Imagine this conversation between a sales coach and his newest client. Can you learn anything by listening in?

CLIENT: I don't get enough referrals!

COACH: What do you mean by "enough"?

Enough to really grow my business without having to make cold calls.

How many referrals do you get a week?

Well, I can't control when they come. Some weeks none, some weeks one or two.

You're talking about "passive" referrals. How many "active" referrals do you get?

What's the difference?

Passive referrals happen – your phone rings and somebody says they need to meet you, they heard about you from Jane Smith, and the sales cycle begins. We'd all love to get "enough" passive referrals. Most of us we need to take specific actions to generate more referrals.

You mean like asking for them?

Well, that's part of it. But before we get into that, how many referrals do you need to get your business up to the "right" level?

Gee, I never really thought about that.

Well, try starting with this: How many new clients do you want to sign up this month?

Oh, I don't know... a couple, I suppose.

That's a question you've got to have an answer to. You can't build a plan without a goal. So let's pick a number, just for fun.

How do I pick a number?

Let's say a typical client generates about $10,000, and let's start by aiming at doubling your business from $500,000 to $1-Million. You're closing about fifty accounts per year, or one a week. But you want to close two per week, or four extra per month.

Yeah, that makes sense.

So how many solid referrals do you think you'd need to close four extra clients?

Oh, I don't know... maybe eight?

That's a great place to start. So you need to actively generate two referrals per week.

And how do I do that, exactly?

Let's start with your clients. When you tell them that the way you grow your business is mainly through introductions and referrals, and that you'll be asking for their help once they are satisfied with your services... how does that conversation go?

Well... I don't have that conversation.

That's not unusual. Most people don't. I'll help you get comfortable with that process.

Thanks. What else will I need to do?

Well, let's see... how many referrals do you give to other people... to clients or networking friends?

Why is that important?

Because what goes around, comes around. You must plan to give as many as or more than you plan to receive.

OK... I think I can start doing that.

Good. Next you'll need to develop a handful of "referrals partnerships".

What's a referral partnership?

It's a professional relationship in which both parties agree to get together on a monthly basis and spend the time it takes to refer one or two prospects.

OK... is that it?

No, we'll also need to talk about you joining a structured networking group, and about how to coach people to give you strong introductions, and finally about how to keep track of all this!

Wow, getting referrals is more complex than I realized!

Don't worry. We'll work on it together. Unless you would prefer to make more cold calls??!!

We were in a prospective client's office recently, and heard a comment that we've heard many times before.
"I'm a business owner, but I'm not very good at sales. Never have been. Never will be. That's why we're planning to bring in a hot-shot sales guy."

"Have you ever brought in a ‘hot shot' salesperson before?" we asked.

"Oh, yeah...several times!"

"And it didn't work out?" we asked, knowingly.

"No... they just didn't seem to understand our business. They talked a good game, but nothing much ever came of it. They were all gone within six months."

"That didn't cost you a lot of money, did it?" we inquired.

"Are you kidding me? It cost us not only what we paid them in base pay, but also all the time and effort in training them, not to mention the cost of the sales we expected them to make!"

"And why is it going to be different this time?" we probed.

"Well.... Umm...we'll do a better interview, I suppose. I know what to look for now!"

Maybe he does... maybe he doesn't.

Around our training and consulting practice, we have an expression: The bottom line starts at the top! The phrase has a double meaning. First, look at the income statement for a company. You'll notice that only one entry on the entire financial document is positive: REVENUE. All the other entries are negative: cost of goods sold, salaries and wages, overhead, depreciation. So many small-to-medium-size business owners work hard at reducing expenses and increasing efficiency, while paying far less attention to the TOP line – revenue! Sales!

The second meaning of "the bottom line starts at the top" is this: Selling must be a "core competence" of any growing, successful firm! You can't delegate it away to some "top gun" salesperson. You can't rely on just one "rainmaker." You can't spend months, and lots of money, hoping a salesperson will "work out" in the end. Even worse, you can't afford the risk of your one successful salesperson deciding to leave, taking your company's selling skills – and top clients – with them.

How do you make selling a "core competence" within your firm? First, you must put aside your fears and doubts about your own ability to sell more successfully. Good salespeople are MADE, not just born. We know that many of you will disagree with that statement, but it's true. Anyone who is brave enough and strong enough to own or manage a business or a practice has the raw material to be more effective at selling.

Your on-going growth and involvement in the selling process is paramount to the next step – developing a company-wide "system" for selling and sales management, a "selling culture" within the organization. Next, you can promote or hire people into YOUR selling culture. Now when you bring in people, you do so with a clear understanding of how they will fit into YOUR plan for revenue and profit growth.

The process of creating a "sales culture" within a firm is a straightforward one, but it is far from easy. It takes enormous commitment to overcome the inertia, fear of change, and anxiety associated with selling.

Are you willing to make that commitment? Good Selling!

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