How do you treat long-time customers when the economy is this challenging? Are you tightening the rules to manage costs or are you more liberal in your policies?
I went to a business that I had purchased from for many years but not over the last year. They greeted me warmly as if I had just talked with them yesterday, with no hint of criticism or complaint in their voice.
Later that day, I went to another business that I also frequent often. They know me well enough to recommend new products they think I’d like. And they know I’ve referred other customers to them. I was 90 minutes late in returning an item I had rented and they wanted to charge me another full day. It’s their policy and it’s posted. When I asked for leniency, the owner’s reply was, “It’s our policy and you need to pay.”
The next day I received a rather large bill. I had made a mistake in understanding the rules so the bill was correct if unwelcome. When I asked the Accounts Payable person for some flexibility, I was flatly turned down. When I asked to speak to the owner, I was told that he refused to discuss these issues with anyone. “Even customers who’ve purchased from him for 20 years?” I asked. The answer was, “Yes.”
The economy is going to get better. I will spend more money. I will continue to make referrals to my vendors. Which vendor mentioned above will continue getting my business and my referrals?
What’s really interesting is discussed in Paul’s 3rd pillar. He says, “Your referred prospect will view YOU the same way they view your Client– Good, Bad, or Indifferent” I absolutely agree. Inquisix’s data on the quality of a reputation given shows that the better the relationship between the the person giving the referral and their referred colleague, the better the referral experience. The first hint of a bad referral is how the referral is handled, which is Paul’s 4th Pillar.
So the primary reputation factor in a good referral is not between the person asking and the person giving the referral. Rather, it’s between the person giving the referral and their referred colleague.
Pillars 3 and 4 are why Inquisix allows members to rate each side of the referral via reputation points. If you give a referral, that member will rate you on the quality of the referral given. If you get a referral, that member will rate you on how well you treated their trusted colleague. Your Inquisix reputation rating of giving and getting referrals then becomes the badge that all other members can use to validate your credentials.
Since I have that fancy letter “C” as the first letter in my title as Chief Sales Officer, I get quite a number of cold calls. Of course it just makes me cringe to be called by someone who hasn’t even spent a minute looking at our business and developing a message about their solution that I’d care about. But I do enjoy critiquing in my mind their pitch.
Some would like to rename cold calling. I recently heard it called “introductory calling” in an interview done on Barry Moltz’s talk radio show. I don’t know, seems analogous to putting lipstick on a pig.
Instead of just renaming the term, Nigel Edelshain of Sales 2.0 has written a 24-page ebook on turning cold calls into social calls. He reviews the new Sales 2.0 techniques and tools to “…help you with the three most critical factors: talking to the right people, establishing relationships and using changes in your buyer’s environment.”
You can download Nigel’s book for free here. Adding his blog to your RSS reader is also well worth it.
Tom Cafarella, Inquisix member, owner of accounting firm CMB Accounting and host of “Minding Your Money” on TV, interviewed Michael Kreppein of Inquisix recently. Tom and Michael spoke about the challenges facing small businesses, specifically how they can find new business.
I wrote about NetParty’s Business Networking event last August 2008. Well, they’re back and hosting a new party in Boston on Tuesday, March 24th. Their parties combine Business with Social Networking. First h0ur or so is business networking with just light music in the background. Then the social networking kicks off and the music gets turned up.
Will you attend? Get your free invite here by March 23rd.
Boston not local to you? They have other cities to choose from. Wonder what the party in Buenos Aires looks like?
Whether you’re a front-line sales rep hunting for new business, a consultant delivering solutions, or small business owner communicating with customers, board members and employees, it’s all about selling: selling to win new business or selling to retain customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace. So what’s the deal with the buzz around emerging Sales 2.0 solutions? Which approaches are best able to fill the pipeline? How can you integrate informal networking with the latest technologies?
This White Paper by Michael Kreppein, Inquisix’s Chief Sales Officer, explores the value of referral networking by using Inquisix to combine your in-person with your online networking.
Please download the White Paper in pdf format by clicking the link below.
I read just a great article today about 6 brothers who are all successful IT sales reps in the Boston area. You can read the full article at MassHighTech and it’s well worth the read. They said that the main reason for their success was the mentoring they all did amongst themselves over Sunday dinner. They did it themselves because they found that “…many companies put less emphasis on mentorship and training than they should.”
The brothers not only mentor each other but take pride in mentoring the new hires working for them.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all. As the end of 2008 rapidly approaches, the Inquisix team hopes you are all enjoying the holidays with your family and friends. If you’re thinking of prepping early for 2009, here’s some of our most popular articles from 2008.
Why would anyone take a salesperson seriously when their first communication – first! – offers a freebie of four hours of work? Let’s see, I don’t yet know what you do. That means I have to take my time to go to your website and figure it out. Then decide if I want four hours free.
If your fear of the economy is showing, maybe you need to take a step or two or nine back. If your product or service had value before the economy tanked, it still does. If you don’t believe that, you can bet that your prospects won’t. Good sales and marketing people know how to position their offering to meet the current needs of their audience. If you can’t figure out how to sell whatever the heck you offer in light of the current economic conditions, the last thing you want to do is give it away. If it ain’t worth anything to you, it’s worth less to me. And I don’t buy the little disclaimer at the end – if you try us out now, you may buy us later. If I don’t need you now, I won’t remember you later.
Instead of doing the email equivalent of cold-calling with a drop-your-shorts offer, how about asking clients who DO see your value and ask them for referrals?
An interesting post on EyesOnSales by Paul McCord got me thinking early this morning. He says to make sure you know how strong your referral is before contacting the prospect. Just because someone gave you a referral doesn’t mean that the prospect values that referral. Seems like common sense to find out what the relationship is and how strong it might be before acting on that referral.
But maybe it’s not common sense. Inquisix (as you all know!) maps the process of getting (and giving) referrals online. Just like a SFA system tracks a sale from lead to prospect to opportunity to close, Inquisix tracks referrals from search to ask to get to rate. Our data shows that the referrals with the best rating almost always have the best exchange of information at the ask and get stage. Why? Because at this stage in the referral exchange is where you are networking with another person to gain a referral from them. Thus, you are exchanging your bona-fides on why you deserve the referral and why they can deliver on the referral.
The best referrals provide you the opportunity to strengthen your reputation with not one but two parties – the person you’re asking the referral of and the person you’re getting the referral to. Makes sense to take the time to do it right!
