mg salesletter

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MAKING LIFE EASIER SALESLETTER IN THIS ISSUE I’m a fan of making things as easy as possible. If there is a simple way to do something, I’ll do my best to find it. Life is busy enough without over complicating and over engineering the stuff we do on a day to day basis. I came across a great iphone app last week that has completely revolutionised my world and is saving me lots of time. The business card app eliminates the need to type out business card details into databases and instead it’s just an effortless photo and I’m up to date within seconds. My kind of app. The same is true of sales. If I can pitch to two highly targeted and qualified leads I’d rather do that than traipse around ten unqualified prospects. We all know which strategy will reliably make the most sales but I’m unconvinced that businesses spend enough time and energy focused on doing this. Targeting the right customer makes selling so much easier. There are loads of potential customers out there but they’re not all going to be right for your business. Beige, bland trying to be all things to all people is an approach that wastes time, has low returns and frankly screws up your sales and marketing efforts. By narrowing your line of sight you can take a sniper gun rather than a scatter gun approach. And as a customer what would you rather have? A conversation with someone that relates to you, who has tailored their message so that it resonates with your world and your life. Or alternatively, that generic, boring communication that relies on you working out the relevance and finding the fit. Remember, there’s no money in the middle! Happy reading Mark Gallen Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance The RFP process - broken? The secret of Steve Jobs p2 p6 New era in sales... or is it? Make time for meetings Sales Nuggets Social Selling p3 p7 p8 p4 ISSUE 2 / / MAY 2013 www.mgsalesperformance.com

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May 2013 Issue of the MG Salesletter.

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Page 1: MG Salesletter

MAKINGLIFE EASIER

SALESLETTER

IN THISISSUE

I’m a fan of making things as easy as possible. If there is a simple way to do something, I’ll do my best to fi nd it. Life is busy enough without over complicating and over engineering the stuff we do on a day to day basis.

I came across a great iphone app last week that has completely revolutionised my world and is saving me lots of time. The business card app eliminates the need to type out business card details into databases and instead it’s just an effortless photo and I’m up to date within seconds. My kind of app.

The same is true of sales. If I can pitch to two highly targeted and qualifi ed leads I’d rather do that than traipse around ten unqualifi ed prospects. We all know which strategy will reliably make the most sales but I’m unconvinced that businesses spend enough time and energy focused on doing this.

Targeting the right customer makes selling so much easier. There are loads of potential customers out there but they’re not all going to be right for your business. Beige, bland trying to be all things to all people is an approach that wastes time, has low returns and frankly screws up your sales and marketing efforts.

By narrowing your line of sight you can take a sniper gun rather than a scatter gun approach. And as a customer what would you rather have? A conversation with someone that relates to you, who has tailored their message so that it resonates with your world and your life. Or alternatively, that generic, boring communication that relies on you working out the relevance and fi nding the fi t.

Remember, there’s no money in the middle!

Happy reading

Mark Gallen

Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance

The RFP process - broken?

The secret of Steve Jobs

p2

p6

New era in sales... or is it?

Make time for meetings

Sales Nuggets

Social Selling

p3

p7

p8

p4

ISSUE 2 / / MAY 2013www.mgsalesperformance.com

MAKINGLIFE EASIER

Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performanceGiving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance

MAKINGLIFE EASIER

Giving sales leaders bite sized bits to boost sales performance

Page 2: MG Salesletter

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The RFP process - is it broken?

www.mgsalesperformance.com

This question and others were discussed at the 5th MG Sales Talent Network on Thursday 9th May - a quarterly invitation only event for sales leaders in hospitality and travel. The panellists were Michael Hill, European Travel Manager, Coca Cola; Roger Peters, Senior Purchasing Manager, Cap Gemini; Michael Heyward, Director of Revenue Management, IHG and Danny Cockton, Account Manager, BSI.

The panellists were invited to speak about their key areas of frustration with the RFP process. Here’s what they said:

“RFP tools – I’d rather use an excel spreadsheet!”

Roger Peters of Cap Gemini kicked off the debate explaining that in his view he sees a break down in the communication of the corporate’s objectives as information is passed down the chain – from corporate to agent and agent to hotel. He spoke about the number of people involved in the chain and the lack of alignment with messages diluted or misunderstood. He went on to talk about his irritation with suppliers ‘changing their minds’ about taking business post the RFP negotiation and lastly he spoke about the increasing use of RFP tools that, in his opinion, don’t necessarily expediate the process. “I’d rather use an excel spreadsheet”, he said.

“Revenue Managers have responsibility to educate procurement”

Next up was Michael Heyward, Director of Revenue Management for IHG. Michael talked about four of the parties in the process (procurement manager, travel manager, hotel sales manager, hotel revenue manager) and their differing objectives plus the lack of understanding for each others’ roles – resulting, he says, in confl ict and communication break down. He sited hotel sales managers incentivised to drive revenue and volume regardless of ROI whereas hotel revenue managers incentivised to achieve better rates than its competitive set – everyone is on their own mission regardless of the other party. Michael conceded that there is an enormous range in skill, experience and integrity in the revenue

management profession and he said that they have a responsibility to help educate procurement around the science of revenue management.

Our last panellist, Danny Cockton, Account Manager at BSI agreed with the speakers. The RFP process he said is damned by its fragmentation – no single technology platform, differing objectives of parties involved, diffi culty of loading rates on to GDS. Danny warned of the danger of procurement driving rate down and the impact this has on the product quality. And there was a note of caution for the suppliers – no unsolicited bids. BSI, he said, will come and fi nd you if there is an opportunity to join a preferred hotel programme.

The panellists were invited to respond to each other’s comments and the fl oor was opened to questions.

“Don’t offer me a rate and then not let me in!”The corporate buyers aired their frustrations with rates being offered during an RFP process that are then ‘closed out’ to the bookers. Roger went on to decry the direct approaches made to his bookers by hoteliers trying to win business through ‘the back door’. “If you want to be on my programme – tell me”, he said.

“Let revenue managers attend the customer meeting”

Michael Hill suggested that the hotel revenue managers should meet with buyers before the RFP negotiation meetings. He said that they should be in front of their top customers so that they can understand their point of view and have a 360 perspective on every account to help the decision process. Heyward of IHG responded stating that hotel sales managers often like the opportunity of coming out of negotiations to consult with revenue so that they don’t commit to ill considered deals. (A vote in the room determined that some revenue managers would need to upskill before suppliers would feel comfortable about their face-to-face attendance at negotiations). Heyward went on to stress the irritation of buyers coming back post deal to renegotiate – “If I had a better rate, I would have put it forward at the time”, he said. This theme was picked up by

a supplier in the audience who relayed how a corporate wanted to negotiate a two-year deal recently, in an effort to make process effi ciencies, then pushed to renegotiate half way through the contract.

“Hotel Sales Managers – strong enough for tough conversations?”

Coca Cola’s Michael Hill pushed back claiming that travel managers wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t respond to market forces – he explained that it isn’t a one-way street and that suppliers can always approach him with a business case to put their rates up in response to positive market forces.

Danny Cockton quipped “so you’d be happy to take a hit if market forces determined it?” “Not necessarily – he added that it depends on what those market forces are and what are they benchmarked against”, said Michael.

Concerns were muted about hotel sales managers and their ability to have tough conversations.

The debate moved on to meetings and events – an area our buyers consider to be of increasing importance to corporates although most, they admit, don’t have an accurate handle on their spend. “90% don’t know their spend on meetings”, commented Cap Gemini’s Roger Peters.

“Help us to help you generate incremental revenue”

Michael went to say that the relationship shouldn’t be one-sided and that Coca Cola is keen to help suppliers create additional revenue e.g. F&B discounts, weekend promotions etc

The debate drew to a close with a consensus in the room that face-to-face relationships are intrinsic to reaching mutual agreement in negotiations. “Face- to-face meetings ensure that suppliers get a better understanding of our objectives and what we’re trying to deliver”, said Cap Gemini’s Roger Peters. “As a result of a strong relationship and meeting in person, I have recently made a concession on a rate in one location because it allowed me to get a better deal in another.”

Page 3: MG Salesletter

In our last edition we explored the meaning of the ‘Challenger Sale’ and revealed the shocking result of The Corporate Executive Board’s research…sales people with ‘the Challenger’ profi le consistently outperform all others by 67% (that means they bring in 67% more revenue than sales people of other profi les).

‘the biggest shock to conventional sales wisdom in decades’

As you might imagine, we had a big response to this article so we ran two free webinars in April explaining more about the concept; but the one overriding question we were asked was….

…..I love it, but how do I make it happen in my business?

So, a reminder for you fi rst. Here is the profi le of ‘the Challenger’ – remember these lovely people are proven to bring in 67% more revenue than your other team members

The Challenger - always has a different view of the world, understands the customer’s business, and loves to debate, pushes the customer.

There are 3 things that Challengers do differently. In this article we’re looking at the fi rst thing they do differently:

They teach the customer during the sales interaction

They tailor their insights to the different types of customer

They take control of the sale

“72% improved customer satisfaction as a result of the challenger sale approach” Corporate Executive Board

This is your 10 minute low down answering the pressing question ‘how do I teach the customer during a sales interaction?

Identify your value proposition

Why should customer’s buy from you rather than any of your competitors?

This is a really diffi cult question for most company’s to answer. Once you’ve crossed off the usual suspects of ‘innovative’, ‘solutions-orientated’, ‘great people’, ‘trusted’ etc, it gets hard to clearly defi ne the compelling reason why customers should buy from you instead of anybody else. Often you’ll need customer interviews, market research, data analysis of customer spending patterns and cross-functional brainstorming sessions to come up with the answer.

Turn the insights into commercial teaching conversations

The goal of this conversation might be to change the way that people think about your organization, to tell them something about their business that they don’t know or merely to provoke a response or a thought. This conversation becomes an initiator of almost every new business sales call because it absolutely hits the heart of your company’s differentiated value proposition.

The Opening

The aim is to get the customer pulled into the conversation right away and talking about their challenges relative to what you have already seen at other companies. Leading with a hypothesis of customer need rather than an open-ended question to ‘discover’ the customer need, is more like two colleagues commiserating about common challenges and less like a typical sales presentation – consequently way more engaging for the customer.

The science bit

Now you need to start teaching the customer something new. At this point the sales person might refer to data, surveys or

reports that highlight a different way of doing or thinking about something – usually to help save them time or money in their purchase of your product/service. The reframe is all about getting your customer to say “I’d never really thought about it like that before”.

The Business Case

Now you’re ready to build a compelling business case for why it matters. This is an effective means to turn interest into action that makes the customer feel discomfort around a problem they never realized they had. You should fi nd yourself answering the customer’s question “What does this mean for us?”

Emotional Impact

You paint the picture using stories and real customer behaviour to describe the pain of what happens currently. Your story is intentionally designed to generate an emotional response from your customer. They should see themselves in the picture you’re painting. They should feel the pain as if it were their story you were telling. They should say to you “Wow, you know us too well!”

New Way

Imagine what it would mean to you if there was a solution to this pain?

This fi nal part of the conversation is where for the fi rst time you start talking about how your company is uniquely positioned to help solve the pain. All of the hard work you did to map out your company’s unique value proposition is now laid out, specifi cally in terms of how you can help the customer solve the challenge that you have just taught them they have.

And here’s an example of a catering company who uses the challenger sale approach

The company provides catering to various customer groups – one of which is training. Using

interview and focus groups, they found that trainers don’t like venues providing high carbohydrate, fatty foods at lunchtime – sandwiches, chips, baguettes, onion rings etc. They felt that trainees were sluggish after lunch and they were concerned that it affected their learning and engagement. The caterer explored existing research on this topic and they were able to confi rm there was a direct link. More importantly they discovered foods that have been found to be good for cognitive memory and they designed their menus for training courses around these food groups.

Passing this information and data to the sales people has allowed them to conduct meetings in way that completely differentiates them from their competitors. They are the catering company that really understands their training customer, they teach about food for enhanced learning and memory and as a consequence they report an uplift in conversions.

Free Webinar – advanced version Some of you are developing a real appetite for this concept and we’ve been asked to run another free webinar taking the concepts into more detail. If you’re interested in learning more about this free challenger sale webinar (advanced version) get in touch at

[email protected]

And if you missed our fi rst challenger sale webinar and want to see the recording let us know and we’ll send you the link.

What does the Challenger Sale look like in my business?

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[email protected]

interview and focus groups,

What does the Challenger Sale

Page 4: MG Salesletter

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Up until a few years ago we lived in a world when most people had rising incomes. More than that, they were enjoying easier access to credit. Rising credit limit on cards, unrequested credit cards arriving in the post, sometimes addressed to their dog, easy acceptance for loans and of course, a rising property market, so people could remortgage twice a year if they wanted to.

SOCIAL SELLING- Like selling ice to eskimos

People felt like they were getting richer and they were happy to be parted from their money. People were buying stuff. Shopping became a recreational activity. A way to spend your weekend. A way of life.

In this favourable environment, many businesses didn’t need to sell. They just had to answer the phone and quote the rate for buyers to buy; because those buyers were quickly and easily parted from their cash.

The so called ‘sales people’ from this era were apparently amazing. They exceeded their targets in 2004. They won awards for selling in 2005. They were in the presidents club in 2006. But yet they weren’t REALLY selling. They were simply there with hotel rooms, meeting spaces, apartments ready and available to buy. They were glorifi ed order takers. Rarely having to close a sale, rarely having to handle an objection.

Now let’s fast forward to today. Having been told what fantastic sales people they were in the good times, these people KNOW that the problem isn’t them. How can it be? They’re still doing the exact same thing, but the results they’re getting are – in most cases – very different. Let me repeat that. They’re still doing the exact same thing…. and yet the sales landscape in 2013 has signifi cantly changed. Hmmm, maybe that’s why their results are very different from the heady days of the mid noughties!

Today customers no longer have lots of money Customers are risk averse. Customers are taking longer to decide. Consequently the rules for selling have also changed. Let’s look at just a few ways in which it has changed:

Decision makers have got cute at being unavailablePeople are busy. They use the internet to research information about products or

services that interest them. Customers rarely want companies phoning to tell them about the features of their product, so instead they brief their gatekeepers to fi eld the calls. Getting hold of the right person in 2013 is like hens teeth.

Dialling for dollars

Nobody likes generic, bland conversations. Working off lists or databases making robotic calls where the conversation takes a very similar, almost scripted approach, is bad news. Customers won’t tolerate it anymore.

Sell the way customers want to buy

Customers, just like you and I, don’t want to be overtly sold to. If it sounds like a ‘sell’ they are psychologically turned off. However, if customers feel that they have discovered something for themselves (not in a sales environment), they are much more likely to warm to it and take action.

This isn’t just me saying this. Here is some of the data that supports my comments:

• 73% of decision makers won’t accept an inbound cold call

• In 2006 it took 4 calls to reach a decision maker, by 2011 it took 41 calls

Source: Market Transformations

Prospect differently

So the old approaches just aren’t working any more. For success in 2013, sales teams need to do things differently.

Social selling is a new approach where sales people target very specifi c prospects by fi nding them, engaging them by demonstrating value and above all by differentiating themselves in their approach.

Here’s some of the social selling activities that the high performing sales people are undertaking in 2013:

Seduce the customers before picking the phone up

They build a relationship with their prospects over a period of time that is based on trust and credibility. They know that their prospects have got to get to know them so that they have the confi dence to take the next steps. By using a seduction plan with lots of little ‘touch’ points that build the relationship; they know that by the time they get to make their telephone calls, they will be infi nitely easier.

Use the different contact tools available

They know that Linkedin has a 25% response rate versus outlook mail which is about 1%. They use Linkedin to build targeted lead lists, make connections and ‘hang out’ in a relaxed non threatening space. They use direct mail, e-shots, twitter and internet search engines as the means to make the ‘touch’ points prior to the telephone call.

Research so that you can tailor

They know that by researching their prospects they can tailor their conversations so that they resonate with the customer and strike to the heart of the problem. Knowing ‘what keeps them up at night’, what their interests are, who they have in common etc, will allow them to tailor and engage.

Social selling survey with hospitality sales people

So, we thought we’d fi nd out to what extent social selling is being practised by sales professionals in the hospitality industry. We wanted to know who is ahead of the pack and who is being left behind in the social selling stakes.

Page 5: MG Salesletter

[email protected] 5

Here are the results:

Converted new businessopportunities, often

I, or my team are not using social media -

period!

I, or my team are not using social media for

sales

Still enganging, no business opportunity yet

Received enquiry(s), as yet unconverted

Converted new business opportunities,

occasionally

35%

7.5%

2.5%

35%15%

20%

Survey conducted by MG Sales Performance

A whopping 35% of respondees are not using social selling and a further 7.5% have no plans to use social media for marketing purposes at all.

17% of savvy sales people get ahead

Whereas 17% of your competitors are ahead of the game and they are either occasionally or frequently receiving new sales leads through their social selling activities. Using the power of the internet search engine and the social web, savvy sales people no longer have to spend hours cold calling. And they’re getting some really powerful results.

A global hotel company we know has been embracing social selling over the past few months. The sales team have been prospecting in a completely different way and making contacts with people that up until trying their different approach, they had been unable to reach. They’re using LinkedIn and Inmail to reach the key prospects and as a result have had some very positive meetings and opportunities.

Selling without leaving the offi ce

Another hotel company has been working on this concept for a number of months. They

have completely restructured their team and they are in the process of rolling out a virtual sales model that revolutionises sales as we have traditionally known it in the hotel sector to date. The virtual sales role is based on the premise of using the internet, the social web and online communities to engage with customers, deliver value and exceptional customer service. We watch with interest to see how things develop.

So where are you? In the 17% super smart leading sales talent category or are you in the 83% that are falling behind? If you have any social selling success stories that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you.

Our thanks to Erika Bucsi, Head of MICE Strategy at Novotel London Hammersmith for recommending us to The Brewery.

Thanks and best wishes to our friend Simon Kerr, Commercial Director at Como Hotels who recommended us

to Vicki Richards, Director of Sales and Marketing at Grosvenor House Hotel.

Thanks!Erika,you’re a star!

CheersSimon !

Page 6: MG Salesletter

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The late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, was one of the world’s greatest presenters. His style and showmanship was legendary and they set the standard for awe-inspiring presentations. If you need to deliver presentations that make people care about what you do – and that generate results for your business – then you need to study from the master. In this book Carmine Gallo reveals the operating system behind a Steve Jobs presentation and provides you with a step- by-step guide to design your own passionate interfaces with your audience. Here’s our summary of the main points in the book.

Gallo divides the book into 3 main parts:Act one - Create the storyAct two - Deliver the experienceAct three - Refi ne and rehearse

Act one – Create the story

Scene one – Plan an analogue

Most of your time should be spent planning. Unless you want a really boring presentation, don’t just open your laptop and start typing bullet points into power point. Only one third of your time should be spent building the slides.

Scene two – Answer the one question that matters most

Job’s focus was always on why the listener should care. Spend time explaining the ‘why’ before you attempt to explain the ‘how’. Nobody cares what you are selling until they understand how it will impact their lives. Most presenters either ignore this point completely or they make it so complicated

that the listener tunes out.

Scene three – Build a messianic sense of purpose

For Steve Jobs it was never about building computers it was about developing tools that helped us tap our potential. It was about making our lives better. Jobs said “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”. Unless your presentations ooze the same amount of passion you can’t expect your audience to ‘buy you’.

Scene four – Create twitterlike headlines

Jobs was brilliant at creating headlines with impact, that were so memorable and sexy that the press ran with them (rather than re-writing as they are usually apt to do). Here are two examples ‘MacBook Air:the world’s thinnest notebook’; ‘Apple’s new iPod Touch puts a 1000 songs in your pocket’Scene fi ve – Draw a road mapRather than following the conventional approach of agenda and detailed points (audience eyes glaze over), Jobs gave a verbal road map of the key points he would address. Do this by writing a list of the points you want to cover then shortlist down to your key 3 points – no more.

Scene six – Introduce an Antagonist

Jobs’s messages appealed to a common mission and a specifi c enemy. It’s Job’s ‘us versus them’ approach that has been behind much of Apple’s raving loyalty.

How do you do this? Set up the problem, describe why your buyer’s need your solution, identify with their pain. And for an added bonus introduce a common enemy.

Act Two – Deliver the experience

The author describes Jobs’s crowd-pleasing techniques ranging from:

• Minimal use of words on slides, favouring instead memorable imagery to concisely convey a message

• Presenting numbers in a way that they resonate with the audience. At Macworld 2008, Jobs told his audience that they had sold four million iPhones. He then went on to say that if you divide four million by two hundred days, that’s twenty thousand iPhones every day. He went on to explain that this matched the combined market share of its well established competitors. He made the numbers mean something.

• Use unconventional, fun words that really stand out ‘we made the buttons on the screen look so good, you’ll want to lick them’.

• Share the stage to create variety and interest – he knew that people have a short attention span so he invited other speakers to the microphone.

• Use props and demos to appeal to some people’s preferred senses of sight, touch, smellReveal a holy shit moment – an audible ‘holy shit’ from your audience as you reveal your sensation after you have slowly built to your climax.

Act Three – Refi ne and Rehearse

The last section of the book reminds us of the key lessons for effective and memorable presentations – practise!Steve Jobs was a master presenter and yet he would practise for two days on a fi ve minute presentation and ask for feedback from all his product managers.If you’re going to give a knock out presentation you must focus on every slide, every demo and every key message. You must know what you are going to say, when you are going to say it and exactly how you will say it.

Jobs knew what too many presenters don’t – people want to be informed and entertained. He taught people something new and had a blast whilst doing it.

How to be insanely good

in front of any audience

www . s m p l i v e . c o . u k

Page 7: MG Salesletter

[email protected] 7

On Saturday 27th April, The Guardian (Comments page) called for a ban on meetings to boost the UK economy. It claimed too much time is wasted in meetings, and if everyone ‘just got on with their work’, industry would be more productive, thus bringing the economy back on track.

My first reaction was to completely reject this comment; this flies in the face of everything we stand for. Being a professional meetings industry, we’re here to champion the cause of meetings and their place in UK businesses.

However, on reflection, we have to take some responsibility for this statement. Perhaps we’re failing to communicate the effectiveness and role of meetings.

Our responsibility as meeting planners is to ask the customer the right questions to help them create a successful meeting. What is the meeting for, what will it achieve? Is it to inform, consult, drive change, or create something? It has to be one of these four; if not, you probably don’t need the meeting.

We should be responsible for helping customers achieve great results from their meetings – finding out what’s

important to the meeting’s success, understanding the customer’s concerns and worries so that we can manage their frustrations and deliver meetings that truly achieve the desired outcomes.

The measure of effectiveness for a meeting for a hotel or venue sales professional is, of course, the conversion of business: however, sales leaders can also utilise a well-planned and structured meeting to re-launch, re-energize or re-engage a tired or dormant team, product, sales force or strategy.

When used effectively, the meeting is the most valuable tool any sales leader has at his or her disposal. Internally, a well-positioned and organised appointment can refocus a pitch or business on its goals and objectives, increasing its chances of achieving them. A well-placed, timed and managed meeting creates dynamic strategy to achieve success; without direction, a business or team will at best meander, eventually go off track, or stop altogether.

As responsible leaders, it’s our duty to champion the effective meeting, and not allow lazy planning to make meetings time-wasting, needless activities.

Now, join the campaign to make meetings more effective!

Chris is the 2013 Chairman of the HBAA and managing director of Absolute Corporate Events

Chris Parnham“Make Time for Meetings”

Don’t miss this!One of the best dates for your diary in June is the Sales Management and Performance Exhibition, 6-7 June 2013, Excel London.

Author of ‘Selling for Dummies’ Ben Kench, 4Networking founder Brad Burton and Olympic rower Ben Hunt Davies are just some of the speakers at this truly focused and insightful sales event.

www . s m p l i v e . c o . u k

Page 8: MG Salesletter

Ask immediately following the completion of a successful project. Don’t leave it too late. Once you’ve

provided your service, customer’s tend to move on to the next big focus and no matter how willing they appeared to make an introduction at the start, they loose interest once the job is complete.

Ask in person not on a follow up questionnaire. Customer’s are unlikely to be motivated to do you a

favour unless you seem motivated and interested yourself. Referrals and introductions are usually seen as a personal favour and a lot of trust is required for customer’s to ‘risk’ making a recommendation.

You could even ask in advance and make it a condition of the sale. For instance “I will go ahead and confi rm the

meeting room for the Tuesday at the rate agreed, but in return I’d really like an introduction to your colleagues in marketing”.

Ensure the referral is communicated both ways. A name and contact details is simply a cold lead whereas an

introduction is based on warmth, goodwill and trust.

Incentivise your customers to give you a referral. Lack of time, apathy and maybe a perceived risk can make some

customers reluctant to give you the referral so an incentive that rewards both the referrer and the referee can make the difference. Make sure that the ‘reward’ has the same perceived value for both parties.

One of the easiest ways to get new business has got to be to ask your satisfi ed customers for a referral or introduction to someone in their network. They like your work, they like your product or service so why not go the extra step and ask? It seems simple but few of us do. Is that our ‘Britishness’ stopping us from asking the golden question? Here’s a few ideas to help you make the process easier:

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Sales NuggetsAsk for referrals

From an HBA customerHow much money should I spend on completing RFP’s? We have just decided to pursue the RFP route as a way of winning new business.

MG saysThis is the wrong question. It isn’t how much money you should spend on completing RFP’s, the question is what is the forecasted return on pursuing a RFP strategy? Quite simply if you forecast a decent return then it’s going to be a no-brainer in terms of what you’re prepared to invest to get it!

From a participant on a training courseHow do I get past gatekeepers when the company operates a ‘no name policy’.

MG saysGo to LinkedIn fi rst. Find the person you’re looking for, do some research on them, see how you’re connected and then make the call. If the person you want isn’t on LinkedIn, fi nd another person from the same company, call the gatekeeper and get transferred to the named individual.

Ask them for their help and usually they will help you fi nd the contact you need. No name policies rarely exist beyond the gatekeeper level. Another tip for you is to contact the individual via LinkedIn groups. Few people realise that you can inmail anyone via groups whether they are a connection or not.

Q&A - ask MG a question