How type 2 referrals can increase your print sales by 25%
How many people are you connected to on LinkedIn?
The answer may not be as straightforward as you think. I am highly networked on LinkedIn. I have 1,430 connections. But what is much more interesting is what is known as my second level network. This network consists of people to whom my connections are directly connected. According to LinkedIn I have 335,100 of these connections.
That’s 1/3rd of a million people to whom my connections could introduce me. Suddenly it seems that I could know a lot of people. And that’s a lot of potential prospects.
Naturally, not everyone uses LinkedIn (although, in my opinion, you should). But this theory applies to people you know in real life as well. How many people do your business contacts know?
How many of those people might be interested in buying print from you?
Referrals are a great way to increase your print sales
The answer to that question is precisely why you should be asking your business network for referrals. Print sales people who use referrals will achieve higher sales. And that’s because they will be in control of a healthy sales pipeline. And their prospects will be much warmer as well, because they will have been introduced. So there’s a much better chance of creating a great relationship with them.
Printers who ignore referrals won’t create as many great relationships. They will be relying on cold calling and similar sales methods. So they won’t receive the same level of warm leads. They won’t have the same control over their sales pipeline. And they are unlikely to achieve the same level of sales.
Does simply asking your clients for referral result in great sales?
The answer to this should be yes. But often it’s no. And that’s because print sales people need to ask for referrals in the right way. Many people just give you a name. And that’s only one step away from a cold call. It’s not enough to achieve the right sales results.
There are three types of referral. And you need to ask for the right one in order to get the right results. Here’s the first type of referral.
Type 1 referral: Your contact gives you a name
This is the type of referral that I have just mentioned. Your contact gives you a name. But you are then faced with the task of contacting that name and introducing yourself. You’ll still have to make a full cold sales pitch to that name. And maybe they’ll be interested. But maybe they won’t.
Mentioning your contact’s name may be enough to get you a conversation or a meeting. But even that is not guaranteed.
So let’s discuss the next type of referral.
Type 2 referral: Your contact gives you a full e-mail introduction
This is a much better type of referral. Your contact will create an e-mail with a full introduction. It should go to both you and the person to whom you are being referred. And it will have everyone’s contact details.
When you introduce yourself you can simply remind your referral name to the e-mail if they don’t recognise you.
In an ideal world, your contact will also check that it is acceptable to refer you. So any call you make will be to a warm lead.
Some contacts can go one stage further
Type 3 referral: Your contact hosts a meeting
Some contacts will even go so far as to host a meeting or a lunch with you and the person to whom they are referring to. Then you are guaranteed at least 30 minutes of time with your new introduction. This can be very powerful if it is a specific persona that you want to meet.
However, sometimes you or the introduction will decide that the discussion is not worth taking further. And then you are faced with wasted time sitting with someone with whom you won’t be doing business. So the hosted meeting is a referral method that should be used extremely sparingly.
So now you know the three types of referral. But what happens if your contact doesn’t?
How do you get your contact to give you the right sort of referral?
Tell your clients the sort of referral that you would like. Ask them for an e-mail introduction. Suggest that they talk it over with their connection first.
You should also consider telling your contact the sort of person that you would like to be referred to. So you may be looking for a specific market sector. Or a specific type of business. Or even a specific name.
Some people get worried that their contacts won’t want to be asked these sorts of questions.
Won’t your contact give you a name to get rid of you?
This can only happen if you are receiving a type 1 referral. And even then, it is unlikely to happen. After all, your contact won’t want to annoy their network by giving unwanted introductions
There is really no reason not to ask your contacts for referrals.
Here are three action points to get you started
- Highlight five contacts
- Ask them if they can give you a referral
- Tell them the sort of person that you want to meet. And tell them how you would like them to refer you
You’ll be surprised at the difference that this will make to your print sales
Over 25% of my business comes from people to whom I have had a referral. I use my real life second level network to bring me business.
And, by the way, consider using exactly the same system on LinkedIn. See how many of your LinkedIn second level network you might be introduced to
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