Of your most satisfied
customers of 2013, how many of those customers have you asked for a referral?
Most sales and business
people never ask for referrals. Those that do often ask when it’s too late -
and make a fatal mistake when asking for them (more on that later). Yet
referrals are just about the easiest, quickest and least expensive way of increasing sales and building
your business.
But you must
ask!
Most businesses never ask
for referrals – ever. Maybe this is because they think asking for a referral is
too close to ‘selling’. If you’re nervous about asking for a referral, remember
that people usually like to tell others about good things that have happened to
them, so why wouldn’t they want to share how great you are with their friends
or colleagues?
Secondly, if you’re good at
what you do, how sad would it be if you weren’t able to help more people and
businesses simply because you were shy about asking for referrals?
Ask early
Don’t wait until after
you’ve finished what you were hired for. On no account should you ask a few
weeks later either. In both situations ‘the moment’ has already passed. You may
indeed have done a brilliant job, but memories fade fast and it's likely you
won’t be as well thought of after a lapse of time.
The time to ask is as soon
as the customer is starting to get results. They will often be at their
happiest fairly early into your work with them. That’s the prime time to ask
for a referral. So pick a time when they are massively enthusiastic – and dive
in!
Asking for
referrals (the fatal error)
“Do you
know anyone who would be interested in having similar work done?”
What’s wrong with this
question? Well if you have been on any of my training courses you will already
be shouting out “It’s a closed question”!!!. Correct. You can only have
two answers to that question – yes, or no. And it’s more likely to be a no
because that’s the easier answer to give – you’ll have directed their brain
into shutdown mode.
So the question to ask
(ensuring you have excellent levels of rapport beforehand) is ...”Who else
do you know that would be interested in achieving the sort of results you’re
getting”. Although I changed the end of the question a little, the main
difference is the “who else” bit at the start. This takes the customer’s brain
down a whole different pathway. Instead of encouraging their brain to shut up
shop, you’ve opened up the ‘search’ facility in their mind and they will
therefore unconsciously search much more intently for a worthwhile answer. A
subtle but crucial change.
Get them to
introduce you
So it’s all gone swimmingly
so far. You’re doing a great job. You’ve asked the perfectly worded question –
and your customer has thought of someone who you could help. In a perfect world
they will contact your next potential customer initially. Ask them to do
that for you. It’s so much better if, when you contact the new customer,
they’re already expecting your call.
Offer a reward
If you can, why not thank
your customer with flowers, or maybe a bottle of bubbly, even just a thank you
card? That shows how much you appreciate their help – and might just nudge them
into introducing you to someone else!
So who can you ask in the
next few days?
Until next time.
Leigh
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