Recently I was fortunate to speak on Cape Cod at a Power Sales Summit. I covered how to get more referrals, and how to build deeper relationships with others, so that they refer you to your future customers.
After the presentation, one attendee wanted to talk about how she could make 4 sales in her business by the end of the year. As we talked further, we talked less and less about referrals, and more and more about sales.
Here’s the thing…
There is certainly a strategy here to increase referrals for her type of sales, but that is a much longer process. She actually needs the sales to occur in the next two weeks so that the service can be delivered by Dec 25th. In this case, without a strong network, referrals are just not the ideal path to this goal!
This is why relationships matter so much and why we must work hard to build relationships with people wherever we are, and whenever we can. Relationships are the glue of our business. They are the clear driver behind getting more referrals!
Dig deep on your relationships, make them matter, and make a lot of them. It’s ok to have different depths on these relationships. They will range from acquaintances to deep and close personal bonds.
How did we end up the call?
We talked about the sense of urgency and the need for her to be very active reaching out! She wanted to reach out to businesses that are close in proximity. I recommended she email the contact, then follow up with a phone call.
I don’t know everything about sales, but I do know, AND agree with this…
“You don’t close a sale until you open a relationship!” -Karen Dunne-Squire