How to Ask for Referrals [Webinar Recording]
How to Ask for Referrals
[Video Recording]
Referrals + Relationships
8+ Killer Tactics For Virtual Sales Meetings & Demos You Can Use Today [Webinar Recording]
8+ Killer Tactics For Virtual Sales Meetings & Demos You Can Use Today
[Video Recording]
How to Ask Existing Customers for a Sales Referral
Did you know that 83% of customers are willing to offer a referral after a positive experience? It’s true! So, why aren’t reps getting more sales referrals? Honestly, many are too afraid to ask. It’s time to change that!
Let’s start out by covering the 3 key benefits of a referral:
- Safety: With an average of 6.8 people involved in each sale, getting additional referrals within a company should be smooth sailing. The number one benefit for the inside referral is safety. These additional contacts protect your account in the event your initial contact decides to leave. As an added bonus, they can also lead to new business from another department or division!
- Win Rate: The stats don’t lie. Customers referred by a friend are 4X more likely to purchase AND have a 69% faster closer rate. So, by asking just one little question you could be closing more business in less than ½ the time!
- Value: Referral clients stay longer and churn less! Overall, referral clients have a 16% higher chance of becoming a lifetime customer. They also have an 18% lower churn rate.
Okay, now that we understand WHY referrals are the golden goose of the sales world, let’s talk about how to prepare for the ask! There are 3 things we need to have ready before we ask for a referral…
- The Win: Think back to the client’s original specific request. What are the details? How did you help them deliver on those elements?
- Which of the 6 SWIIFT℠ values did we deliver on?
- Time
- Money
- Ease
- Making them look good
- Freeing them from risk
- Giving them power or control
- Which of the 6 SWIIFT℠ values did we deliver on?
- The Timing: When is the right time? This is not a one-size-fits-all answer. Instead, this is specific to you, your product, and the customer implementation. Here are a few good questions to ask yourself:
- Has the customer received the product and had time to use it? If the answer is no, then let’s wait a little while longer.
- Stay away from busy periods (end of the month, quarter, year, etc.). Would you call an accountant in April? No, so let’s be smart about when we reach out to our customers asking for favors.
- Think: Does your client operate on a Fiscal Year or a Calendar Year?
- What is the customer’s feedback cycle? Are they able to review it upon receipt or is the product offered to a 3rd party after your client receives it?
- What are the client’s usage rates? Is this something they will use often, or something they may use sparingly?
- The Ask: Before you make this call let’s understand who you are really looking for. Take the time to imagine the perfect client in your mind. Can you describe the job title, duties, or the situation the potential client might be in? We want to be specific and use descriptors to help your client think of possible referrals.
- Asking a client if they know of anyone else who is looking for training might leave you with an awkward silence. On the other hand, asking a client if there are any other SVPs in their company or network that might also be onboarding new team sales reps might provide one (or more) specific names.
Next, now that we’ve discussed the benefits and we’ve prepared for the ask… it’s time to make the call. Let’s talk about the 4 steps to a foolproof referral!
Step 1: Bring it Up
- Did you speak with this client originally? If so, let’s use that as a jumping-off point, “I remember when we first spoke, you were looking for help with _________”
- Were you not their original point of contact? Speak with their original point of contact and get all of the details. Use the client’s original specific reason for working with you to lead the conversation.
Step 2: Get a Rave
- Let’s find the thing that gets them talking. Check your CRM notes, check with their customer service rep, find the challenge that your company answered, and use it. If we can get the conversation flowing, switching to the ask will be easy.
Step 3: Repeat the SWIIFT℠ Value
- Don’t be afraid to talk about their original specific reason again if you aren’t getting some excitement. Sometimes it can help to gently remind them about the pain of their situation prior to stepping in and helping them get to the payoff.
Step 4: Ask for a Specific Referral
- Be ready with the specific title, job description, or situation that you are looking for. Being a bit specific can help guide your client to thinking of a real live name! “Are there any other Directors of Sales in your company or network that are looking to increase their closing ratios?”
- Be careful not to be too specific though, creating too narrow of a window can also leave you empty-handed.
- Pro Tip: Use the Rule of 3 to help them see
- When forming your ask, bringing three options to the ask will make it easier for your client to think on their feet. “Maybe a customer care team, inbound demand generation, or a sales development team?”
- Be careful not to be too specific though, creating too narrow of a window can also leave you empty-handed.
One little bonus tip, if you ask for a name you will only get a name… so ask for more!
Once your client has offered you a name, the final step is to confirm with your client what their level of comfortability is when referencing them to the referral.
Level 1: Permission to use the contact’s name as a lever
Level 2: Would they be willing to e-introduce you, copying both you and the new contact?
Level 3: Would they be willing to call the new contact personally and tell them about you, prior to your reach out?
Level 4: An in-person meeting or live joint introductory call!
Okay, I know this is a lot of information. But once you put these rules into practice, I PROMISE you will see amazing results. Now let’s go out there and start raking in those referrals!
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How to Build Authentic Rapport FAST with Prospects [Webinar Recording]
How to Build Authentic Rapport FAST with Prospects
[Video Recording]
How to Increase Revenue From Your Existing Accounts [Webinar Recording]
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[Video Recording]
Easy Fixes You Can Make to Get Prospects to Engage on Video Calls [Webinar Recording]
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5 Critical Tips for New Account Executives
Congratulations on your promotion to AE! Transitioning from an appointment setter, qualifier or SDR/BDR to an Account Executive who carries a revenue quota and closes deals is a BFD. Here are five skills that can help you make goal faster!
1. Slow WAY Down. As a BDR, the game was speed. A hundred calls, ten conversations, and one yes. The good calls were under 10 minutes and you were careful not to dive too deep. As an Account Executive, it’s a common mistake to try and also pack your calendar with cookie-cutter demos in the hopes 10% will close. Be better.
The Account Executive’s role is to add so much value to the prospect that they overcome their resistance to change and buy. That won’t happen in 10 minutes or 60 minutes, and it won’t happen the same way each time. So slow down and get to know the prospect. Why did they take the meeting? What’s happening in their world? Why is it a challenge? Why is it important to fix? What have they tried? What happens when it’s better?I could keep going here, but I hope you get the picture. Spend time instead discovering their situation AND their top priorities and values because these are their motivators to change. At Factor 8, we’ll give you a gold star if you don’t share your screen or your solution once in the first call. Truth: we don’t give out a lot of gold stars.
2. Be SWIIFT℠. Heard of that before? It’s the opposite of WIIFM and it means, “So, What’s In It For Them?” We want you to take this to the extreme and make as many of your calls as possible about them instead of you. The average AE will ask 3-4 questions and then launch into their slides/demo/solution.
This hurts them in several ways:
- They come off like a typical self-centered salesperson
- They leave opportunity on the table by not digging out the whole need
- They haven’t found a personal connection or the prospect’s motivation
- The prospect quits listening and goes dark
So, go deeper and seek to understand. Seek to help. Make it all about them for the entire first call and as much of the second and third as possible. Even during your demo, we teach you to only cover a specific and abbreviated number of items and to stop sharing at least 50% of the call. Ditch the sales speak and value props and pitches and competitive data and do all you can to understand and add value.
3. Bridge Every Call! Unlike your old job, closing deals will take multiple calls. Always set up your next call before getting off this one. Like, always. It’s called a bridge. The best bridges have appointments booked in the calendar with invitations and agendas sent immediately. If we can’t get that, they at the very least agree on a day you will call back (and try to get them to block the time!). This simple skill takes 3 minutes to accomplish and will save 3 hours of time chasing down leads you thought were interested but who won’t return your emails. It’s sort of like “never wake a sleeping baby” – never hang up on a live prospect (without bridging to the next call).
4. Be a Calendar Ninja. Suddenly you need time in your day for more than just outbound appointment setting (but pretty please still do that too!) Get strategic and block times in your calendar for research, client meetings, follow-ups, emails, and outbound prospecting. You’ll also need time to build your custom proposals/demos/solutions for clients. It’s a lot more to juggle! You may even be used to a tool telling you who to call and when if you used a great sales cadence solution like Outreach. But now you need to be strategic about when you call, build, respond, and research. It’s easy to get buried in emails and snoozed CRM tasks, and NOT systematically and proactively review your CRM for actions to take to keep your pipe full and leads warm. It’s a common mistake and it takes serious time management skills.
5. Master the Meeting. It can be intimidating to move from a 10-minute 1:1 call to running a pitch to a prospect team. 60 minutes, 5 people, and LOTS of pressure (and doing it virtually to boot!) To run a killer sales meeting, always start with an agenda and introductions. Think of it like you’re hosting an open house. Thank people for coming, learn something about them, find out their goals, and put them at ease. Remember, these meetings are as much about YOU as your solution, because people buy from people they like, and nobody likes being instantly pitched!
Try dressing up a level, add some professional flair to your background, use your rapport-building techniques, and do everything you can to get cameras ON and screen sharing OFF (a Gong study showed that discovery meetings run with you sharing slides means you do most of the talking instead of the other way around). Share your agenda and ask if they have specific questions or items to add before diving into the meat of the meeting. And always be sure the meat starts with SWIIFT℠ questions instead of your pitch! Practice kicking off meetings with a few colleagues until you sound and feel confident!
There’s a lot to master in your new role, but these five skills will help you stay in front of the learning curve!
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5 Tips for Reps to Keep Selling During a Recession
When the economy gets shaky and buyers get nervous, we see meetings fall off calendars, and deals go dark. It can feel scary for sure – especially when we see our new hire classmates cut from the team.
Here are some tips to keep on keeping on selling during a recession.
Confirm and reconfirm all your meetings.
That includes getting cell phone numbers. Start with everything currently booked. Call and email them today to confirm and leave your cell number. Ask them to text and leave theirs. It’s OK to be honest. Try something like:
“Hey Ted, LB here. Looking forward to Tuesday and just want to confirm we’re still on. I’ve had a few folks literally disappear in the past month with this uncertain economy. VERY glad that’s not you. Listen, I’m going to leave my cell. Will you please be kind enough to return my call or pop over a text to confirm Tuesday at 11 Central? Thanks! It’s xxx-xxx-xxxx. One more time: xxx-xxx-xxxx. Talk soon.”
This move helps you keep the connects you have, shows concern, and gets you cell numbers. Winner! Do it for meetings you are setting up this week as well.
“OK, I’ll hit you back on Tuesday at 11. I’ll be ready to cover A, B, and especially C. Will you bring XYZ? I’m sending over a calendar invite to hold our place. It has a bridge, but I want you to have my mobile as well. My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, can I grab yours?”
You won’t get it every time, but I’ll estimate 9 out of 10. Boom. No more going dark.
Reswizzle your value prop – in your messages, your posts, your pitches.
I stole this great tip from Doug Landis in our recent webinar, How To Build Pipeline And Keep Selling During A Recession. Nobody buys vitamins during a recession, they buy Advil. Truth is, my service of sales and leadership skills is definitely vitamins – the stuff that’s good for you we are supposed to take and tell our doctors we do…but isn’t usually prioritized. Yes, even though taking your vitamins helps you AVOID taking the hard stuff down the line, human nature is human nature. So if you’re normally plugging things like employee morale and retention, it’s time to restate.
Advil helps us avoid pain. Pain we’re already in. What does your product solve that fixes a pain? Uncertain times lead to fear buying (one word ya’ll: hand sanitizer. Wait, here’s another: toilet paper.) These memories are fresh. People stop buying anything that isn’t essential, doesn’t pull them out of pain, or won’t protect them from horrible recession-related risks. Find the Advil in your solution and lead with that.
(Watch LB’s tips on changing your value prop during a recession below)
Sort & call intelligently.
What industries aren’t suffering right now? Automotive is strong (have you SEEN prices!?), healthcare and insurance are always winners, banks are flush, who else? Buy a new list or pull the bottom of yours out and go long.
Remove risk however you can.
Can you highlight a cancellation clause? Payment terms? Low-cost trial? Nobody wants to be the guy who spent too much and trapped the company in a big spend if this whole situation gets worse. Help them see this purchase will deliver them from pain and not get them in trouble.
Talk longer.
Now is the time to build deeper relationships. When someone says they can’t buy now, don’t hang up the phone! Get to know them, their company, their situation, their partner! Sometimes the best you can do is build pipeline, so build the strongest damn pipe your manager has ever seen. That means rock-solid projections of how many, how much, when they can buy, and every step it will take in the purchasing process. Get it one step short of a signature and be best friends with everyone along the way so they can’t wait to sign.
We’re talking about asking more questions, building more rapport, showing more empathy, finding more contacts, going wide in the account. You should know every past competitor considered and why they failed, exactly how your solution will be used, the three purchases in line in front of you, the one guy who’s most doubtful. Getting the picture? About triple the info you normally have when you call it.
Remember…A recession or economic downturn is inevitable and also temporary. Do your future self a favor by staying positive and keeping momentum going so you’re ready to hit the ground running when things get back to “normal”!
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10+ Tips to Build a Human Connection on Sales Calls [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
10+ Tips to Build a Human Connection on Sales Calls
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