With 15+ years of sales experience, often working for small companies with no brand recognition or large marketing budgets, I’ve learned that a repeatable process for selling is a must. At the beginning of the sales cycle, giving and getting referrals is key to my business. Cold calling is a necessary evil in sales but it’s less and less effective every day with caller-id and spam filters.

Many sales reps want to GET referrals or will only GIVE a referral if they get one in return. But the most successful referral-based sales reps, business owners and rainmakers know that giving referrals without expectation of one in return is the best course of action in the long term.

My Karma Keys to a Referral-based Business are -

* It’s better to give then receive

Yes, this seems counterintuitive for a sales person but try to give referrals without the expectation you’ll get one in return. That doesn’t preclude you from remembering who behaves the same way you do and networking with them more than others.

* Give referrals to enhance your reputation

Don’t give referrals just as a favor to the person asking for one. Instead, give a referral to enhance your reputation and trust with your colleague that you are making the referral TO. (Often known as the Giver’s Gain theory)

* Get referrals from Customers, Vendors & Sales Colleagues

Don’t limit asking for referrals from customers as your vendors and sales colleagues often have great connections they’d be happy to introduce you to.

* Reputation Matters

No surprise but the better your reputation, the more likely you are to get referrals and be asked for referrals. If you say you can give a referral, make sure that you follow through with that warm introduction. If you get a referral, treat your colleague’s contact with the utmost respect.

To continue the theme of our March 2008 posting on Recession-Proof Selling, here are three more steps to accelerate your sales, retain your loyal customers and attract new business without increasing your cost of sales.

Steps 1-5 are here.

6. Stay Connected
Get out there. Attend at least one networking event a week. Even better—attend three. Talk to people, find out how you can help each other. Pick up the phone. Email is great, but you’ll get the best information and the most productive relationships when you have a person-to-person conversation.

7. Don’t Cut Price
Many pundits say that the worst thing we can do in a lagging economy is to cut price. Yes and No. Adjusting your price should never be the first thing you do. A marketing expert told me that 95 percent of salespeople cut price before they’re even asked. If you do adjust your price, always get something in return. (Trim fat, not muscle.) Carve out your work and offer smaller chunks. Get in and get started. Help your clients in a down economy and be there when their business turns around.

8. Commit to Building Your Referral Business
What if you could reach your market without hard costs—no marketing budget, no direct mail budget, no advertising budget, no trade show budget. The only budget you need to worry about is your “Time & Referrals” budget—simply your time…your time to ask for referrals!

You know about referrals. When a qualified prospect is referred, you get a new client a minimum of 50 percent of the time, and typically between 70 and 90 percent of the time. Additionally, you are pre-sold, your selling time decreases, you have credibility, and you ace out the competition. There is no other business-development process that can claim these results. Results are the only thing that matter.

Bottom line: Sell more with higher margins, accelerate your “win” ratio, and take business away from the competition.

Become a referral-selling star from your home or office with my No More Cold Calling Webinars.

I found a new blog called SalesPractice today because there’s a big debate going on there about the effectiveness of Cold Calling. The author’s argument is essentially

If you have nothing else to do, why not get on the phone? What are you scared of?

The author is trying to counter the argument of the sales reps who’d rather do anything but cold call. He argues that if there’s not enough warm leads for them, instead of waiting for the phone to ring, they should pick it up and start dialing!

He then relates the story of a sales rep who cold-called Toyota and got a million dollar sale from it. I can relate my own cold calling success story when I cold-called a man who’s name I read in a magazine. He agreed to meet and within 5 months of V1 product release, I had my own million dollar deal from a F500 account. So does cold calling work? Of course it can. But I made hundreds (no, it was thousands) of cold calls to land that deal.

With success in hand, I was able to leverage that “halo account” sale into new customers, new referrals and new partnerships. Did I stop cold calling? Not right away but as my other sources of leads became stronger and stronger, I was then able to reduce my reliance on cold calling.

I agree with the author’s argument that you have to start somewhere. And you can’t use the excuse of “…cold calling does not work…” if you are not leveraging other lead sources correctly.

But does this mean cold calling works like the author claims? Sure, like walking from Boston to San Francisco is a fast method of getting there!

Join Inquisix and fellow beta members for a night of networking!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 starting at 6pm

Our guest speaker is Rick Roberge, the great sales coach and mentor from Dave Kurlan and Associates, who will speak from experience on why giving referrals is so beneficial to his business….and yours.

This is an invitation-only event with limited space so please email me early for an invitation.

Location
Papa Razzi
2 Wall Street, Burlington, MA
781-229-0100

Schedule
6-6.30pm - Registration & Networking
6.30-7.30pm - Rick Roberge, Sales Coach
7.30pm-? - Networking, Inquisix Q&A

Appetizers & cash bar will be provided.

This is a great opportunity to meet fellow Inquisix members, learn about giving & getting referrals from a sales master and learn how to use Inquisix to its full advantage.

RSVP now - space is limited - email me for an invitation.