#Referral September 26
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
There is a technique that many sales people don’t use enough. It is asking for REFERRALS. Sales managers often become exasparated with their teams because in spite of the documented success it is not embraced by many in the sales or recruitment profession.
Look at some potential stats on REFERRALS vs cold calling.
- A cold lead, or an inbound lead from a random source, has a closing rate of around 25% to 30%.
- REFERRALS has a closing rate of 50%.
I am not sure why more people don’t ask for REFERRALS but my hunch is has to do with ego, fear, and maybe low self-esteem. Asking for help may be viewed by some salespeople as a weakness or revealing that they are not good enough. I think that is as Zig Ziglar says “Stinking Thinking”.
The toughest part of a REFERRAL is the ask.
When I was a college basketball coach I would never hesitate to ask a high school coach or referee the question -have you seen any prospects we should be recruiting. When I became a Director of Athletics and was recruiting for a staff/coaching vacancy I would always call peers. I asked them who in their league was a good candidate.
As Chief of Staff I would also call universities that had just conducted a similar search and find out who the #2 or #3 finalists was. Often times I would not even have to call as universities sometimes post the names online of finalists on their websites.
Here is an example 2019 list of finalist provost
I have had colleagues cringe when I mention this REFERRAL technique because they felt like if the person wasn’t good enough for university X then they would not be good fit for them. I believe they are wrong. Often times searches have 2 or 3 excellent candidates but they can only hire 1.
There is a reason REFERRALS work at a better rate than cold calls. If you are in the business of sales or recruiting talent you should utilize the technique. Ask!
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