There's No Business Like Referral Business ! 

Referral Business! 

In a recent company consult, I came across an “all-too-familiar” scenario.

The company had team of 10 Sales Representatives.

The company had a great product.

They had an external automated lead-generator service provider that was costing them in the region of $ 1000-00 per month. It was an automated, 7 email, triple “opt-in” system with the “HOT LEAD” (someone that had bothered to go through all 3 “opt-in” options) being fed to the sales team. Literally thousands of emails were being sent out each month.

Internally the company in question had assigned 2 already employed administration staff members the added responsibility of coming up with content and artwork for the email campaigns (this is over and above their normal duties!!) Conservatively, in my estimation, that work would be worth around $4000-00 between the 2 employees apportioned time in terms of man-hours for the project.

If my math serves me, that makes $5000-00 per month over 12 months totalling a $ 60 000-00 “investment” into getting “HOT LEADS”.

So, why was I there?

Well, the company had barely made target the previous year and were so far behind on their current year that they’d have to produce 4 consecutive record- breaking months just to hit target this year.

Obviously, a host of questions go off in business owner’s minds at this point. The content, the look and feel of the emails, the messaging of the emails etc ?? … The staff were not as good as I originally thought. Quality of product, price of product, delivery and aftersales …?? BUT they were getting leads who’d triple opted in and were still running short on target.!!

Some STATS to reflect on….

• Only 23% of sales emails are opened. (Source: TOPO)
• The average email opt-in rate across all verticals is 1.95%. (WordStream)
• Actual closed deals are often touted at 1% of 1% vs emails sent out!! ( you’ll struggle to find actual stats on this – my info is from my personal research as I’ve spoken to companies!!)

Let me be clear!! I am NOT against email campaigns or social marketing!! Please read that again!!

I am against a “smallish” company investing $ 60 000-00 per annum and running behind target when there exists an incredible 2nd option.

• 100% of first emails opened
• 90% sales meeting / opportunities vs email contact
• Actual closed deals per sent emails….60%

Yes folks, the all new, guaranteed to boost your sales method taking “serious” sales professionals by storm has arrived!!! it’s called….

REFERRALS

Some more STAS to consider…

• 73% of executives prefer to work with sales professionals referred by someone they know. (Source: IDC)
• Salespeople who actively seek out and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than those who don’t.
• 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know.
• 91% of customers say they’d give referrals. Only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals
• Companies with formalized referral programs experience 86% more revenue growth over the past two years when compared to the rest.
• The lifetime value of referred customers is on average 16% higher than that of non-referred customers. (Source: Wharton School of Business)

Oh…and I don’t want to forget to mention….

IT’S FREE!!.

…yes, it’s

TOTALLY FREE!!

I love social media – I love emails and automated systems – they are totally helpful but personal referral, after all of these years – still out-trumps pretty much all the competition when it comes to closed deals.

The reality is … very few people suffer from “closing” problems in sales. They suffer from “opening” problems in as much as they don’t have enough clients to get in front of!

Let me finish where I started….” THE BEST PLACE TO GET NEW BUSINESS IS…

NEW BUSINESS!!

Ask for referrals!!

Wanting to talk about boosting your sales – pop me a call – and let me introduce you to my 4 Pillars of Sales program. Referrals (On steroids) and many other extremely easy and practical tools are discussed as well as Developing a Solid Sales philosophy and exploring your Uniqueness.

Get some steroids to assist you get to your goals.

Go for it!