6.  Not defining what a good referral is:  As basic is it is, few salespeople let their client know what a good referral is.  Instead, they assume the client understands what a good referral is.  Bad assumption.Although you know what a good referral for you is, your client doesn’t.  They need direction.  While you are standing there thinking, “Give me someone just like you,” they’re thinking “what does this person want and how do I get rid of them.”  If you want a quality referral, you must let your client know who you’re looking for.  If you don’t, no telling what you’ll get.

7.  Not understanding the psychology of the referral:  Getting a large number of high quality referrals from clients and prospects isn’t easy.  In fact, less than 15% of all salespeople generate enough quality referrals to significantly impact their sales.   

In order to become a successful referral salesperson, you must come to understand the psychology of referrals.  Clients and prospects assume that whomever they refer you to will be more demanding and more critical than they have been.  They assume that whomever they refer you to will be less forgiving of the little issues that come up in a sale.  They assume that whomever they refer you to will be less satisfied with the sale than they have been.   

In addition, clients and prospects will refer you to people whom they have various types of relationships with.  Some of the people they refer you will trust and respect them.  Others will be casual acquaintances who neither trust nor distrust your client.  Some will even be people who distrust and disrespect your client.   

To make matter even more complicated, you must understand your psychology of referral selling.  What goes on in your brain is just as important as what goes on in your client’s and the prospect’s brain.  

Unless you have a thorough understanding of the psychology of referrals and  the relationship between your client and the referred prospect, your likelihood of massive success is minimal. 

Like much of selling, the process is more psychological then physical. 

8.  Calling the referred prospect:  The natural inclination when you’ve received a referral is to pick up the phone and call the prospect.  Wrong move.  When you simply pick up the phone and call, you’re giving the prospect the opportunity to determine you’re nothing but another tele-marketer and to mentally cut you off before you even have the opportunity to bring up your client’s name. 

There are a number of ways of contacting a referred prospect, but the key is to get a personal introduction, not just a name and phone number. 

9.  Not helping the client give referrals:  Despite their best efforts, even mega-producers who make huge incomes off their referral-based business have clients and prospects who claim not to know anyone to refer.  Yet, these men and women still walk away with a fistful of high quality referrals. 

How do they do this?  They don’t rely on their client to come up with people or companies to refer.  Instead of hoping that their client has referrals for them as most salespeople do, they are proactive and help their client make high quality referrals.  They discover whom the client knows that they know they want to be referred to and they ask to be referred to those people.   

10.  Not earning the referrals:  If you want a large number of high quality referrals, you can’t just ask for them—you must earn them.  They’re not just given, they’re earned. 

Successful referral salespeople understand that the number and quality of the referrals they receive is dependent upon giving their client the purchasing experience the client wants, not the one the salesperson wants to give the client.  Consequently, they find out what the client wants and expects to happen during the course of the sale and then they give the client the exact purchasing experience the client wants, thus earning the referrals.  

You cannot ask and expect referrals if you haven’t earned them.  And you don’t get to determine whether or not you’ve earned them—the client makes that decision so you must give them an objective way to determine whether or not you have earned them. 

Obviously, generating a large number of high quality referrals is difficult.  If it were easy, every salesperson would do it.  However, by understanding the issues that kill referrals and then learning how to eliminate those issues, you can generate a huge volume of high quality referrals.  Referral selling isn’t dependent upon luck, or having the “right” clients, or using bribes or incentives.  It is dependent upon knowing the process that will overcome the issues associated with getting referrals, implementing that system, and then honing your referral selling skills.  And once you’ve learned the system and honed your skills, it becomes a natural part of your selling process.   

No matter your product or service; no matter whether you sell to individuals or businesses; no matter the cost of your product or service or the length of the selling cycle, you can build a referral-based business.  It simply takes knowledge, skill, and practice. 

The question isn’t whether referral selling works.  Referral selling is quite simply the most effective and proven client generation process there is.  Period.  Those who have learned how to do it and have taken the time to master it make many times what their industry average income is.  The question is, are you willing to put in the time and energy and invest the dollars to learn how to make it work.