It’s hard to find new customers… anyone in sales will tell you that, so if there were a way of getting potential customers to contact you directly, life would be so much easier wouldn’t it?
Marketing activities certainly help generate possible interest, but there are things sales people can do themselves to help find new leads and opportunities.
Hubspot recently published some fascinating statistics about selling, including these:
• 84% of buyers start their buying process with a referral.
• 90% of buying decisions are made with recommendations from peers.
• 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know.
Which is great don’t you think?
Except that waiting for a potential customer to get in touch assumes that they’re already aware of you. So why don’t sales people ask for referrals? It’s common sense isn’t it?.. especially when you consider that…..
• After a positive experience, 83% of customers would be happy to provide a referral. But salespeople aren’t asking — just 29% of customers end up giving a referral.
• About 47% of top performers ask for referrals consistently, versus only 26% of non-top performers.
So if you’ve successfully made a sale, delivered on the value that the customer was expecting from your product or service, then ask for a referral.
Do your clients ask for referrals? Want to know more?
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