Wayne Berry’s Top Gun Business Academy

I’ve been training sales people for 29 years now and I have had so many sales people come up to me during a break and tell me…”I’m really good at selling.  Just put me in front of a prospect and I’ll get the order.  But finding enough prospects to get in front of is my problem.  What advice can you give me?”

Well the answer is obvious isn’t it!

They need to prospect more.  

The problem is that many sales people simply don’t like prospecting.  And why don;t they like prospecting?  Fear of rejection!  And why do they get rejected?  

As a young sales person myself at around 18 I told my Sales Manager that so many of the people I approached said they weren’t interested.  He turned to me and asked me to role play with him.  After my attempt to get an appointment he said “I know what your problem is!  Has it ever occurred to you that what you are saying is NOT INTERESTING?”

Now that had never occurred to me, but he was right.  My approach and my words were not getting the response

“Wow, how can you help me!”

He taught me the words to use and how to make my approach calls and eventually I was getting a 50% conversion on calls to appointments.  Not bad for an 18 - 19 year old “wet behind the ears” sales person.  

It really is easy if you know what works and you use it. I’m not going to cover prospecting by telephone in this blog.  I’ll cover it in another one but if you want to know more now then click here

Instead I’ll like to share with you a much easier way to gaining appointments with qualified prospects.

It’s called Referral Prospecting

That’s right, one of the best sources of new prospects is from our existing customers and I believe that referrals are “THE GOLDEN CHAIN TO GREATER SALES SUCCESS AND ARE A REWARD FOR EXCELLENT SERVICE”.

So if you look after your customers they will refer new prospects to you.  But I don’t believe we should rely solely on these type of referrals.

How about being proactive in gaining referrals?

There are three times when we can ask customers for referrals and here they are.

1. Immediately after they place their order with you
2. After they have been using your product or service for sometime
3. ANYTIME  

There are also 2 ways that I have proven to work in asking for referrals

1. The “Referral Book”
2. The 9 Referral Cards Methods

The Referral Book

Invest in a quality leather bound book with lined pages and pay a few dollars to have the words “Referrals” gold embossed on the front.  When you are with your prospect or customer, simply bring out the book early amongst other items you will be using in the appointment.  Then when the time is right (probably near the end of the meeting) simply say to your customer, “Oh… you’ve probably noticed my Referral Book.  I find that most of my customers know other people / companies who could also benefit from this product / service.  I wonder how many people do you know?”

The important thing is to have some referrals already in the book (we call this social proof) and some columns for name, title, company, address, phone number and why they feel this person would be interested in seeing you.  

Just smile, open the book and pass the book over to your customer.  Then thank them.  By the way it could be useful to ask some other questions and make notes on

• How long have you known this person?
• Why do you feel they would be interested?
• May I mention your name when I call them?
• Would it be OK if they called you to get your opinion?

Referral Prospcting Cards

Have 9 blank but lined cards and say ‘Mr Customer / Prospect’, I find that many of my customers know other people who could also benefit from our product / services and are happy to refer me to them.  I wonder whom you might know?”

Hand them 3 of the 9 cards and ask them.  “Who do you know amongst you circle of business friends who could benefit?”  Wait in silence for their responses.  Once they give you 3, thank them and hand them three more cards and ask “Whom do you know amongst your circle of personal friends who could also benefit.”  Again wait in silence until they have written on the cards.  Thank them and take these cards back.

Hand them the last 3 cards and ask them “Whom do you know amongst circle of friends in clubs or association that you feel may be interested?”  Again wait in silence and get these 3 cards back.

Now it’s time to ask those same questions again.

• How long have you known this person?
• Why do you feel they would be interested?
• May I mention your name when I call them?
• Would it be OK if they called you to get your opinion?

Now the reason we ask about 3 specific groups is that this will prompt your customer to think of 3 different groups and is much better than simply asking, “Who do you know etc…”

If you regularly ask for referrals you’ll never have to make a cold call ever again.  So take these ideas and use them.  These sales strategies are just some of the tried and tested strategies and techniques that I coach sales people in when I work with them over the 12 weeks of our TOP GUN Sales Coaching Programme which is available to you regardless of where in the world you live.

Hey, prospect the smart way and enjoy more success, and then have more time to take “time out” to enjoy the good life and keep your life in balance.

Have a great week.  Make it a great week.

Wayne Berry