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You are here: Home / Blog / Sales Process / Getting Referrals: Are you ruining potential business opportunities?

Getting Referrals: Are you ruining potential business opportunities?

November 15, 2015 By maurasf

listening and referrals
Listeners get more referrals.

Your new business comes either from your work in prospecting or the referrals from others who know you. Think about your last Chamber of Commerce event or Rotary meeting when you met new people who could refer business to you. People do try to do business with people they like. Did you leave them with a positive or negative impression?

Who does the talking?
No one likes to feel useless when they meet someone new. The fastest way to create the impression that someone is useless is to start talking about your business and never stop. You quickly make the listener unnecessary. These chatty people are saying, “I’m more important than you. I don’t care much about what you do so I’m going to do all the talking.” How do you think that makes someone else feel? Not needed.

What does it say about the person who talks too much?
Here’s what it says when you meet someone who is uninterested in your work. First, it says that they are not going to be a good referral partner for you. How can they refer you to their clients when they don’t make any attempt to learn about your business?

The point of meeting new people is that they could learn about your business and you could learn about their business. Your value to your customers increases when you can refer good suppliers or new customers to the people who are buying from you. These talkers make that impossible.

Next, it’s a red flag if they were potential customers of yours. I have found that the types of people who are uninterested in others are mostly interested in themselves. They’re the first ones to complain about a product or service while not taking personal responsibility for their own actions. Does that sound like the type of customer you want?

Did you listen?
Try to be a good listener the next time you meet someone new. You know you are a good listener if you are able to introduce the person you just met to someone new. Try to practice at your next business event.

You have to know what someone does and who their customers are in order to effectively introduce someone. Listen for that information and if you don’t get it, be sure to ask, “Who are your customers?” You should be able to say something like, ”John is a (job title) with company XYZ. He works with (types of clients) to (the results of his work.) An example is, “John is an independent software developer. He works with the military on inventory control software. His work gives soldiers the material they need to do their job.

It’s an opportunity to increase sales the next time you meet someone new. Just be sure you do less talking and more listening. That way you’ll create a good impression which means that you’re more likely to grow your business.

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Filed Under: Sales Process Tagged With: referrals

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About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

"I would recommend your work to other sales organizations who want to get better results from improved selling strategies."
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Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

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