Be Bold and Smart as You Ask for Executive Level Referrals

Are you one of many salespeople who hesitate to ask for referrals?

It is a shame because referral selling is the easiest way to grow your business. Resolve to get over your reluctance (whether from fear of rejection or fear of appearing too aggressive) and plan how to ask using the best advice from executive selling training experts.

• Believe in yourself and the value you bring. If you have built a solid relationship with your client through delivering true value with proven business results, you should have faith that your product/service deserves to find other users.
• Invite your client’s help in thinking through the people they know who might benefit from your offering.
• Suggest targeted categories of potential targets…by their industry, function, title, geography, and business issue. You want to make it as easy as possible for your client to come up with qualified candidates.
• Be specific about next steps. Talk together about how you would like to be introduced.  Getting introduced via phone, in person or email is critical.  Everything else is just a cold call.
• Follow-up.  And always, always thank your client for the referral and follow up with a report of the meeting results.