“Ask for the introduction, not just the referral.” – Jeff Bajorek in today’s Tip 1176
Do you ask for introductions?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Jeff Bajorek has pulled himself away from his new Rethink The Way You Sell podcast again to bring us a great new tip. Here he is:
Jeff Bajorek: I was working with a client just the other day and she was telling me like, we normally start the engagement, what’s going well for her? What’s getting in her way? And she said, “I’m really excited. I had a client send me a bunch of referrals, give me a list of names, people I should contact.” And she said, “Make sure you drop my name when you reach out to these people and they’ll treat you well.” And I said, “Okay, well, what’s getting in your way?” And she said, “Well, they’re not all real easy to get a hold of.” And this is really common, right? We get this gift. It’s like the best thing a salesperson could ever ask for from a current client. It’s a referral to somebody else. And here was a list of a handful of people that she was instructed specifically to call and name drop. Right? Yet we still run into these issues, and there aren’t enough of these opportunities that convert.
And one of the things that I think we can do and this is what I recommended to her and I’m going to recommend this to you as well is go a step further. And I know you’ve just been given a gift and you don’t want to kill the golden goose and all those other things that we’re afraid of. But if you just take it one step further, everybody wins in the deal. And that step is to ask for the introduction, not just the referral. Here’s the reason.
First and foremost, a message from them with your name in it is going to be a whole lot more effective than a message from you with their name in it. Okay? So I want you to keep that in mind at all times. Secondly, it is one email maybe to the group of those people. Right? So you’re not asking for a ton from your clients or the person who’s doing the referring. And you have this. This is what’s in it for them. If they really want you to be able to help them, the most effective way is for them to introduce you, not just give you a list of names. And I know they are busy and I know you don’t want to impose and I know you don’t want to feel like you’re getting greedy. But here’s the thing.
If this is about helping people, if this is about doing the most good for the most people, it should be a pretty straightforward ask and put it that way. You know, Scott, I really appreciate you recommending me to a handful of your closest colleagues and friends. It means the world to me. Quite frankly, there’s no better compliment than you can pay me than to pass me along to your colleagues. Could I be so bold as to ask for an email introduction?” And it doesn’t need to be to each of them individually, just maybe one brief message that suggests “Hey look, this is Jeff. I know he can help you. He’s done wonders with our company. I’m hopeful that you’ll give him an opportunity to do the same for yours and just give me the opportunity with your introduction versus having me go and do the chasing because, Scott, you know these emails get caught in spam filters. My name is not going to come up as known. There’s a lot of things that could get in the way and I’m hesitant to ask but I really think this might be the most effective way to do it.
Make the sale for crying out loud, you’re a salesperson, right? And I know that feels like a lot to ask for but when you realize the win for you and when you can communicate the win for Scott, in this case I’ll use his name because it’s his show, you have a much higher success rate. Your conversions come not only more profitably but they also come along more quickly and you can make the most impact for the most people in the least amount of time sometimes. So I want you to consider that and I’m going to encourage you to muster up whatever gumption you have left when you’re given this gift to ask for a little more. It goes against a lot of your respective grains here but there’s a big win in it. So I want you to try that and I also want you to tell me how that goes. Shoot me a message. You know how to find me and let me know what your experience is.
Scott Ingram: For links to Jeff’s new Rethink The Way You Sell podcast, and to connect with him directly, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1176.
Once you’ve done that, be sure to come right back for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!