Check out the blog posts you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this quarter.
This month marks 29 years since I started my business, No More Cold Calling. Nearly three decades working with sales teams, consultants, and business owners to build what most leaders only dream about—a true Referral Culture.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
- Everyone hates cold calling. (That includes sellers and buyers.)
- Everyone loves getting referrals.
- But salespeople think referral selling doesn’t scale.
- Because no one has a system to get them at scale.
That’s the problem. Referrals aren’t random acts of kindness. They’re a business development strategy—and one that should be consistent, measurable, and owned across the organization.
Yet in 29 years, I’ve never met a company where everyone who interacts with a client during the buying experience knows how—and when—to ask for a referral.
That’s not just a missed opportunity.
That’s leaving revenue, relationships, and reputation on the table.
Referrals are your most powerful growth engine. But only if you build a system that earns them.
Ready to stop guessing and start growing?
Let’s build your Referral Culture—together.
In the meantime, check out what you might have missed from No More Cold Calling this quarter:
Referral Selling Is Your New Power Move
Most sales teams think they’re already doing referrals well. They aren’t. They’re confusing potential with process.
I often ask sales leaders three simple questions:
- How many referrals did your team generate last month?
- Who coached your reps on how to earn and ask for referrals?
- What percentage of your meetings came from referrals?
I’m met with the same uncomfortable pause. Silence. If you can’t answer these questions, you don’t have a referral strategy. You have wishful thinking wrapped in good intentions. Hoping isn’t a scalable system. Asking for referrals is an afterthought for most sales teams—and afterthoughts don’t scale either. (Read “Referral Selling Is Your New Power Move”)
From Hesitant to High-Impact: How to Ask for Referrals (Without Sounding Desperate)
You’re not a sales newbie. You’re a pro. You know how to build rapport, navigate objections, and close complex deals. What you might struggle with? Asking for referrals. Mid-career sales professionals often excel at consultative selling and uncovering pain points but freeze when it comes to initiating a conversation about client introductions.
I get it. Asking for referrals can be intimidating. You worry about sounding desperate or pushy—or worse, damaging the trust you’ve built. That hesitation is understandable, but it’s also unnecessary. When done well, referral requests don’t weaken relationships; they strengthen them. (Read “From Hesitant to High-Impact: How to Ask for Referrals—Without Sounding Desperate”)
Sales Technology That Doesn’t Work: Why Relationships Are Still Your Most Valuable Sales Pipeline
Digital communication only takes us so far. Even the best sales technology can’t replace the power of a real relationship. But it’s easy to forget that in the digital era. These days, salespeople are so glued to social media, CRM dashboards, and other sales enablement platforms that they forget to be social. In the rush to automate, we’ve amputated the very thing that makes sales work: human connection.
Sales technology can make us more productive, provide useful insights into our prospects, and shore up inefficiencies in our sales cycles. But sales tech works best when it plays a support role. In B2B sales, experienced sellers (and the relationships they build) are still the star of the show. (Read “Sales Technology That Doesn’t Work: Why Relationships Are Still Your Most Valuable Sales Pipeline”)
Drowning in Complexity: Why Sales Feels Harder Than Ever—and What to Do About It
You didn’t sign up to become a sales tech stack manager, a part-time data analyst, and a full-time firefighter. You signed up to sell. To help clients solve real problems. To drive revenue and growth. But somewhere along the way, the job changed.
For mid-career sales professionals—the ones with 10 or more years of experience under their belt—that change has felt like a slow boil. More tools. More admin. More sales performance pressure. Less clarity. Less support. Less time to actually sell. We’re past the point of frustration. Most sales pros have now reached sales overwhelm, which is closely followed by sales burnout. (Read “Drowning in Complexity: Why Sales Feels Harder Than Ever—and What to Do About It”)
