Here is the good news. Everybody you meet, and anybody you are likely to meet in the future has bought and will buy again. They will buy a variety of new products and services from someone, and they will buy them at some time not so far from now.
The bad news with this is that if they didn’t buy those goods or services from you, they will buy them from someone else. Therefore, you must find the way to be around for those buyers when they are ready to part with the cash. At that time, the seller must also be ready to overcome any of the natural, or physical or psychological obstacles to them wanting to buy, and then be mentally and physically ready to be more than capable of selling to almost any qualified prospect you speak to.
In the USA it has been estimated that around 84% of sales are made through some form of word-of-mouth promotional activity. When this happens the salesperson had better be of the understanding that that sales activity had taken place between prospects contacted by a salesperson and many of the existing customers previously sold by the salesperson or someone at the company they work for. Moreover, others would come as a result of recommendations between friends, or colleagues, or family members in the form of advice and suggestions of what to buy, or not buy, and who to buy from.
Now as good as that sounds, the only concern I would have as a salesperson is if all or much of that sales activity was the mainly the result of the buyer seeking out a seller, or the customer informing or recommending a seller to someone else, has the salesperson been asleep at the wheel. And if that is the case, how much more businesses could have been written by the salesperson if they had “not been asleep at the wheel” in the first place?
Throughout the prior 300 plus pages there have been numerous references to the value of the referral to the salesperson. Then when that same salesperson reads an article as explicit as this one, then perhaps the value of a referral may sink in.
Lets quickly suggest that this seller had only accomplished a quarter of that 84% available at any one time. And let’s also say that the 20% (a quarter of that 84%) amounted to personal sales of around $100,000, that means that that particular salesperson had missed out on anything up to $300,000 in extra sales which were not company driven. Then again if that 20% amounted to personal sales at $200,000, that means they had missed out on up to $600,000 in self generated sales. Or at 20% on $300,000, the seller missed out on up to $900,000 in self generated business.
OK, so if the figures sound a little far fetched to you, then cut them in half, and consider whether you missed out on $150,000 or $300,000 or $450,000 in sales turnover depending on what level you think missed out on?
Still not happy, then lets move it back to a quarter, that’s the same amount you already sold. Therefore, now calculate whether that loss of sales amounted to $100,000 or $200,000 or $300,000? And that has to be a bare minimum – because all you have done is simply doubled your previous self generated business you wrote anyway.
Makes you think why you don’t ask for referrals more often – right?
Now allow me to really make you think about what you are really missing out on by not working your referrals as well as you should be.
How would you like to get an overnight pay rise and a new selling status level without too much more additional work? And what if you just worked easier to sell to prospects? And what if more of your referrals contacted you to buy from you? And what if you had your appointments made for you by existing customers who recommended that they better buy from you or miss out?
Have I now got your attention? Do you want an overnight pay rise and a new selling status level where you work now?
Then consider this. The only way that you can work your way up to be amongst the top ten percent of salespeople in your industry is by working your referrals and getting your existing clients to recommend you day in and day out. But that won’t happen until your existing customers are so pleased with you they will be more than happy to open doors to new customers for you wherever you go.
And would you believe that there are some supersellers I know that go for long periods of time without having to take on any new company leads and do not need to hire a canvasser to do their lead-generating for them. How would that be if you could do the same?
Then start to work referrals. Over time, when your sales become consistent with your referral gathering and written goals outlook, and your sales career lines up with your focus, your sales results will sky-rocket, as will your income.
This Article is by Peter Collins – In a sales career spanning more than 50 years, Peter Collins has focused on helping and bringing out the best in others – whether it involves training or mentoring salespeople, managers, business consulting to SME’s. Since the 1970’s Peter has built a reputation as a Nationally and Internationally Published author, and has 65 books to his credit, but he is mainly known for one book based on the Audio Tape series of the same name, Over 50 Ways of Closing the Sale. In his personal life, Peter has been sought after as an encourager and motivator that has given of his time and talents freely despite his busy schedule. Subsequently, he has assisted churches, pastors, community and charity groups, as well as individuals through his teaching, training, development and on-going mentoring.
Peter can be contacted through his website – profitmakersales.com