Leveraging your network for sales referrals is technique that prevailed for ages, but it’s not always the easiest thing to do. It can be hard to know when and how to ask in a way that isn’t pushy or uncomfortable. And that’s the reason many reps hold their tongues. But the truth of the matter undeniable – asking for referrals in the right way will introduce you to really valuable contacts.
In fact, 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know.
With numbers that high, it’s hard to argue against. Yet the issue that arrises is how and when to ask. Our long time sales rep Kenny Traber has experienced huge success both in strategy and software to help make the referral process both smooth and professional. Let’s take a look at his best tips:
Transcript
Hey, Kenny Traber, Account Executive here at Salesloft. Today I want to talk to you about referrals and how you can leverage cadences to get more of them. We genuinely believe that people like to help other people. And that being the case, we believe that referrals can be a great source of new business. People see the value of your product, and this extends to business. If you have prospects and customers that truly believe in your product, they can be a great new source of revenue or new opportunities for you. Here are two ways that I’ve been able to leverage referrals with success, and I’d like to talk to you about them today so that you can get two to three times more yourself. The first rule of getting referrals, and this might sound obvious, is that you have to ask. If you don’t ask for a referral, it’s not as likely that you’ll get one.
The ask for a referral doesn’t have to be too complicated. What I like to say verbatim, and some of you have probably seen this in an email from me, who else in your network could benefit from an evaluation of Salesloft? It’s that simple. When you get that reply, it’s much easier to have a warm intro to that person rather than your typical cold conversation. When they reply, you might even be surprised how excited they are to give you your referral because of how great of an experience they’ve had with your product.
The second tip is to supplement software into the referral process to make it more simple. A common response the first time you ask for a referral is that they probably know someone, but they just can’t think of them off the top of their head. This response totally makes sense. They’re probably busy, they’re working on other things, they likely weren’t expecting for you to ask for a referral. But don’t let this response discourage you. You can even let the prospect know that you’re going to add them into a Salesloft cadence, so you’ll follow up with them in a couple days. Send something you know is a value add based on your previous conversations, and then maybe a P.S. line, did you get a chance to think about someone else in your network who could benefit from evaluating Salesloft?
Another piece of software that I’ve been leveraging recently is called Bravado. Bravado makes it incredibly simple to send a link to a prospect, so that they can click that link, spend 20 to 30 seconds typing out who they know in their network, and then it creates a repository of all those referrals for me as a sales rep to leverage. Thanks so much for watching the sales tip video today. Before we end, I have one question for you. Who in your network could benefit from evaluating Salesloft? Click the link at the end of this video to see Bravado in action and send me a referral. Thanks.