Sales Information |
Referrals: Getting Good Business By Doing Good Business
Whether you're a conventional sales person, a professional - such as a dentist or lawyer or doctor - or a business owner, you've got to have clients to stay in business. There are several ways to do this: either continue to find new customers, keep all of the customers you've ever had, get old clients to return, or get customers to send in referrals. In this essay, we'll focus on getting old clients to come back and referrals. How do you get them? How do you ask for them? How do people choose to come back? How can you get people back when they don't want to come back? I recently did a keynote at a Dentist's Conference. The dentists were very uncomfortable asking for business, assuming that if they gave great care, had good patient relations, and had a wonderful office, the patients would know they were supposed to come back. Except 50% or more didn't return. I suggested the following action: call the patient and say: "Hi Mr. Jones. Dr. Smith here. I just realized that the last time we saw you was 8 months ago. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about coming back for additional care? I'd love to take care of your dental hygiene with you, and wonder what you'd need to see from me to feel comfortable coming back for follow up?" USING FACILITATIVE QUESTIONS TO KEEP CLIENTS ACTIVE Facilitative Questions like this will help clients who have bought your product at least once to decide to come back again. But, how do you get folks to bring in their friends, short of asking them point blank: "Would you refer your friends for me please?" Obviously, whether or not to use you, or choose your product, is a decision the person or company has to make. How do they choose to go out of their way to tell their friends or colleagues about you? Here are some ideas: If you own a company, your product and your service will bias further business opportunities. Get to know how customers perceive your product and service (and the service is even more important than the product). In some way connect and ask if you've given them what they deserve, and ask what they need to consider in order to recommend that their friends to do business with you: * send a questionnaire; * call the client to make sure they are happy; * send an email; * offer a gift - 10% off next purchase, etc. Whatever it is, make sure it's easy for them to administer. There have been many gifts I've been offered if I make a referral but the gift is too difficult to get to - either it's technology that I have a difficult time downloading, or something I have to send away for. Too hard. REFERRALS THROUGH FACILITATION The other thing you can do is use a Facilitative Question that helps the client - or patient - decide to take an action: "I hope you enjoyed the support/product/care you got from us. I'm also hoping that we made you happy enough to tell your friends about us, so that maybe we can offer your friends and colleagues the same level of care that we offered you. What would you need to see from me to know we could support folks you know, and make it comfortable for you to refer us?" For some reason, we all assume that if we do good work, we'll be referred. But sometimes, people just plain forget. And sometimes, we've left something undone that makes it difficult to fix because we don't know we've done anything. People who come back on their own return because you're giving them what they want in a way that they want it. If they don't like what they got from you, they won't come back - and, most likely won't offer you the reason unless you ask specifically (most people either don't want to bother when they've gotten back service, or would be willing to tell you if you specifically asked). I was doing some phone coaching with a long-standing client once. I listened while he had a delightful conversation with an old client whom he hadn't done business with for a while. They spoke about social things - their vacations, their families, their jobs. It was obvious that no business was mentioned: it was, in his terms, a 'relationship call'. I wrote a Facilitative Question down on the paper in front of him, and my client - as per arrangement - repeated it to his client: "I've noticed that your patterns went from giving us regular orders to giving us no business at all. What has stopped you from doing business with us recently?" The client gave a surprising answer: "Last time we did business, you left us with an implementation problem that you didn't fix. We asked you 3 times to come back in and fix it, and you claimed it wasn't your problem, but that we had created the problem internally. So we hired a consultant who fixed the problem for us and it cost us $8,000. After that we had to take your name off of our preferred vendor list and we aren't allowed to use you again. But since I've always liked you, I've been willing to have these social conversations with you." My client went white. He was stuck - his client had tried to discuss the problem, and the response was inadequate. Asking him for more business, or a referral, was not appropriate. For those of you who are curious, we did solve the problem by using a Facilitative Question and an apology: "My goodness! What a mess I left you in. I'm so, so sorry and sad, and we deserve not to do business with you anymore. And I'm angry with myself that I didn't even ask until now. What would you need to see from me to be willing to let us to make it up to you somehow? I would like to get to the point in which we could find a way to work together again, if that would ever be possible, but certainly not until you are in a position to trust us again. How can I go forward now in order to right that wrong?" THE EGO PROBLEM The biggest problem with asking for referrals is our egos. We want to be able to say, "Look at ME! Did I give you a great product/service, or WHAT? Don't you think you should have your buddies give me some business now?" But of course we can't do that. So we follow the business route: send out questionnaires, get evaluations, offer promos. But I'm a big believer in calling clients specifically to request referrals, and to use that time to get some unexpected feedback on how you're really doing. Here are a couple of questions you might ask clients: * "How did you experience our overall service? How could it have been improved?" * "What would you have needed to see from me/us to be willing to pass on our names to others?" By using Facilitative Questions, you can not only help your clients decide how to refer you, but help them decide how to help you be even better than you already are. We can always be better, but we need our clients to tell us how. Sharon Drew Morgen is the author of NYTimes Best seller Selling with Integrity. She speaks, teaches and consults globally around her elegant, doable sales model, Buying Facilitation. http://www.newsalesparadigm.com http://www.sharondrewmorgen.com 512-457-0246
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Why Cold Calling Is Dead Our world of selling is closed off from other areas of business that continue to adopt and embrace new, efficient ideas. I was reminded of this recently while re-reading Seth Godin's "Permission Marketing. Dont Let Rattlesnakes Scare You Recently I was out trail running along the South Fork of the Yuba River. The Yuba River is in a beautiful canyon running east-west through the middle of Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Expert Qualities in Sales If you went to see your doctor, and he mentioned a particular over the counter drug to you, or a particular type of food that was healthy, chances are, you would listen to this advice, than go out and buy the product.Why is it that when a doctor recommends a product, people buy it without any hesitation, without talking it over with their spouse, and without asking any questions. Create A Killer Product by Writing Your Sales Letter First! You may not realize this, but when if you are in the early planning stages of developing a product, the best thing you can do is STOP and write the sales letter first! "But wait a minute (you might be thinking).. Selling - Trade Shows Vs. Regular Sales Calls Remember those school exercises that started "Compare and contrast.. Business Lessons Learned At The Mall Normally in this column I dispense highly-intelligent small business advice in response to thought-provoking questions submitted by future and fellow entrepreneurs. This week, however, I have a couple of questions for myself, one of which makes me wonder how truly intelligent I really am. Two Mistakes That Will Cost You Money You've met a new prospect, accurately assessed their needs and determined that you can provide the product and service she is looking for. You've presented your information in an engaging manner and the prospective customer appears interested. An Ideal Selling Situation The largest sale that I ever closed was negotiated over hot dogs and a soft drink at a refreshment stand, just off the exhibit floor, at a Superintendent of School Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I met an educator who was interested in the summer study abroad programs that I was selling at the show. Do You Want to Know the 8 Tips to Selling More Products? So often sales men and woman are the very people that prevent themselves from obtaining additional sales and increasing their commissions. It doesn't matter if it's counter sales or door-to-door. Nothing Happens Until Someone Sells Somthing You can always tell a good salesperson, they are always on the look-out for opportunities to do exactly that. Every chance they get they'll promote whatever it is they offer. The Relationship Between Colour & Sales Make no mistake that emotions are the driving force behind sales, and customers making buying decisions can be influenced through visual elements towards a particular behaviour or emotion that will encourage more sales.Not convinced? Have you noticed that a lot of restaurants are decorated in/heavily feature reds and/or oranges? Still not convinced?Pizza HutFrankie & BennysBurger KingLittle ChefTGI FridayBella Pasta (one of the few to focus on Orange rather than red)These major players understand the psychology behind colour and its relationship to marketing which dictates that red and orange specifically encourage restaurant patrons to eat faster; thus yes you guessed it - increasing sales within the same period of time. Selling Strategy - 5 Ways To Success Web sites exist for essentially two purposes. The first isto provide information. Lessons Learned At Gunpoint "If you do anything foolish or try to get out of the car we will shoot you" were the terse words which hung in the air like a bad smell.The small car was being driven at over 120 KPH down the dark roads and highways. Improve Your Sales Closing Ratio Occasionally EGOPOWER readers send me questions or topic suggestions that I feel would be of interest to you. In this issue I give some tips to improve your sales closing ratio in response to a question Rob Smith wrote me from the UK: "I sell IT equipment to schools in the UK over the phone. Stop Screwing Up Your Sales Letter "Sales Letter".. Your Profit is in Your Follow-up: A System for Increased Sales Conversion No matter what you sell--products, services, or causes--one of the key ingredients to your success will be the attention you give your sales lead follow-up system.Notice that I used the word system to describe your follow-up program. The Biggest Mistake In Selling! Some trainers and sales managers teach that there are prospects that just need a little more time in the decision-making process. They explain that a decision-maker's stall is not always a put off and they just need to think a bit more about their decision, or that they have to sell the idea to someone else. How To Sell Your Products or Services on Value And Stop Selling On Price Alone Have you ever met with, or talked to a prospect that wasn't ready to buy what you had to offer? What did you do with that prospects? Most sales gurus of the 1980's and 90's wrote books that told you to move on to the next prospect who is ready to buy now, and not waste your time on those that aren't ready yet.Here's the wrong assumption to make in that situation. Your Proposal Was Rejected... But Why? When a request for proposal (RFP) comes in, you get excited! It's a chance to earn income, develop more business contacts, and expand your client base. You work your little heart out in order to be thorough, compelling, and professional. Leave a Better Voice Mail Message Yesterday I received a call from a financial planner named Richard doing a cold call. My policy is to always return those calls which help me to understand why I would personally benefit from doing business with a sales person. |
home | site map | contact us |