How to Pitch and Catch Business Referrals
By Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Business referrals are the source of 80% of all new sales. What continually amazes me as a business coach are the number of small business owners who fail to leverage this untapped revenue resource. Possibly, the following tips may help you change your current business results and catapult your sales.
- Revisit all clients (current and old) and ask for a referral. When was the last time you asked a former or new client for a referral?
- When meeting new prospects, upon the end of your conversation ask the following: “Do you know anyone who may benefit from my services or products?” Asking is a powerful tactic to increase sales.
- Incorporate asking for three solid referrals within your proposal or statement of work. Establishing a process for consistently securing new referrals from satisfied and loyal clients is truly a “no brainer.”
- Meet with other members of your networking groups or strategic alliances and learn more about them so that you can “pitch” their services or products if and when appropriate. Referrals are not a one way street. You must also think of others with whom you have established business relationships. Referrals are part of the Law of Attraction and the Law of Abundance.
- Always use the referring person’s name (with permission) when contacting a referral. Using the name of the referral source warms a cold call into a warm one.
- Update the referring individual as to the progress of the referral. Keeping the referring individual aware of the progress shows that you are a person of high integrity.
- Establish a monitoring system for all pitches and catches (closed deals) so that you can determine if your catches land in your glove or end up being a runaway (lost deal). Keeping track of your referrals is necessary so that you not only acknowledge the referral source, but can determine the source of all new sales. Measuring your activity allows you to work smarter not harder.
If you are not actively using referrals as a strategy and a tactic to increase sales to your bottom line, you are potentially missing thousands of dollars in new revenue. After all, business is all about revenue, no ifs, no buts and no maybes.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S., is a business coach who specializes in strategic planning with offices near Chicago, IL and in Indianapolis, IN. She writes, speaks and coaches businesses along with individuals to quickly double results through the creation of an executable strategic plan. Visit her site, Advanced Systems.
