Why Is It So Hard to Ask for a Referral? [February Referral Selling Insights]

It’s noisy out there. Getting meetings with decision-makers is a struggle, and we all look alike to our buyers. A referral introduction guarantees you score almost every meeting in one call, and you convert prospects to clients well more than 50 percent of the time.
Yet, unless yours is among the 5 percent of sales organizations that have built referral selling skills, set referral metrics, and made referrals the way you work every day, you’re missing out on your biggest competitive tool.
In most organizations, referrals are happenstance, because salespeople only occasionally think to ask for a referral. But quotas and KPIs aren’t happenstance. Prospects and clients aren’t happenstance. And your job shouldn’t be happenstance.
Pay attention. If you’re working too hard and still not getting the sales leads that you need, it’s time to change the game. My new Sales Gravy University course—”No More Cold Calling: How to Sell More with Referrals“—shows