what is a referral?
The training manual we all have states it as being:“An opportunity for a fellow member to present their business to someone who is in the market to buy their product or service, where that presentation will be looked forward to with anticipation.”
The last part of that quote is key. If this part is not met as well as the first it is no more than a lead. We should not be passing leads. We could save money and get a bit more sleep in the morning by looking up the yellow pages or getting the weekly recruitment sections from the newspapers to get leads.
Every time a referral is passed…
(1) The potential new customer is prepared to take a call from the member you are referring to them.
(2) Every referral slip you pass to fellow members contains the telephone number of the potential new customer you are referring.
Do any of you know what the scales mean?
I like many of you thought 1 was ‘ok might speak to you’ upto 5 being ‘they definitely want to meet you’, however, Mort Murphy gave us a better definition:
(1) I rang that person and they are expecting your call.
(2) I have confidence in you, I have phoned that person and they are expecting your call.
(3) I have confidence in you, I have mad an appointment for you to go and see that person.
(4) I have confidence in you, I have made an appointment for you and I will be attending it with you.
(5) I have signed up the business for you.
So once we have a referral for a member when are they passed? They should be passed the week following the request for the referrals. How can someone pass a referral 20 minutes after it has been asked for, they have not had a chance to speak to anyone.
How many of us have done this? I certainly have and definitely won’t do it again as I am of no benefit to my fellow members if I do.
I hope this has helped, having listened to Mort Murphy, I have changed my perceptions on referrals and as a result I will be producing better quality referrals.
Thank you and happy referring.