Jill Konrath | Selling to Big Companies

The Power of Referrals

Joanne Black, author of No More Cold Calling, started off her Sales Shebang session with a bang by stating that there is no such thing as a warm call.  According to her, a call is either cold or HOT.

Why?  Because either the seller is calling someone who knows them and is expecting their call, or not.

Cold calling is a sales tactic that has a low conversion rate.  A seller might start off with a list of 100 prospective clients, but may only receive any sort of response from 20 people.  Of that smaller number, only a handful will become buyers.

Instead of cold calling, Joanne advocates that sellers focus on getting referrals.

Referred clients are a seller’s dream.  The seller knows going in that there is a need for their products and services, so part of the selling is done already.  Since the seller was referred by someone the client knows, the sales process is much more personal and a lot of trust is already there. 

In fact, when sellers are referred, they get a new client more than 50% of the time.

A big part of this is that people don’t have time anymore, so they’re more willing to talk to sellers who have been referred than some random person.

Unfortunately, Joanne pointed out that most sellers have a hard time asking for referrals for five reasons.

• There’s no strategic initiative to ask for referrals. As a result, most sellers are busy with a lot of activities that don’t lead to referrals.

• Referrals have not been part of the sales process. No one is used to asking for them.

• There haven’t been metrics around referrals. No one knows why sellers should focus on referrals.  They don’t track how many referral meetings happen each week, how many clients give referrals, or the time it takes to make a sale to referred prospects versus how long it takes to sell to a non-referred prospect.

• Referrals are a skill.  Sellers don’t know how to ask, so they don’t do it.

• There’s a risk of personal discomfort.  Sellers don’t want to be rejected, so they don’t ask.

Joanne reassured attendees that asking for referrals is not as uncomfortable as most people fear it to be.

After all, she pointed out; most of the attendees at the conference have happily recommended people or products themselves.  When someone they knew, liked and trusted asked for a referral, most attendees at the conference were probably happy to help.

She also talked about how most people are happy to give referrals because they’re helping the person they’re referring the seller to.  They’re saving that person time in looking for a solution to their problem, they’re giving that person a valuable resource, and elevating their own perception with that person because they’re becoming a resource as well.

Joanne concluded her session with a challenge.  She told attendees to make a list of 100 people, with the ones they knew best on the top.  Then, attendees were to start from the beginning and ask those people for referrals. She promised attendees that they would be pleasantly surprised at the great results.

For more info on Joanne and her referral strategies, visit her No More Cold Calling website.

The Improvising Saleswoman

Molly Cox, who is the author of Improvise This! also performed at the Sales Shebang fundraising fiesta on Sunday night, brought everyone into her presentation on Monday.

Molly spoke about how when people are feeling a certain way, they bring that energy into the other parts of their lives. When someone is having a bad day, it’s obvious to those around them and other people act accordingly. 

On the other hand, when it’s a good day, what people bring, their energy, will make the atmosphere either positive or negative for them.  When someone is tired or in bad mood, and they make a sales call or go into a meeting, they bring all that garbage with them.

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible for people to completely control their environment. What is in someone’s control is how they react.

Molly talked about how improv is one way for someone to change their attitude. Improvisation is about taking whatever situation is given, and moving forward with it.   

She demonstrated that on Sunday night when audience members would yell out random suggestions to the performers, who would then have to continue with the scene while incorporating whatever wild and crazy thing the audience had just told them what to do.

According to Molly, improvisation is an inherently positive activity.  It’s about looking for opportunities and ways to move forward.  And it brings energy to the room because each person continually builds on what the others have created.

Molly didn’t just talk about improv though, she made everyone do it.  Attendees formed small groups and were told to make up nonsense words.  Then, they were told the word was a product and they had to make a list of its attributes.

The catch: no one could reject any attribute that was said.  Even if it was completely unrelated, the attribute had to be written down.

Of course, each group started out with descriptions that made sense.  But, it didn’t take long for the crazy suggestions to come out.  At the end, each product was more fantastic than the last.

This session wasn’t just fun and games though.  Molly used the improve exercises to prove her point—that it’s possible to get energized (even early in the morning)—to the attendees. 

By the end of her session, everyone had tons of energy—no matter how they had felt when they walked in the door.  People were bubbling with ideas, and they were having a great time.

And their presentations of their imaginary products were hilarious! 

Molly concluded her session by talking about how improv is good practice for life.  Its quick, fast-moving pace and the necessity of having to adapt quickly help people learn how to think on their feet. 

The better they are at that, the less likely they are to fall on their face.

For more information about Molly, visit her:

• Career Chik website which features sassy cards for women in business.
• Molly Speaks website to learn how to bring her into your organization as a speaker.