Customer introductions are said to be the best tool for all salespeople to generate leads. According to those sales legends, customer introductions are the key to achieving the best sales results.
Less than 30 minutes into the sales world, most salespeople are told that they have to get customer introductions from customers and customers if they want to be successful. However, few salespeople get a lot of high-quality customer introductions. Of course, a handful of salespeople have figured out how to get enough quality customer introductions to make successful sales. Such people can now only be counted as the exception, not as the rule. In addition, research shows that salespeople who learn how to get a large number of high-quality customer referrals earn the industry average.
Four, five times. There are also other salespeople who get a few names and ** numbers from somewhere, and then think they got a customer introduction. Unfortunately, most of these "customer introductions" don't lead to successful sales. Of course, this kind of "customer introduction" can occasionally lead to a sale, but most of the time it doesn't have to be useful to have a randomly picked name and number from a book.
Most salespeople find that customer introductions aren't as magical as they are claimed. In fact, customer introductions have proven to be so disappointing that most salespeople don't ask for customer introductions at all. Many salespeople quickly conclude that customer introductions aren't worth their time and effort. These salespeople believe that customer introductions are just legends, or that customers won't make introductions, or even don't make introductions at all.
In fact, the problem is not the customer or the customer introduction, but the way the salesperson obtains the customer introduction. Here are the top 10 mistakes salespeople make when it comes to customer presentations:
1.No presentation requested. If you don't ask for an introduction, then it's not surprising that the customer doesn't help you. Almost 70% of salespeople don't ask customers for introductions at all. They avoid talking about this topic!
In addition, salespeople who don't ask for introductions have a lot of excuses: salespeople don't ask customers for introductions because they know they won't get them anywayThey have no one to introduce to their customers, which is embarrassing for them;Their customers are too busy to introduce;They don't want customers to feel like they're asking for a business or asking for help. These are the excuses. Salespeople don't ask for introductions because they're afraid to ask.
2.Just ask once. Research shows that even when a salesperson asks for an introduction, he or she will only ask once. Of course, it's better to ask once than not at all. But statistically speaking, you can only get 147 names and ** numbers, which is less than the average number of introductions per customer - 15 pcs. Since most of the "customer introductions" that salespeople usually get are not of high quality, the average referral per prospect is less than 15 is not so optimistic. This means that salespeople have to ask for more customer introductions to close a sale.
However, the same study also showed that salespeople who asked twice got a name and ** from each customer with a name and ** of 203 pcs. This means that for every 10 customers asked, the salesperson who asked only once would get 14 names and numbers, while the salesperson who asked twice would get 20 customer introductions – almost 50% more. Well, even though the quality of the customer presentation is not higher than the former, the chances of the latter making a sale have increased – just one more question.
What about those who have the guts to ask a third time?The average number of customer referrals they get from each customer is 328 pcs. As a result, for every 10 requests made to customers, these salespeople get 32 introductions, more than three times as many as those who ask only once. Do you think they're going to sell more than salespeople who don't ask or just ask once, or even twice?
3.Only make suggestions, do not directly ask for introductions. Many salespeople "suggest" customers for introductions rather than asking them directly. They'll tactfully make a request and say, "This customer, if you meet someone who can use my product or service, can you send them my card?"Or they might say, "This customer, if there's anyone I know that I can help with, I'd appreciate it if I could introduce them." ”
It's nothing more than a coward's practice of running away from the problem. They are reluctant to offend customers and therefore are reluctant to ask for introductions. But they don't want to miss out on the opportunity to be introduced. So their solution is to advise the client to tell someone else their name. If that's how you get referrals, don't expect a client to call you.
4.Wait until the sale is complete to ask the customer for an introduction. Most people who ask customers for introductions wait until the sale is complete before bringing up the topic. One of the problems with salespeople when asking for customer introductions is that based on their own experience, they think that asking for customer introductions will lead to customer unhappiness. Requests for customer introductions don't seem to be popular with most customers. That's true – but it's not because the introduction request itself is offensive, it's because it's not at the right time.
The salesperson waits until the last minute to throw out the topic of the customer's introduction, which does not give the customer time to think about who to introduce, and the customer's mind is no longer on the sale. Because the sale has already been done. It's over. The client has shifted his mind to something else. They're just waiting for the salesperson to leave so they can start doing something else. Then, all of a sudden, the customer's request for an introduction was thrown out, trying to get both sides to think back to the sale. What was a simple request has now turned into an offensive offense.
5.Focus on the needs of sales, not on the needs of customers. A typical customer introduction request would look like this: "This customer, I'd like to ask you for a favor. If you can give me the names and numbers of a few people (or companies) and let me help them as if I were helping you, that would do me a great favor. Or: "Does this customer know anyone else who might use my services?"If you can tell me their names, that would do me a great favor. ”
Clients are willing to make introductions, not because they like you, not because they respect you, or because you're doing a good job. Customers are people, too, so like most people, they do things because it's good for them. Most of the time, customers don't care if they can help you, they care about whether they can help themselves. That's not to say that there won't be a handful of clients who will introduce you for free, there will be a handful of people who do. But most customers won't.
Most salespeople focus on themselves, not the customer, when they ask for introductions from customers. To successfully get an introduction, you must give the client a reason to make the introduction for his benefit, not for yours.
6.There is no definition of what makes a good customer presentation. Basically, few salespeople let their customers know what a good customer presentation looks like. But in fact, they assume that the customer understands what a good customer presentation is.
Even though you know what you want a good customer presentation to look like, the customer doesn't. They need guidance. There, you silently say, "Introduce me to a client like you!"They thought, "What does this guy want?"How do I get rid of him?"If you want to get a good introduction, you have to let the customer know what kind of people you want him to introduce. If you can't do it, it will be difficult to guarantee the effect of the introduction.
7.I don't understand the psychology of customer introduction. Getting a lot of good customer introductions from customers and prospects is not an easy task. In fact, less than 15% of salespeople get enough high-quality introductions to significantly improve their sales performance.
As a salesperson, to successfully get customer introductions, you must understand the psychology of customer introductions. Customers and prospects will assume that the person they introduce to you is more demanding and important than their own, that they are more strict about the details of the sales process, and that they are less satisfied with the sales than they are.
In addition to this, customers and prospects will introduce you to third parties with whom they have various affiliations. Some of the people you introduce will trust and respect the choice of the customer or prospect. Others are ordinary acquaintances, who can neither trust nor distrust. Others even have neither trust nor respect for your customers.
And what makes this even more complicated is that you have to understand the psychology of your sales through customer introductions. Figuring out what's going on in your head is just as important as figuring out what's going on in the head of your customers and prospects.
Unless you have a good understanding of the psychology of customer introductions and the relationship between customers and the prospect they are referred to, the chances of you succeeding in making a large number of sales through customer introductions are extremely low. As with many sales behaviors, this process depends more on psychological factors than physical ones.
8.Call the referred prospects. When you get an introduction from a client, you're naturally inclined to grab ** and call that potential client. That's not right. If you just grab the ** and hit it, you may make the potential customer think that you are just another ** marketing person, and will subconsciously hang up your **, and you haven't even had time to report the name of the customer who introduced the customer.
There are many ways to reach a referred prospect, but the key is to get a referral from someone else, not just the name and number of the person you referred.
9.Didn't help the customer with the introduction. Despite the most effort, even salespeople who have successfully made a large number of sales through customer introductions will encounter situations where customers and prospects claim that there is no suitable person to introduce. However, these sales masters still get some high-quality customer introductions.
How did they do it?They don't sit back and wait for clients to discover people or companies to introduce. Rather than passively expecting customers to make introductions, like most salespeople, they take the initiative to help customers make high-quality introductions. They identify the people they want to introduce from their customers' connections and ask them to introduce themselves.
10.Failure to earn customer referrals through hard work. If you want to get a lot of good customer referrals, you can't just ask them for it – you have to act in exchange for customer introductions. Customer introductions are not given in a vacuum, and people need to work hard to exchange them.
Salespeople who are successful at customer introductions understand that the quantity and quality of customer introductions they receive depends on giving the customer the sales experience they want to have—not the experience that the salesperson wants to sell to the customer. So they find out what customers want and expect in the sales process, and then satisfy them exactly to win introductions.
If you don't put in the effort, you ask the client to introduce you and don't expect anything to happen. And it's not up to you to decide if you're already eligible to win a referral – it's up to the client, so you have to give the client an objective way to decide if you're eligible to win a referral.
Obviously, it can be difficult to get a lot of high-quality customer introductions. If it's easy to do, then everyone in salespeople will do it. However, by understanding what causes you to miss out on customer referrals, and then learning how to fix them, you'll be able to get a lot of great referrals. Selling through customer introductions doesn't depend on luck, or finding the "right way" customers, or using bribes or incentives. This requires you to understand the sales process well enough to overcome the issues associated with getting referrals, implement referrals, and then hone your skills in this area. Once you've mastered the mechanics and honed your skills to the fullest, customer introductions will become a natural part of your sales process.
Whether you're selling a product or service, whether you're selling to an individual or a business, no matter how expensive your product or service is and how long the sales cycle is, you can build your business on the basis of customer introductions. All it takes is your knowledge, skills, and actions.
This article is from *** Sales Director Information (non-profit organization;CSO Information;Assist sales practitioners to better engage in business development).