Asking for referrals is one of the best ways to generate warm leads from satisfied customers but most of us don’t do enough of it (and some of us don’t do it at all) because we don’t know how to ask in a simple way that doesn’t come across as pushy.
At the CAPS Convention (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers) a couple of weeks ago Stuart Morley of Morley Consulting shared an absolutely beautiful way to ask this essential question:
“Were you happy enough with the work I’ve done for you to be comfortable introducing me to a few a of your colleagues and associates.”
What a beautifully worded question. What I like about it is that inside this simple one sentence question there’s a lot going on. Let me share:
- It causes the customer to reflect on the value they received from you and increases the likelihood of being re-hired.
- It harnesess the Law of Reciprocity, which basically says that when you do something for someone, they want to reciprocate and do something for you.
- It plants a seed for future referrals. Simply by asking for introductions you trigger the customer think about referring you at some future point in time when an appropriate opportunity presents itself.
Here we are in the Christmas Season and many of us are out visiting clients, dropping off gifts or just visiting to say “thanks for your business”. Now would be a great time to ask for referrals using the simple sentence here. You’re clients won’t be offended an you’ll be amazed at how many referrals you actually generate. This will give you fresh fuel to get an early jump on next year’s new sales activity.
Howard Olsen is President of High Output Training Systems, a Boutique Sales Training & Sales Consulting firm based in Vancouver Western Canada. As a professional sales trainer, keynote speaker and sales coach & mentor his powerful sales process and positive profit producing messages help thousands of sales people and business professionals look through the eyes of their customers to close more sales without pressure or friction every year. Follow Howard on Twitter @howardolsen or just give him a call at (604) 731-0901 to see if he can help you and your team.
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