THERE ARE DIFFERENCES:
REPUTATION, REFERENCE AND REFERRAL
DAVID
RUBINSTEIN
EDITED
BY
JIM
OLSON
In my years of work with
experienced and rookie Sellers, there continues to be confusion surrounding
references and referrals. And now entering the mix is “reputation.”
REPUTATION – People talk
about people. Our reputation is built without even knowing about it. In many
ways, we’re the innocent bystanders as people come to conclusions about us.
Reputations precede us at every business stop we make and can be good news - or
bad news. When the phone rings and on the other end of the line is someone we
don’t know but wants to know if we can help, that’s a function of a good
reputation. Sometimes we’ll hear that they “got our name from John who used you
in the past.” Or, they might not even
know the source of what was being said about us. Remember, reputations are
established by someone else’s perception of what, and how, we do what we do.
REFERENCES – This is a “passive”
way of using existing clients to generate new business. We might have procured
written testimonials about the quality of our work. Or, we receive permission
to “use their names” while seeking new business opportunities. We have their “word”
about us in our pocket to use whenever it makes sense.
REFERRALS – In my experience,
fewer than 5% of Sellers ask for referrals and even then the effort is limited
to obtaining names and contact information. Asking for referrals (correctly) is
the most powerful way to obtain business – if given the opportunity, our folks
will open doors and “tee it up” for us. You may recall from Morsel #4 that we
can be much more assertive when asking for help from our clients. Try this
Protocol:
Who
do you know that might be interested in (my service/what I sell)?
When
will you be talking to them next?
How
comfortable would you be in finding out from (prospect) what interest they have
in talking to me about (my service/what I sell)?
When
should follow-up with you?
By working diligently to
establish a positive reputation along with utilizing references and referrals,
we become more efficient in our sales and grow business in the simplest and
easiest manners.
What do you think?
Good Selling to you!
SLH Sales System Morsels are
meant exclusively for non-commercial use by the recipient. No modifications of
any kind may be made without the written permission of the SLH Sales System.
