Rantings of a Referral Renegade

What do Spring, Mom’s, and Referrals have in common?

davidlsims — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:54:18 +0000

Spring is the time to salute mom’s and a time to plant your seeds. A good study for you is the parable of “the sower” in the bible. Study it to see how you can use it in your business. In life you “reap what you sow.” If you sow positive seeds, you’ll reap positive results. If you sow negative seeds, you’ll reap negative results. If you’re networking to grow your business you have to sow a lot of seeds to reap a good abundant harvest. You’ll sow some seeds and they’ll fall on the rocks and blow away. You’ll sow some seeds and they’ll fall in the thorns and be lost. You’ll sow some seeds and the birds will eat them. But you’ll sow some seeds and they’ll fall on fertile soil and sprout and multiple. That’s what you want to happen with your referral efforts. That’s how you’ll build a propersous business. Remember you must do one of two things. Either become very good at sowing in the spring or “begging in the fall.”

Go Make it happen. Enrich your life using referrals.

Why is “Word Of Mouth” marketing critical to your business? “Word Of Mouth” is another word for Referrals.

davidlsims — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:25:00 +0000

The easiest sale you’ll ever make is to a client you already have. The SECOND EASIEST sale you’ll ever make is to a prospect you obtained from “Word Of Mouth” or a Referral. Why are these sources of prospects critical to you and your business? It’s very simple. You whole business and lifestyle can be built upon the quality of the prospects you receive. In other words, the most important part of the sales prospect is the quality of the prospect you’re calling on. Unfortunately most people struggle with the referral process. They struggle with making it work. The reason? They just don’t know what to say to motivate people to refer them. I hope you don’t fall in this category. However, if you do, here’s a few things you can do to get around that challenge. First, call on people you have a very good relationship with. If you have a great relationship with business people, call on them to discuss how to make the referral process work. Second, call on your clients. They trust you or they wouldn’t still be doing business with you. (The three critical reasons people do business with you is; One, they like you, two they trust you, or three, you have a good product or service they need. Of the three components, “TRUST” is the most critical.) So call on your clients to talk about making the referral process work for you.

There are so many great benefits to getting referrals. First, they’re easier to sell. Second, they trust you more than other kinds of prospects. Third, they’re more likely to refer you because that’s how they were introduced to you. Fourth, they’re less likely to negotiate prices with you. Fifth, they’ll stay with you longer as a customer. They’re many more benefits of the referral process that I list elsewhere.

Once you’ve learned what to say to motivate people to refer you and even motivate them to call can schedule the appointments for you, you’ll join the top 5% of the sales producers in the U.S.

Soar With The Eagles

David L.Sims

The Best Things In Life Come From Referrals!

davidlsims — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:06:43 +0000

This is the time of year I take time to reflect on my life and what’s happened in the past 12 months. One of the best blessings we received is our little 5 month old son, Eddie Conner Sims. He is such a wonderful addition. Also, I recently went on a five day camp trip with a group of friends. One of my closest friends is a remarkable individual by the name of Bill West. He’s better known as Biz Coach Bill. I was referred to Bill over 20 years ago when he was running a stainless fabrication company he founded. He became a client and later a close friend. His insurance agent, also named Bill, referred Bill to me. Thanks Bill for the referral.

A few years later Biz Coach Bill referred me to the president of a binder company that provided my first large client that launched my career. Thanks Bill for the referral.

About 15 years ago a business associate named Lou referred me to his office manager for a date to a party. That great referral later turned into my wife and partner for life. From that referral we now have a beautiful 4 year old little girl named Amanda and our little boy, Eddie. Thanks Lou for the referral.

As I reflect on almost all of the great blessings I have in this life I can honestly say that approximately 100% of those blessings have been a product of “referrals.”

So what’s the big deal? Everyone gets referrals, right? Not really. Most people confuse networking with the “referral” process. You must understand that networking is a “passive” way to try to generate referrals. By that I mean you go to a networking function and mingle, have a few drinks, hand out business cards and hope someone will refer to you. That’s the shotgun approach to getting referrals. If you really want to be successful in business and life you must use the rifle approach for the referral process. You must know exactly who you want to be referred to and know exactly what you want said about you and exactly how you want to be positioned. When you accomplish that, you’ll begin having exponential growth. You’ll also see more wonderful things happening for your life.

As this year begins to wind down, reflect on you past 12 months and evaluate how many new relationships you’ve developed. Then determine how many of them come from referrals. With the direction our economy is heading. With the lack of leadership in our country. With the massive debt we are having heaped upon us, it is more important than ever that you expand your business and relationships utilizing the referral process. It is the most efficient and effective way to go about building a profitable business.

We are really moving into a time that reminds me of the great novel, Atlas Shrugged. You must use every slight edge available to you to succeed.

Keep the wind to your back, your powder dry, and soar with the eagles.

David

What’s The Difference Between The 5 percenter Referral System And The 80 percenter Referral System?

davidlsims — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:51:43 +0000

I had coffee on yesterday with a client I worked with one-on-one over 6 years ago. I taught him how to win at his sales profession by getting “Relationship Referrals.” He’s not a business owner but an account executive for his company. 80% of the population will invest more money for their entertainment than they will for their professional development. This isn’t so with this client. He hired me to teach him the secrets of using his relationships to get referred to more business. Most business people make the mistake of trying to get referrals using the “networking” technique. You know that system. Got to a meeting with a lot of strangers, drink and mingle, hand out business cards and use the “crossed-fingers” technique to try to get referrals. Most people don’t even try to get referrals but if you’re using the “networking” technique, how’s that working for you?

If you want to be in the top 5% of producing professionals, like the client I had coffee with, you need to use your relationships to get referrals, to leverage the sales process. When you use this system your income will be in the top 5% of income earners. You’ll drastically improve the prospects you get introduced to but using only a fraction of the time.

Don’t have a system you say? If you’d like to know how to leverage your relationships to generate all the business you can handle, contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction.

David Sims, E-mail…david@davidsimscoaching.com…phone…417-831-0050.

What’s An Effective Way For Nonprofits To Get Referrals?

davidlsims — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:21:41 +0000

I’ve been a volunteer for non-profits for over 20 years. One of the most traditional (andvery unimaginative) ways that non-profits attempt to raise money is the very bland letter campaign. Here’s how it goes. The organization sends a very impersonal letter to the prospective donar and basically the message is this. “We need money for our organization, would you like to send us a great BIG check?” You and I know that the marjority of those letters get quickly tossed in the trash can.

The biggest challenge for fund-raising is to get the prospect to agree to donate the first time. If they can get them to donate the first time then there is a good chance that the donar will stay quite a long while. And they’ll contribute with very little effort or creativity on behalf of the non-profit organization.

So what’s an organization to do? Here’s an answer. A very effective way to get new donars is by the “Referral Method.” There are several different effective ways to make the referral process work. The technique to use here is called, “The Target Method To Get Referrals.” Here’s how it works. Make a “Target List Of Companies” you’ve never had as contibutors. When you have a meeting with any of your volunteers, give them a copy of the list and ask them who they know on the list. When your volunteer identifies someone, ask them to call the prospective donar to set up a meeting. You’ll be surprised at how many new donars you’ll capture just by asking a simple question.

David Sims is a business coach specializing in Referrals and Selling. If you have questions concerning the referral or sales process, you can contact him at david@davidsimscoaching.com or 417-831-0050.

It’s A Boy…Best Referral I Ever Got!

davidlsims — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:42:51 +0000

IT’S A BOY!
And it’s the result of the “best referral” I ever received!

Several years ago I belonged to a Breakfast Club. I was a member for about 10 years and it was a great group to belong to. The group began as a business club and the goal was to help each other build our businesses. The way we did that was by referring business to each other. This club was very effective.

Maybe you’ve belonged to “networking clubs” before. Maybe they were successful for you or maybe they weren’t. Most of the business people I’ve talked to about networking groups tell me they invested a lot of effort and received very little return in new business.

What Made This Club So Effective?

There were some key elements that made this club so effective?
First; we met at breakfast. Meeting at breakfast weekly takes more commitment than meeting at lunch. Usually, everyone is looking for some place to eat lunch. So the first key in getting referrals is “Commitment” on the part of the members. Many people will refer if it’s convenient and not much effort is required. But to really make the referral process work, it takes commitment on the part of the members.

Second; the group consisted of only “business owners or key decision-makers” for their company. Many times you may attend “networking functions” and the majority of participants are salespeople. They are there to strictly sell you something. When they’ve gone through the membership they then move on to the next group.

Third; A major reason our group was so effective was that the majority of the membership joined “To Develop Relationships.” I was a member for almost 10 years. I developed relationships with many of the members. I still see many of the members on a regular basis.

Fourth; We had open houses on a regular basis at one of the members place of business. It’s what happened at one of these open houses, several years ago, that led to “The Best Referral I Ever Received.” I attended an open house at one of our members business. I coach the racquetball team at Missouri State University and our practice usually runs late. So when I would go to the open houses, I was usually a little late. This particular day I was running later than usual and when I got to the open house the only people left were the business owner and his staff.

The owner asked me if I was going to attend the next club function. This function was really for couples and I was single. I told him that I probably wouldn’t go because I didn’t have a date. He suggested that I should go with his office manager. (He referred me to his manager because he thought we’d be a good match). I’d had a couple of glasses of wine. (I very seldom drink wine). So with the courage of a couple of glasses of wine I asked her if she’d like to go to the party. She promptly said, “absolutely NO way.”

Some time later, with the prompting of the owner, I asked again. She replied, “absolutely NO way.” I’ve been in sales for many years and when someone tells me “No”, that means to me that they just need more information so they can say, “Yes.” So after the FOURTH time I asked her she said, “Okay, I’ll go.” That was about fourteen years ago.

That Was The Best Referral I Ever Received. Here’s the reason why. On the 29th of June of this year my wife gave birth to our second child. It’s a boy weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces. His name is Eddie Connor Sims and he’s as beautiful as our little girl Amanda.

My family is the most important thing in my life. They occurred because a person referred someone to me who was a perfect fit.

“Referrals Go Back To The Future”. What worked at one time in the marketplace seems to continue to work.

davidlsims — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:28:36 +0000

I’ve talked with several business owners in the past 12 months. The majority of the businesses I work with have less than 50 employees. Many of them fall into the category of 5 to 20 employees. Many are expressing similiar concerns. Their business has slowed. Many companies are not investing because they don’t know what the future holds with this administration. And even with all the assurances from our sqeaky cleann, above the board” Secretary of The Treasury, that our economy is getting much better, some are still skeptical. Therefore, they’re playing their cards close to their vest, conserving their money, and aren’t investing in any new ventures until they have a better feeling about the economic future of our country.

So where can you find new business? One of the most celebrated “direct-market copywriters” in this country is Dan Kennedy. Dan’s made millions of dollars from writing the copy for direct-marketing campaigns. (For those of you not familiar with Dan, one of the clients you might be familiar with is the Guther-Renky corporation. You know them I’m sure, they’re the Proactive people using Jessica Simpson as a spokes person.)

Dan, along with many other famous direct-market guru’s will tell you that the “easiest sale you’ll ever make is to a current customer. The “second easiest sale” you’ll ever make is to a Referral. The major challenge most people have though is, “they don’t have a good system to generate referrals on a consistent basis.

What’s really interesting is that with the advent of all the new “electronic media gizmos and gadgets” the best marketing tool for you to progress through this time and continue to stay in business, and even prosper, is a good old referral. But if you’re like most folks, you just don’t have a good system to generate a constant supply of quality referrals. I’m going to give you a few hints about how to get “more and better referrals.”

First, you need to really understand what market you’re going after. I remember working with a business owner. He had an office supply company. I asked him the question, “who’s an IDEAL client for you?” His reply was, “anybody who can stand upright and fog a mirror.” (Clearly he didn’t have a clue). So my response to that was, “so it doesn’t matter if one person buys one red, number 2, pencil and the next one buys $100,000.00 of office furniture and equpiment. You think of them equally and you would just as soon have one prospect as the other.

He screamed, “NO”! I want more of the ones buying the “high-dollar” equipment. So as he found out, and you’ll find out the same thing, you need to know the kinds of prospects you want to build your business with. You need a clear description of the kinds of prospects you want plus a description of the kinds you don’t want. You can then tell the people willing to refer you exactlly the kinds of prospects you want to be introduced to.

This is very important because most people ask for referrals incorrectly. The question most often asked is, “Who do you know who needs my service?” This is tough for the person you’re asking because they try to think of someone in the same position as themselves and it just doesn’t happen.

Have you ever asked someone to refer you and they reply, “Hey, I don’t mind referring to you. Let me think about it and when I come up with some names I’ll call you.” You then think to youself, “Man, I’m going to get loads and loads of referrals.” But for some reason that person never calls you and you never bring the subject up again. And then you say to yourself, “this referral stuff just doesn’t work for me like it does for some others. After you think it over for some time you then just decide to go back to cold calling or get another job or just settle for what you can get.

It doesn’t have to be that way for you. It’s easy to get referrals if you know how to position yourself and know the right words to say.

Soar With The Eagles

David L. Sims

Hello world!

davidlsims — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:05:59 +0000

Self introductions are so hard for one person to make about onesself. So if you’d like to find out a little more about me you can go to my website: www.davidsimscoaching.com If you have any questions you can post them or use my contact information.

Soar With The Eagles

David L. Sims