With the year winding down, most salespeople have the pedal to the metal to crush their sales targets & start building pipelines for 2022. For some, this looks like persistent cold-calling and follow-up emails on follow-up emails. If this sounds familiar – let me remind you of a magnificent tool called referrals.
I’ll admit, at first I was hesitant to ask clients for referrals because I felt it was asking for a favour. I quickly found out that not only is it a lot less daunting than it may seem, but most people are actually happy to provide a referral (bonus points if you can give them a referral back!).
Over the past few years, I’ve made a concerted effort to ask for referrals. Recently, I completed our yearly analysis & discovered that over 80% of our new business was sourced from referrals!
Still doubting the power of referrals? Here’s the facts:
- People are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend or colleague.
- 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral.
- 83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience – yet only 29% actually do.
- The lifetime value for new referral customers is 16% higher than non-referrals.
- 87% of frontline salespeople, 82% of sales leaders, and 78% of marketers surveyed agree that referrals are the best leads your business can get.
- 69% of B2B frontline salespeople, 70% of sales leaders, and 67% of marketers believe that referred leads close faster than other leads.
Source: REFERRALSAASQUATCH.COM
From the Buyer’s Perspective:
- 73% of B2B Buyers prefer to work with sales professionals who have been referred to them by someone they know.
- 76% of B2B executives prefer to work with vendors who have been recommended by someone they know.
- Having a personal connection with a Buyer (such as through peer recommendation/referrals) makes you 4.2 times more likely to get an appointment.
- B2B Buyers are 5 times more likely to engage when someone else introduces them to your company.
Source: referralrock.com
Ok, so you’re probably seeing the importance of referrals now, but what next?
Start developing your referral strategy!
Don’t waste your valuable referrals – keep in mind the following traits that sellers need to have, to get and keep a buyer’s attention:
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Healthy respect for their time; it’s valuable to them and should be to you
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Ability to lead meetings in an organized and concise manner
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Tenacity
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A genuine interest in building relationships with their clients
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Integrity
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The insights to ask thought-provoking questions that show understanding of the prospect’s business
Be strategic, be proactive, and be brave when asking for referrals to secure more new business & build a strong pipeline for 2022!
Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.