Referrals or Name Extraction?
I’ve attended many sales training programs and one of the topics that always comes up is asking for referrals. I once had a manager who prided himself on his expertise in building business by referral. Every week he would run us new guys through a drill which consisted of a number of questions: How many appointments did you have? How many people did you see? How many times did you ask for referrals? How many referrals did you get? There were some other questions such as, “How many note cards did you get signed?” But I won’t get into that right now. I used to call this the Sales Manager’s Name Extraction Program. It was less about getting referrals and more about getting names.
While the Name Extraction method may work, it is not much more fun than Cold Calling. Everyone feels a little uncomfortable and it certainly is NOT a relationship building exercise with your client or prospect.
In an article, Paula Frazier states that there are three main reasons people don’t get the quantity or quality of referrals they want:
1) They don’t ask.
2) They ask at the wrong time.
3) They ask the wrong people.
I’ll talk about number 3), Asking the wrong people, another time. Let’s talk about numbers 1) and 2).
Asking is important, but asking in the wrong way, asking at the wrong time, or asking the wrong people can lead to unsatisfying results. Before I ask for a referral I always ask myself if I deserve one. What have I done that will make the referral source feel good about introducing me to a trusted friend or colleague? Have I built credibility and trust? Build the relationship so that the idea of them referring you is a natural result, something they want to do. With many people, asking the for referrals before you’ve built a relationship is off-putting and can damage the relationship.
So when do you ask for referrals and how do you ask? What makes you feel like it’s the right time and that you deserve the trust and support of your referral source?
