Turn Cold Calls Into Hot Leads With Referral Selling

Turn Cold Calls Into Hot Leads
With Referral Selling
BE S T OF DR E A MFORCE 2 014
Joanne S. Black
Founder
No More Cold Calling

InsideSales.com Share this eBook:
Page 2
What’s your favorite kind of sales call?
Do you enjoy hounding total strang-
ers who act too busy to listen to a single
word you say?
Or do you prefer to connect with pros-
pects who genuinely want to learn more
about how you can help them?
One of the biggest challenges in profes-
sional B2B sales is reaching busy decision
makers. They rarely agree to take sales
calls. And even when they do, their atten-
tion spans are short.
Many salespeople try to use “warm” calls
to accelerate the process. But “warm”
calls don’t really exist. Every sales call is
either hot or cold. Hot means you have
an introduction from somebody your
prospect knows.
The best salespeople know that a hot
introduction is similar to skipping the first
date. It allows you to fast-forward past all
of the awkward, uncomfortable moments
and start from a place of mutual trust.
That’s why referrals are so effective — and
why top performers make it a priority
to build up a steady stream of personal
introductions.
Referrals convert to customers 50
percent to 70 percent of the time. No
other sales or marketing strategy
comes close to matching this incred-
ible success rate.
But, sadly, most salespeople don’t have a
system for finding referrals and following
up in a natural way. So they often struggle
while the “lucky few” who have mastered
referral selling consistently close more
deals with less stress.
It’s not magic. Anybody can learn to turn
hot introductions into happy customers.
Joanne Black, America’s leading author-
ity on referral selling, shares her secrets
in this easy-to-digest ebook. It’s based
on her popular Dreamforce presentation,
“Harness the Power of Referrals to Pack
Your Pipeline.”
Joanne’s proven process will help you
quickly establish trust with your buyers
and crush your quotas. It follows the
same simple step-by-step system she
outlines in her best-selling book, No More
Cold Calling™.
Click here to view Joanne’s Dreamforce
presentation.
Introduction

Page 3
Table of Contents
Introduction��2
About the Author��3
Lies Your Sales Coach Tells You��4
Essential Elements of a Referral Business��5
Referral Follow-up��7
Summary Credits��8
Joanne Black
Founder of No More
Cold Calling
—
nomorecoldcalling.com
Joanne Black is America’s leading authority
on referral selling. She founded No More Cold
Calling in 1996 when she discovered that
sales executives loved referrals, but they often
lacked strategies to consistently generate the
referrals they craved. She is the author of
two books, which you can find on Amazon:
No More Cold Calling and Pick Up the Damn
Phone! How People, Not Technology, Seal
the Deal.

Page 4
Lies Your Sales Coach Tells You
Stop Misusing ‘Warm’
Calls and Social Media
This might startle a lot of salespeople who
have been in the game for a while: There
is no such thing as a “warm” call. It is a
mythical creature like a leprechaun or a
jackalope. Salespeople often say, “I am
not cold calling. I’m making a warm call
because I have a name.” Unfortunately, a
name is not enough.
If you call, email or reach out through
social media with just a name, that is ice
cold. It doesn’t really matter that Mike
refers you to Sally, unless Mike actually
introduces you to Sally. When you reach
out to someone who doesn’t know you
and isn’t expecting to hear from you,
that’s a cold call.
Hot means you have an introduction.
That is the definition of a referral. Without
an introduction, your referral is colder than
the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.
Many salespeople are misbehaving on
social media. They forget to put the social
in social selling. If you want a referral, you
must build a relationship.
In person, we build a relationship by shak-
ing hands, hugging, smiling or engaging
in a conversation. We need to make our
online interactions more personal and
less salesy.
Never ask for a referral online.
LinkedIn gives you the ability to ask for a
referral. But these requests often annoy
people because you are just assuming
that your connection wants to make the
introduction. Remember, just because two
people are connected on LinkedIn doesn’t
mean they actually know each other. You
need to have a conversation first.
When asking for a referral, explain
the business reason for wanting an
introduction to your prospect.

Page 5
your CRM and marketing automation. As a
salesperson, part of your job is to gener-
ate your own qualified leads. Referrals get
integrated into the sales process.
Referrals aren’t outside the way you
work; they become the way you work.
Network. Ask people how you can help
them. Proactively request referrals. Let
people know who they should introduce
you to and why. Highlight the busi-
ness impact.
Build metrics around referrals.
Some sales leaders think referrals are
nice to have, but they can’t measure them
because they are squishy. You can mea-
sure referrals, as long as you understand
that they take time to develop.
3 Simple Steps to Building an Effective System
of a Referral Business
Essential Elements
Here is what you need to run a successful
referral business:
1. Written referral sales plan
2. Way to track and measure referrals
3. Accountability for results
Let’s discuss each in a little more depth.
Have a clearly defined sales plan.
Just net it out and review it every week
and at the end of each month. It’s
OK to change it. It’s OK to blow past
your goals too.
Make referrals a priority.
If referrals become your major outreach,
then that is what you need to focus on. But
it doesn’t negate any of your other sales
and marketing strategies. You still have

Page 6
Here are six key metrics:
1. Number of people you ask for
referrals each week.
2. Number of referrals you receive.
3. Number of referral meetings
you schedule.
4. Number of meetings you conduct.
5. Conversion rates.
6. Value of each referral.
Pro Tip: When you set your weekly refer-
ral goals, remember that each business
is different. The minimum is one because
zero isn’t a real goal. Some types of busi-
nesses need each rep to ask for one
referral a week; others need five. Trans-
actional companies generally need more
than individuals who sell high-end consult-
ing, for example.
Accountability for results
Referral selling doesn’t just happen; it requires a behavior change.
Some people don’t feel comfortable asking or they ask in dumb ways.
So how do you get past that? Practice and build solid skills. Like anything else, you have
to practice referral selling and be accountable. Why do we have a trainer at the gym? All
the equipment is there. All we have to do is use it. We hire a trainer for reinforcement and
accountability.
Implement your referral selling strategy. Sales leaders must coach their teams and hold
them accountable. Ask questions like, “Who are you going to ask for referrals this week,
and what are the conversations you are going to have with them?”
Reinforce behaviors, not activities.
of a Referral Business
Essential Elements

Page 7
Display an Attitude of
Gratitude
When somebody gives you a referral, don’t
forget to follow up. As human beings, we
like to be thanked. If you show your grati-
tude for a good referral, your friends and
associates will give you more. Always send
a handwritten thank-you note and follow it
up with a phone call.
Even if you have lousy handwriting,
make sure it’s a handwritten note.
Write a personal message on company
notecards. If the company doesn’t have
notecards, get some. People want that
personal touch. Soon you’ll have people
thanking you for thanking them.
Don’t incentivize referrals. If somebody
is particularly generous, you can give a gift
worth less than $50. But make sure it’s
after the fact, not near a holiday, and when
they don’t expect it. Lunch is always a nice
reward, but the same rules apply.
Don’t disclose the dollar value of the
referral. You don’t need to reveal that you
signed a $1 million contract. Just mention
that it was a perfect referral and describe
what made it perfect.
Referral selling takes time and effort, but it
pays off handsomely. It allows you to out-
sell your competitors without spending a
ton on marketing.
Referral Follow-up
Sales Acceleration Platform
Dialing, emailing, motivating
and hiring powered by
predictive analytics and
machine learning
See a Demo

Page 8
Turn Cold Calls Into Hot Leads With
Referral Selling
Referrals turn into customers 50 percent to 70 percent of the time. No
other sales or marketing strategy comes close to these results. Most
sales leaders love referrals, but they haven’t built systems that create
a steady stream of personal introductions. “Warm” calls don’t exist.
Every sales call is either hot or cold. Hot means you have an introduc-
tion. Write a referral sales plan, establish metrics, and hold your team
accountable for optimal results.
CONTENT
Joanne Black |
nomorecoldcalling.com
WRITER/COPY EDITOR
Leo Dirr |
DESIGNER
Scott Humphries |
Summary Credits
Published by InsideSales.com
34 East 1700 South
Provo, Utah 84606
877-798-9633
Copyright © 2014 All Rights Reserved

Turn Cold Calls Into Hot Leads With Referral Selling

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