How I was taught to always ask for referrals when selling
30 Mar 2008
I know that most people in sales ask for referrals, but in my experience it is a very ‘hit and miss affair’. Asking for referrals is rarely built into a salesperson’s agenda for a conversation or meeting and is so often forgotten in the excitement of making a sale or the disappointment of losing one. From now on I want you to think of referrals in a completely different way. I want you to think of referrals as being more important than making a sale and I want you to make asking for them a formal part of your sales presentation whether you make the sale or not.
This was a lesson I learned many years ago and very early in my sales career. I had just started working in the financial services sector and during my initial training my sales manager, a brilliant man called Bernie Rachman, had constantly stressed the importance of obtaining referrals and shown me numerous techniques to obtain these.
I had been struggling for several weeks to make my first sale and when I had finally achieved that milestone, I hurried back to the office to present the completed application form to Bernie. I remember the scene vividly to this day. I knocked on his door and asked if I might speak to him for a moment. He beckoned me in and I proudly placed the application form on his desk. “My first sale Bernie!”, I said. He removed his glasses, glanced down at the application form, looked up at me and said, “Well done Bruce; and how many referrals did you get?”
Of course, in the excitement of getting my first sale, I had completely forgotten to ask for referrals. Then Bernie taught me a lesson I would never forget. “Bruce”, he said, “this application will stay on my desk and will not be processed until you have gone back to the client and obtained at least three referrals.”
That is precisely what I had to do, what I did, and what a lesson I learned. That application form was my pay cheque for the month!