Slump, Referrals, And Starting Over

Thirty years ago, I had a sales manager that taught me to get 5-10 referrals BEFORE I did my presentation.

Before you read the article, read Rick Roberge's one, Starting Over, posted on May 20, 2008.

Earlier this week, Rick and I talked about referrals with a client. We were addressing a 'zero pipeline' problem with a seller who was his company's Top AE last year. He was thinking about doubling his activities to meet his daily new meeting goals or participate in podcasts, but it was more of the same TOFU model without quality connexions or shortcuts in the sales funnel.

• What about referrals?

Rick asked about the AE’s LinkedIn network to find new clients, leading to two observations:

1. Rick: one person can lead to hundreds of new clients.
2. Client: ten thousand connexions can totally ignore you.

Oh-oh...

• What if you had an empty network?

If you're a millennial like me or the AE, you've probably learned inbound and outbound as a process using advanced tech stacks and sophisticated tools like your phone. More is coming with AI, but something could be missing once you’ve done more of everything you already know.

Despite hundreds or thousands of connexions, you may experience difficulties creating business conversations with your LinkedIn connexions. Anytime you could ask for a recommendation from a friend, but would you survive if you had to make a living from it??

Question yourself:

• How many referrals did you get from your network...last week? last month? last year?
• How many clients spread good things about you...daily? weekly? yearly?
• What's your business ratio from referrals...this month? this quarter? this fiscal year?
• If you stopped every prospecting activity, would leads still come to you? How?

I’m not sure this article was useful if it appears obvious to you. But if not, are you able to face the reality of it?

Seller, once upon a time when the internet didn’t exist, boomers thrived at creating relationships to do business with friends.

• Has someone ever taught you to get 5-10 referrals BEFORE you did your presentation?
• What would be the difference in your life?
• Wanna try?