How I Keep My Sales Pipeline Packed (Referrals) | Selling Made Simple

Pop quiz hotshot—what’s your best channel for bringing in quality leads? Is it cold calling? Or email? Maybe LinkedIn? [Buzzer sound] Bzzzzzt. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. These are all okay sources. But they’re far from the best. It turns out it’s your own buyers that are the most superior source of leads. Because they open up the door to the holy grail of all lead types—the referral. The question is, do you know how to earn those referrals without alienating your clients? Why Referrals Rock What’s so great about referrals anyway? Well simply put, referrals are just plain better than any other type of lead. Here’s why. A) They’re The Easiest Leads You’ll Ever Uncover First up, they’re the easiest leads you’ll ever uncover. According to a report from Social Media Today, more than half of marketers (54%) say referral marketing generates more cost-efficient leads compared to other marketing channels. B) The Best Way to Gain Instant Influence Referral leads bypass all that time-consuming rapport-building right off the bat. And that means they’re more likely to convert. Marketo found that referred leads have a better conversion rate than any other channel—at 10.99% from lead to opportunity, 3.74X the average rate. Compare that to sales prospecting (0.90%, 0.31X), inbound (3.82%, 1.30X), paid marketing (2.98%, 1.01X), and email (0.55%, 0.19X). C) Easier Closing Referred leads are easier to close. 70% of sales leaders and 69% of frontline sales reps report that referrals close substantially faster than traditional leads according to Influitive and Heinz Marketing. Nice. D) Bigger Purchases Plus, referrals spend more. The Wharton School of Business found the lifetime value of referral customers is 16% higher than your average customer. E) Flywheel Referrals Referral leads bring in even more referrals. With each referral you bring in, you’re not just earning a single new customer. You’re also expanding your network of potential referrals and boosting the odds that you’ll bring even more of these high quality leads. Because according to Invesp, referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate and are 4X more likely to refer more customers to your brand than non-referrals. Alright alright, enough with the stats. Let’s get to the meat of it all… The More Referrals Framework The More Referrals Framework. How do you ask for referrals in the first place? And that means you have to deliver real, tangible value for your customers. But if you have delivered, all you need to do to earn a referral is follow this four-step framework… 1. Confirm Your Value One, Confirm Your Value. Basically, this is where you prove to your buyer that you’ve earned some serious results for them. And to do that, just follow this mini-framework we’ve put together… * Document the following: * Problems the buyer had when they started working with you. * Results you promised to deliver. * Whether you delivered those results. * Things you’ve done above what was promised. * What you want to improve next quarter. * Set up a call with your buyer and run through your documentation. * Be sure to email the documentation ahead of time (to give them time to look it over). * Go through each step on the call. * Confirm value. * At the end of the call ask, “So it’s fair to say that we’ve delivered/over-delivered on what was promised?” * Optional: Follow up with, “For my records, if I send you a quick email, can you reply and confirm that again so that I can share it with my boss?” 2. Ask “Who Else?” Ask “Who Else?” Who else is in their network that you can help? No need to overcomplicate here. Just follow this simple script…