to new ideas.
• Get smart: Your current customers are your best source of new business-both within their own company and to refer you to other people they know. Don’t neglect them at the expense of new business.
• Get generous: Give something for free. Yes, free. Give your customers one of your services, training, or contacts. Now is the time to help. Period.

It’s time. Get focused, creative, and generous. You can succeed in sales in this – and any – economy. Your outlook and commitment to a referral-selling sales plan makes the difference in your success.

Are you tired of recession talk? Comment and let me know what you’re doing to boost your sales.

You’d be surprised at how often I hear, “My salespeople can’t close.”

I flinch when I hear sales executives tell me their salespeople can’t close, and that they want a training program about closing sales.

Save your money. It’s never about closing. Never. That’s the symptom. The problem is the neglect the salesperson showed to all the activities needed during earlier parts of the sales process. It’s like back pain. You can stretch and put heat on an aching back, but unless you treat the cause of the pain (the problem) – a pulled muscle or degenerating disc – you will still have back pain.

It begins with introductions. How did you meet your sales prospect? Were you introduced by a trusted source? Were you pre-sold? Or, did you meet the prospect at a trade show, through cold calling, or through a web or direct-mail inquiry? The close rate will vary dramatically based on how the client was originally sourced.

Referrals Are Leads That Close

If salespeople were introduced through a referral, the close rate will almost never be less than 50 percent, and typically it’s 70 percent or higher. Leads from other, less-direct sources have a 1 to 3 percent close rate. Traditionally, executives have not examined the source of leads as an important link to closing new business. Whether you are an individual business owner or part of a larger organization, examine how you source leads as the first step to increase your close rate.

Questioning Counts in Sales Success

Once the lead has been sourced, you can enhance the close rate of your sales by understanding what your client really needs. What clients think they need and what they really need are frequently very different. Clients are often too close to their business issues to step back and understand the true cause of their problem (which could even be themselves). Rather, they reach for the answer that’s the most visible – the symptom. Treating the symptom won’t solve the overall problem.

Many salespeople ask one or two questions and then assume that they have zeroed in on the client’s need and appropriate solution. This is rarely the case. These salespeople don’t take the time to really evaluate their situation and understand and define their significant problem or need. This is a sales strategy doomed to fail.

Thoughtful, provocative, and probing questioning has a huge impact on your close rate, as well as on the amount of your sales. When you do a great job of questioning and understanding the real problem, very often the scale of the project increases (more money), and the client gets a solution that will actually solve his problem and create demonstrable business results. Your client looks good, the company is successful, and you are poised for additional business.

Your Business Prospect Needs a Task

Never leave a meeting with a list of things for you to do and nothing for your prospective new client to do. Everyone needs an assignment. Without one, your client isn’t invested in the solution. You may ask him to provide you with materials to review, to conduct research, survey his internal team, or connect you with important internal resources. Whatever you decide is appropriate: Make sure your sales prospect has a task.

And, always, always, leave your meeting with another meeting scheduled. If your prospect is noncommittal, that should be a huge red flag that you have been too quick to jump to a proposed solution. You haven’t closed. Go back. It’s never about closing. It’s about a client-focused sales strategy.

P.S.

• If you hear “My salespeople can’t close,” it’s a symptom and not the cause of the problem.
• Check out the pre-call plan. Make sure it’s written, detailed, identifies the problems of your potential new clients, and presents clear objectives.