Are These Common Excuses Hurting Your Business Development?
Joanne Black, Founder of No More Cold Calling, Speaker, and Author
You would think that asking for referrals would be the #1 sales strategy for every account executive, but referrals are often not even on their radar. It’s one of the most effective prospecting strategy but also one of the most overlooked.
The Business Case for Referral-Based Business Development
Asking for referrals could be your company’s biggest competitive differentiator. Account executives get in with a referral introduction, build strong and lasting relationships, and become privy to exclusive information. They have the inside track, so they:
- Get every meeting in one call
- Get insights into prospects’ problems, challenges, decision processes, and what’s really going on
- Ensure every lead is qualified — no more smoke and mirrors
- Reduce the time to close deals, which reduces the cost of sales
- Increase the lead-to-close rate by more than 50% (usually more like 70%)
If referrals are so great, what gets in the way?
Why Salespeople Aren’t Asking for Referrals
Salespeople have many misconceptions about referrals, all of which quickly become excuses to keep relying on digital technology for lead generation and business development.
Salespeople tell themselves:
- Referrals take too long, and we have goals to meet.
- We can’t rely solely on referrals to build a pipeline.
- We’ll run out of people to ask for referrals.
- Referrals don’t scale, so it doesn’t make sense to start.
- We can just research trigger events, drop a name, and get a meeting.
Referrals only work for salespeople who build relationships to close deals. Their sales cycle is already long, and they understand how referrals can help them get into their accounts and create a larger footprint. Research is important, but sending a cold email citing a trigger event puts your sales team in the same league with all the other salespeople doing cold outreach. A referral is only a referral when your team receives an introduction.
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