It’s interesting to pause and reflect as I enter my 2nd decade of coaching and my 5th decade of life.
I have been a student of sales since I chose that as my career leaving college and have seen many trends even in that time span. And yet, the more things change the more they stay the same. Referrals still work and are the key to the gold of new sales. Many steps to get to referrals also remain the same. Today’s post will share with you simple steps to build and grow great relationships…
When I first started outside sales, I was selling of all things – sales training. My boss (the guy who got me into this) told me to sit down and make a list of the 20 people I knew that would help me and could get me in front of business. Of course, I didn’t think I knew anyone and sat there looking at a blank sheet of paper for what seemed like hours. Then it hit me, it didn’t have to be people that I had known forever! If I had a conversation with them, I knew them. I recognized that there wasn’t a relationship yet, but it beat a cold call. I was off and running!
Here’s how it works…
- Make a list of great contacts you made during networking events, previous job contacts, personal friends in the business world, etc. There is no magic in the number 20, but you need a goodly number to get started to yield a few good relationships that can be mutually beneficial.
- Start a 2nd list of who you want to meet. I did this through looking at remodeling companies (I liked remodeling and thought it would be fun to sell) that were in an association (NARI- I think it was). This list started the discussion around what made a good client for me. I was after small businesses that had a quality product to sell and would invest in training to learn how.
- Make the call. I reached out to the 20 people and found some that had moved on or away, some that were still around but not in my market and finally a few that were happy to help.
- Schedule a meeting. This is a tough thing for those of us who just want to go do something – even if it’s wrong 😉 I set the agenda for the meeting with “I’m in a new job now and want to find out who is a good relationship with you to see how I can help you.” Pretty simple.
- Find out who they want to meet and how you can help them. This meeting was not all about me, but more about who they were working with and what they were offering. I paid careful attention to who their clients were and then also asked them for their list of who they wanted to meet. When they shared that list with me, it was merged with mine so as I was networking I was seeking contacts for them as well as for me.
- Help them help you. I loved when Jerry McGuire came out with his famous entreaty to his client. We network and don’t make it easy for someone to help you. They will. Quite happily. But we overcomplicate things by making them figure out who we want to meet and how we want to meet them. Make it easy. Let them know who you want to meet, why you want to meet them, and how they should introduce you. Yes, I said how they should introduce you. I’m not implying a lack of intelligence here – but there are key messaging points that when made will improve your chances of a door being opened. So share those and ask for the introduction.
- Follow up – make the connection. This step for some reason gets missed and when it does, the person introducing you looks bad. And then they don’t want to look bad again. So they stop helping you. So be sure to follow up very promptly.
- Make the person introducing you look good. I always remember that this relationship, even more than most client relationships, is precious. Someone risked a bit of themselves so I could meet this person. I remember that. If something is not going the way it should, I go back to the person introducing and ask for their advice and guidance, when appropriate. This keeps them looped in to know the effort you are making to protect their relationship with that person.
- Keep them informed of successes. People like to help. And many times the greatest feeling comes when I hear of how the relationship is producing results. I feel as if I own a portion of that success if I made the introduction. Allow your referral partner that same feeling…
These are the basic steps that have led to many successful referral relationships. This process also is the foundation for the 9 Steps to Productive Prospecting course I wrote many years back that has led to countless successful introductions made. Success in prospecting is not complicated, but does require effort to consistently follow up and follow through. That is what makes relationships work. I hope you enjoy this recommendation to return to the basics and go back to relationships that have been successful for you in the past, and will help you now also.