Tips for One-to-One Meetings to Generate Referrals

I booked 75 first meetings over three months last summer when I launched Inspirewell. 99% through outbound. My totally repeatable trick? Ask for a referral on Every. Single. Call. Prospect calls. Customer calls. Partner calls. Build the habit to not leave any commercial calls without asking for someone else to speak with. Here is a simple 4 step framework I follow: Toward the end of the call, ask for permission to ask one more question. “Hey, before we jump, okay if I ask one last thing?” Describe several characteristics about what kind of a referral you are looking for, e.g. company size, company sector, position, personality traits, etc. The idea is to help narrow their field of vision a bit and make the task seem more approachable. Use an open-ended question. Not “Do you know anyone?” but rather “Who do you know?” Make it a low-friction ask. Not “That would want to partner with us?” but rather “That may benefit from a quick call with us?” All summarized the ask may look like this: “Really great chatting with you today. Before we jump, would it be okay if I ask one more quick question?” “Thanks. Generally the right person for us to speak with is someone that is only 1-3 years into managing sales people. Who do you know in your network, maybe someone that you used to work with, that may benefit from a quick call with us?” And shut up. You won’t hit every time. But you’ll certainly get a lot more contacts than by not asking. Happy Selling. What other referral strategies work for you? P.S. - I keep this sticky note on my computer to always remind myself of this practice. Even after years of practicing this, I still find myself wanting to chicken-out sometimes!

7 Questions To Ask When Networking (To Turn Strangers Into Referrals): 1. “What’s a skill or mindset shift that helped you the most in your career, but isn’t talked about enough?” People love to share wisdom that isn’t “common knowledge.” This question opens the door for that and allows them to explore a number of different options. It will also lead to some great advice you can take action on. 2. "Who’s been a major influence in your career, and what’s the best lesson they taught you?" This question helps set a more personal tone for the conversation. It allows your contact to tap into mentors they love who shared meaningful lessons. It will also tell you more about what they value when it comes to relationships and growth. 3. "What’s something exciting happening in your field or company that most people don’t know about yet?" This question positions them as an “insider.” It gives them a chance to share knowledge that most people don’t have and they’ll feel like they’re in a unique position of authority. It also gives you more insight into industry trends! 4. "What’s a misconception people have about your role or industry?" People love to have the chance to set the record straight about their industry or their job. This questions gives them the chance to do that. It also gives you more insight into what’s actually happening in these fields / at this company that you might not learn from some online searching. 5. "My current goal is to improve [Relevant Skill]. Would you recommend I do [Action A] or [Action B]?” This positions your contact as an expert, while making it easy for them to reply. It also opens the door for the next conversation. When they give their answer? You can tell them you’ll do it and then follow up with them. Just make sure to follow through on that :) 6. "If you were in my shoes and looking for your next opportunity, how would you go about it?" Asking for a referral outright can feel pretty awkward. This question opens the door to that conversation without pressuring your contact to commit to anything. If they want to refer you? They’ll probably mention it. If not? You’ll still get advice you can act on. 7. "Based on our conversation, who are one or two people you’d recommend I connect with next?” This question creates a networking flywheel. If your contact shares a name, you can ask for an introduction. Now you can expand your network without needing to send cold messages! It’s one of the best tactics out there. 📨 Want to take your networking from "zero responses" to "multiple offers?" 👉 Grab a free 30-min Clarity Call and we’ll map your outreach into a repeatable, referral-generation system: https://lnkd.in/gdysHr-r

Last week, I turned 2 "not right now" deals into 15 referral introductions. Here's what I did: First, how about a few stats about WHY referrals are so key: - People are 4x more likely to buy when referred by a friend. - The Lifetime Value for new referral customer is 16% higher than non-referrals. - 83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience—yet only 29% actually do. Okay, so we can agree this is important, yeah? And probably underutilized by you? Okay, let's proceed. Here are the steps I used: 1) Ask for help The hardest part is the START of the ask. "Gotcha, seems like this may not be a fit right now. But hey, before I let you go to your next meeting, mind if I ask a quick favor?" 2) Share your goal When selling Cutco knives in college, I would always tell people about my goals. I'm working to get back into that - a goal to positively impact salespeople while creating a life of abundance for me and my family. I'm in a service business - I train sales teams to build more pipeline - so a lot of the game is planting seeds and building long-term relationships "Here's my goal and I'd love to work with great people like yourself...:" 3) Clarity Clear communication is key. Saying "Who do you know?" is a lot different than "What VP Sales in Chicago that are company size 100-500 and building their SDR team"? 4) MAKE THE ASK For months, I was loose-lipping it: "Let me know if you come across anyone you think I can help". You know how many referrals I got? An unwavering 0. You know why? I was leaving the ball in THEIR court. "Let me know" is an entitled and lazy way to make an ask - and that's what I was doing. As soon as we hang up, the person is focused on something else - not on finding me a lead. Now, I say "We have a few minutes, who can you think of that might fit that description?" 5) Make it easy! I send a ghostwritten example of what they can send. I follow-up with them. I continue to follow-up if needed. I respond to the intro 6) Gratitude Say a heartfelt thank you. In some cases, I will send folks a handwritten note or - when a deal closes, I send a kickback to them either in a gift or cash. I want to reward the behavior and let them know how much I appreciate it. That's it. What else am I missing? PS - learned a lot of this from a session Alex Kremer did for our Alluviance community last month.

Last quarter I ran a call with the VP Revenue at a 3,100 employee SaaS company. It was a great call. But we both agreed we weren't a fit. But how he ended the call surprised me (and put me to shame!) Me: "Based on what I've heard, it feels like this isn't a fit. At least for now." Him: "I agree. It could be worth reconnecting in a quarter. Maybe two. But not right now." Me: "Great. We can reach out then." Him: "Before you go, can I ask you a question?" Me: "Sure." Him: "You're a well-known entity in Silicon Valley. I'm sure you talk to companies all the time that run into [problem his company solves]." Me: "Sometimes. Not super often." Him: "Well when you do, since you know more about our business now, would you be comfortable making an introduction?" Me: *Laughs* Me (again): "I have to imagine this is a habit for you. I'm not the only person you've asked this this week or even today am I?" Him: "That's right. Everyone from our CEO, to me, on down asks for referrals in every call where it wouldn't be inappropriate to do so." Wow. We ended the call. And it got me thinking. There's so much more we can all do to get referrals. We all know the value of referrals. But none of us really do it often. Yet this company? Despite 3,100+ employees, the VP Revenue never ends a business call without it. Powerful habit. What do you do to generate referrals consistently? P.S. SaaS sales leaders - find out why 8.4 out of 10 SaaS sales training programs fail (and what to do about it): https://lnkd.in/gxx_pcEh

Over the past 4 months, I’ve met with over 129 Director+ prospects to discuss Distribute. ~50% of those meetings I screwed up big time. After ~65 bad calls here’s what I make sure to do on EVERY SINGLE CALL: 1. Build Rapport Sorry. Sounds simple. But people do business with people they like. 2. Add Credibility At The Beginning of The Call Why should they listen to you? • “I’ve helped X number of customers like you” 3. Ask For Referrals EVERY Call Did they like it? Ask if they have other friends who would also like it. Did they hate it? Ask if they know anyone who would like it. Most people want to help. Remember that. TL;DR - 1. Build Rapport 2. Add Credibility 3. Ask for referrals ON THE CALL TAKEAWAYS: You can be rusty when you get back in sales mode. You gotta put in the reps to get good. Volume does win. I may have messed up a sh*t ton of calls. But hey? It's not the end of the world. Keep going. 🌮 -Andy