There was once a member in a Chapter who sold computer equipment. Just before joining the organization, he had sold dozens of computers to a local school system. Apparently, the state legislature had earmarked a billion dollars for school systems to upgrade their computer equipment and this particular member had come across an opportunity to tap into a small piece of these allocated funds.

After joining, this individual was eager to use the contacts in the organization to identify more school systems that he could sell upgraded computers. As these opportunities represented major transactions for him, each week he focused his infomercials on seeking contacts and inroads into local school systems.

Although articulately said, nothing came from his requests. The problem was that no one had legitimate contacts into school systems (partially because most Chapter members did not have school-aged children). After a year of trying, the member stood at the Chapter meeting when it was his time to speak and proceeded to resign his membership, stating that he had just not gotten any referrals.

This announcement troubled much of the Chapter. This individual was a good member. He had consistent attendance. He got a respectable amount of great referrals. And he was well liked. Several people expressed their feelings.

With regret a member said, “I am sorry to hear that you are leaving the group – you will be missed. I wish you could have got you some referrals, but I just don’t know anyone in a school system and I don’t know anyone that needs 50 computers. I would have loved to have used you – you just bought a new printer last week.”

Others echoed this sentiment and indicated where they thought about using their fellow member.  “I would have loved to have got a replacement monitor from you”… “we would have liked to purchased our two new computers from you.”

The resigning computer salesperson was stunned.  Momentarily, he was silenced, when he was able to speak he instinctively replied, “I could have sold you any of that. In fact, a good part of my business is selling a single computer or an individual peripheral, like printers and monitors.”

The story has a happy ending, however. The member did not leave the Chapter. He did, however, stop focusing entirely on selling computers to school systems and did quite well asking for and getting referrals for a computer here and a printer there.

The moral of the story is that you should not get so caught up asking for that referral that will make your month (or year), that you forget that most of your success in business is achieved by making lots of relatively small sales. In fact, from week to week there are three general categories of referrals you should be seeking, graded as A, B or C.

• Grade A: This is the referral you realistically hope for when you have an opportunity to daydream about your business. That is to say that it is entirely possible that you could receive a referral like this, but they do not come around everyday and you certainly should not pin the existence of your business on them. From time to time, you should ask for these types of referrals as it is not beyond the realm of possibility that you would get one and so it is important that you let your network know that you would be interested.

• Grade B: These referrals represent the types of business and clients that you generally see from day to day and week to week in your business. A great majority of the time, you should be asking for referrals that fit in this classification.

• Grade C: These referrals represent the bear minimum type of business that you are willing to accept. In essence, when you ask for these types of referrals you are saying to your fellow members “although I am not going to build my business long term on these types of clients, I am willing to work with them as a means of establishing a relationship and hoping that it leads to more and better business down the road.” Like the Grade A referral, this should not be the focus of your periodic request for referrals. You should remind your fellow members, however, from time to time about these potential opportunities that you seek.

Although there is nothing wrong with asking for those once-in-a-lifetime referral opportunities, you need to make these requests sparingly (and the same holds true for those referrals you are willing to work for, but not overly eager to have).  Remember, success in requesting referrals is as simple as A,B,C.

Frank Agin is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections and is the author of Foundational Networking: Building Know, Like And Trust To Create A Lifetime Of Extraordinary Success and Linked Working: Generating Success On The World’s Largest Professional Networking Website.
For more information go to www.frankagin.com.

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About Frank Agin

Frank Agin is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections, an organization that empowers entrepreneurs, sales representatives and professionals to become more successful through networking and developing stronger business relationships. He is the author of a book entitled Foundational Networking: Creating Know, Like & Trust For A Lifetime of Extraordinary Success, and the co-author of LinkedWorking: Generating Success of the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website, which is one of the first books to set forth a strategy for being successful with social media websites.

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Tiger Woods delivering his 13-minute speech was finally what hundreds of millions of people were waiting to hear.  “I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you,” said Woods.  “I have made you question who I am and how I could have done all the things I did.  I am embarrassed I have put you in this position.  For all that I have done, I am deeply sorry.  I have a lot to atone for.”

Tiger screwed up, and he finally was doing what anyone who screws up badly should do; take ownership for your mistakes, and let people know what you plan to do to fix them.

As responsible salespeople, we can learn from Tiger’s example. On occasion, we’re going to screw up an order, type in a wrong seat number, forget some paperwork, or fail to follow up with a phone call we promised to make.  Rather than run and hide, the sooner we can recognize our mess-up, the better off everyone will be.

-  Be honest with your clients, no matter what. It’s hard enough to try to remember what your ‘story’ was for each person you sell, so make it easy on yourself: Tell the Truth. It really does set you free.

-  If you make a mistake, do your best to make it right immediately. The longer a problem festers, the larger the problem will be in the mind of the customer.    During a recent 5-day cruise I took with my family out of Miami, the cruise company kept hundreds of us outside on the pavement adjacent to the boarding area for several hours, without telling us why we couldn’t board the ship.  I was furious, and it was two days before we had anyone from customer service address the issue with us.  I had a chip on my shoulder during the entire cruise, and even though everything else was great, I still have a negative vibe about that cruise line.

- Find out what the client would prefer to do to make it right. Sometimes your solution isn’t the one that your client would prefer.  In the radio advertising business, on occasion we’d run the wrong commercial on the air for a client.  When we discovered the error, our responsibility would be to call the client to let them know, and to try to make amends.  We learned over time that if we asked our clients, ‘What do you think is fair as compensation for this mistake?’, we had much happier clients than if we tried to figure out what would be fair on our own.  Learn what would make the client feel special, and if you can say yes, then do it right away.

-  Take ownership of the mistake. Don’t blame any other departments or air your team’s dirty laundry to others.  Pointing fingers serves no purpose, and only makes the team look worse – and those are the kinds of negative word-of-mouth stories that travel fastest.

-  Don’t make yourself a hero at the expense of others around you. There is no victory in being number one in sales in your office if you also hold the title of Public Enemy number one to your service staff for having to clean up after you time after time.  Promise only what you can personally deliver, and partner with others in your organization to help with the rest.

If you do things right the first time, you’ll have very little to apologize for and you can be a hero to your clients and your co-workers far more often.

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About Bill Guertin

Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a dynamic sales training and consulting company whose list of blue-chip clients includes the ticket sales departments of dozens of teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  He is the author of the Gold Medal-award-winning book Reality Sells, and The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales: How to Dominate Your Market.  Subscribe to his Sports Ticket Sales Newsletter at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla. 

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