Leveraging Referrals - Clients are your best Influencer ...

hand-shake after sucessfull referral

The approach of a new year frequently brings requests to R&R Value Partners for Prospection coaching and training, as sales advisors prepare their Q1 business acquisition plans. These often include attempts to benefit from social media (not always allowed, check with your compliance department ... ); 10 years ago it was searching new prospects on LinkedIn, more recently attention has turned to WhatsApp and the like. Plus the usual vague name-lists provided by Sales Management based on company events, enquiries etc.

Curiously, sales advisors often expend time and energy seeking entirely new sources of prospects, while ignoring possibly the best source, which lies immediately to hand – their existing client book. Clients are the best source of advertisement for a salesperson since they know the latter better than their contacts/friends, they have first-hand experience of the service quality offered, and they know their contacts/friends well enough to judge if a match between the two will be successful. 

Why should Referrals be a leading strategy to grow your business ?

• Referrals are often easier and faster to close than other acquisition techniques. When your services are personally recommended to a prospect, they are more open to positive discussions than via other methods (the “warm” approach as opposed to the “cold” approach)

• Referrals can build effectively on networking – a client making one referral where the subsequent relationship is satisfactory is likely to make more; the newly referred client understands your business model and will not be surprised when eventually you ask them for a referral

• Referrals increase client loyalty (the fact of introducing a contact/friend is a sign the client likes and trusts you, and is convinced you can bring genuine value to the other person). Incidentally, this in turn can make price discussions easier !

• Referred clients are 37% more likely to remain loyal to the service provider (source: Deloitte) and have 16-25% higher lifetime value (source: Wharton School of Business)

A successful strategy depends, however, on 2 things – the right mindset (overcoming the baseless fear of asking clients for a referral) and the right technique (helping the client to identify qualified potential). R&R Value Partners  offers coaching and training support for sales advisors to positively address these aspects and achieve success with referrals campaigns.

Contact us for more details and a first call. Leveraging Referrals Clients are your best Influencer