How to make referrals part of your telesales and telemarketing calls
Referrals or referral marketing is an effective sales technique that allows you to grow a network of potential customers through one of your satisfied customers. Although making referrals is highly recommended and should be practiced by all telesales professionals, only a few make it part of their sales strategy.
One of the reasons salespeople don’t ask for referrals is that they don’t want to be seen as pushy. Often people simply couldn’t provide any recommendations, so telesales professionals simply dismiss any effort to solicit leads as a waste of time. But happy customers should be more than happy to refer their friends and do business with you. Maybe you’re not asking for referrals the right way.
How do you formulate your question when requesting a reference? Do you just say “Do you know someone who might be interested in my product/service?” The person being asked that question may have a hard time finding a name to suggest because ‘anyone’ will conjure up a long list of names.
The trick is to be more specific. The questions you should ask should get people thinking about a particular person or group of people.
You can try asking the following questions.
“Do you have a friend you can help by letting them know about our products?”
“Could you think of a name that would be interested in buying my product/service?”
“Can you think of one person in your group who could benefit from my product/service?”
You can ask your own questions that are direct and help people easily provide you with referrals.
Remember, referral marketing isn’t just about getting names. You also have to get people’s phone numbers. Go one step further by asking your customers if they would like to call those people first to recommend your products or if they would like to call them first and mention your name as the person who recommended them.
Referral is about building relationships. It doesn’t happen overnight, so you’d do well to take every measure to maintain that relationship. The following suggestions will help you.
o Consider each of your clients as a potential source of a multitude of referrals that will help you get more business.
o Give referrals to your customers so they return the favor.
o Don’t forget to thank the person who gave you referrals. Let them know if there are any positive results from his recommendations.
Now, before you keep asking for referrals, make sure your customer is happy to buy from you.