Risk & Business Magazine McFarlan Rowlands Fall 2016 | Page 20

TROUBLE GENERATING REFERRALS?

Trouble Generating Referrals?
Look to Your Inner Circle

C

olin’s sales numbers for the
quarter were sharply down.
Lately, he felt he was struggling
with his prospecting. He asked
his manager, Anita, for help.

“There’s a lot we can talk about when it
comes to prospecting,” Anita said. “But
let’s start with the simplest question first.
Are you asking your current clients for
referrals?”
Colin frowned and shook his head.
“You know, I’ve never really been very
comfortable with that,” he said. “I tried
asking people a couple of times, and it
always felt awkward. It never seemed to
generate any opportunities.”
“Let’s think about whom you’re asking
and how you’re asking them,” Anita said,
smiling. “I think you’ll find generating
referrals can be a lot easier than you might
think.”

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FALL 2016

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EXISTING
RELATIONSHIPS
If salespeople took full advantage of the
relationships they have with their existing
clients, most, if not all, would find cold call
prospecting to be unnecessary.
Don’t overlook existing clients and
customers as valuable sources for new
business. If you are providing them with
exceptional (or even just very good) service,
they should be comfortable referring you
to others, assuming that you take the
initiative to ask for the referral and that
you ask in the right way.
AVOID PRE-PROGRAMMED RESPONSES
Making a generic referral request such as,
“Who do you know that might be interested
in __________?” will likely prompt a
pre-programmed answer that sounds
something like, “I can’t think of anyone at
the moment. ” To avoid triggering a pre-

programmed response, you should frame
your question in a manner that is relevant
to the client’s sphere of influence—the
client’s “inner circle.”
If you know that your client is an avid
golfer, for instance, and his golfing
foursome typically includes other local
business owners, you might frame your
request as follows:
Tom, I’m wondering which of your golfing
buddies could benefit from a commercial
insurance program similar to the one
we implemented for your Westbrook
operation. Who is the most likely
candidate?
ASK WHY
If your client comes up with a name, ask
why he selected that person. Then find out
as much as you can about the new prospect.
The more you know about the prospect,
the warmer the subsequent call will be.