Who to Ask for a Referral.

If you want a great referral, you must ask somebody who already trusts you.

This seems obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many times sales pros ask for referrals right after making their first sale - even though they haven't yet proven that they can deliver anything other than a handshake.

There are three types of people who trust you and can therefore be asked to give you a referral:

1. Current Clients. These must clients who have done enough business with you in the past so that they know, beyond doubt, that that you're a valuable and trusted resource.
2. Referred Contacts. If you met the contact through a referral, there is a residue of trust because the original referrer has already "endorsed" you. You can therefore use your natural credibility to establish the trust that gives you the right to ask for a referral.
3. Friends and Family. Don't laugh. Statistically, it's a better than even chance that you know somebody who knows somebody who knows Bill Gates personally - or anyone else in the world. And your friends and family trust you (I hope), so you have the right to ask for a referral.

Ask at the right time. This isn't a sales pitch. Referral Selling is all about leveraging a social connection, even when that connection is in a business context. The tone of the meeting has to be that of a meeting between friends (or potential friends) rather than the classic interaction between sales rep and customer.

Ask for an action. If all you get from the Referral Source is contact info, you're just setting yourself up for a cold call to a qualified lead. A referral isn't real unless the Referral Source takes some action to bring you together with the New Contact. So you need to ask the Referral Source to call or e-mail, and (IMPORTANT!) get back to you to confirm that the action has been taken.

Follow-up three times. To get the maximum benefit from the referral, follow-up three times:

1. Within one day of the referral meeting, contact the Referral Source with your thanks for the referral. You're not just being polite, this gracefully reminds the Referral Source of the commitment to make the referral.
2. After you've reached the New Contact, send another thank-you to the Referral Source, to give a status report. (E.g. "You were right; Natalie is terrific!").
3. If the referral results in a sale, by all means send another thank-you. That's the big payoff - because the sale you made benefits you, benefits the new customer, and benefits the Referral Source, who can now bask in the knowledge that he's helped make two of his friends successful!

It occurs to me that I haven't yet gotten any comments from people who primarily use referral selling, as opposed to cold-calling, to develop new business. I know that this stuff works for me, but is it working for you?