You never know where your next referral will come from

The other day I received a call on my cell from a person I did not know, who was referred from a person I did not know, who was referred from a person I probably did know but she didn’t know her name.

Sound confusing?

Well, I was confused but met with the couple a few days later.

These folks were ready to purchase and it wasn’t a very difficult presentation or sale.  You see, my referrer made the sale for me.  But, it was difficult to get a referral out of them.

Now, the reason I mention this story is this should have been a slam-dunk-lay-down referral opportunity and conversion.

Well, it didn’t happen.

BUT, I didn’t give up and sent them my normal “thank you” note for working with me. 

By the way, you should be sending notes thanking folks for doing business with you and include TWO BUSINESS CARDS and ask for a referral.

AND, you should always reward your referrer for referring you business (this can be done by acknowledging the referrer or sending a gift)

Anyway, the reason I mentioned this story is because I sent the “thank you” note and business cards for doing business with me (I still don’t know who the original referral is).

Well, upon receiving my “thank you” card this nice couple sent me a referral.

I haven’t met with my new referral yet but the point is to always be asking for referrals.  Never give up!  If I had given up during the presentation I would not have gotten that referral.

The other lesson is to always follow-up with thank you notes.  It’ll take you less than 2 minutes to “hand-write” and mail the note but the return on that postage stamp might just make you a nice sale, sometimes several times over.

And you never know where that next referral sale might come from.

Happy Selling!

David…

P.S.  “Thank You” notes should be part of your follow-up-system.  Remember, stay-in-touch and follow-up are separate systems you  should have in place.  And, of course, always automate where ever and whenever you can.

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