A special introducti
on to Jonathan Farrington & Associates: leading-edge sales team development is here.
My brilliant colleague, Jonathan Farrington, chimes in on the power of referral selling. He’s resides thousands of miles from me—in London and Paris, but a continent and an ocean cannot deny the truth: referrals rock and cold calls…don’t.
Here’s a note from Jonathan. Read on:
“Is referral selling all it’s cracked up to be?” This is a question I have been asked on numerous occasions, and the answer is always the same: In a word, “Yes.” In five words, “Yes, of course it is!”
And then I usually add a few facts to the conversation, to substantiate my point…
- 85% of all sales people do not generate enough quality referrals.
- Salespeople who actively seek and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than sales people who don’t.
- Referral business closes and converts more than 70% of the time.
Why is referral based selling so powerful? A referred customer is already pre-sold on the credibility of the salesperson, their company and the relevance of the products/services sold. These types of opportunities are much warmer than a cold call-based opportunity because it maximizes the goodwill, inherent in the relationship between the referred customer and the referring person. By association, salespeople are consequently perceived in a different light compared to those that have made contact ‘out of the blue.’ Sound obvious?
The costs of selling to a referred customer are reduced because they are easier to meet with and are likely to be reasonably well-qualified so that the probability for converting the business is much higher.
Finally, generally speaking, referred prospects will accelerate through the sales pipeline at a much faster rate than other types of opportunities and they will also be more receptive towards providing future referrals.
No brainer?
Leading Sales Expertise, Global Presence
At Jonathan Farrington & Associates, we are building our business based on referrals – it is the way I have always worked. We also want to assist our clients in this important area too, which is why we are delighted that Joanne Black – widely recognized as the leading expert in the world on the subject – has joined our Board of Associates.
JFA is a genuinely global consulting company, delivering leading-edge sales team development solutions to all six continents, via a team of top sales experts and a network of global partners.
“Total Solution” and “Uniqueness” have probably been the most overused and overstated commercial expressions of the last 50 years, but we believe we are able to demonstrate both. Our primary objective from Day One, has been to redefine the parameters governing organizational growth and work with our clients to develop commercial excellence.
About Jonathan Farrington
Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and more than 90,000 frontline salespeople and sales leaders towards optimum performance levels.
As well as acting as the Senior Partner for JFA, he is Chairman of The JF Corporation and CEO of Top Sales Associates, based in London & Paris.
