When you’ve been in the business as long as I’ve been there always seems to be that little something that you can write about.
I was taught that after every order/sale I would then ask Mr. or Mrs. Right for three referrals that I could call on. Seems back in the 80’s everyone needed a plain paper copier. Wait! Let me stop right there, I’ll go out on limb and bet that at least 60 percent of today’s reps that are selling copiers probably always thought that copiers always printed on plain paper! Yes, the 80’s, everyone needed a plain paper copier, and at the end of every sale we asked “Would it be possible to get the name of two or three businesses that may be interested in our services”? That was then, and to tell you the truth the last time I used that is when a prospect asked for a better price and I tied in, “If I give you a better price will you sign the order today and I’ll need two or three businesses that may be interested in my services.”
But, it does bring back memories of things we used to do. Here’s a short list of how we did things in the 80’s:
1) Send a thank-you card for every sale you made.
2) Send a check for $25 or an in-house credit to a customer that gave us as a reference and we made the sale.
3) Ask for referrals after every sale.
4) Knock on the doors of the businesses next to the customer you just made the sale to.
5) Give a check to the technicians for leads (they loved this, and I was very generous to many, now it seems that most dealers are controlling this because too many sales people never paid up).
6) Send Christmas cards (I sent them with my name and the dealership name).
7) Call an existing customer and ask them if they know of anyone who is interested in my services (offer them free toner if a sale goes down).
8) Call and ask for a letter of reference (now you can still call them and maybe e-mail them and ask them to post a referral for you on Linkedin. I include my Linkedin signature link on my e-mails).
I’m sure that some of are still doing a few of these today, but I plan to pick up my game with mailing thank-you cards again, asking for referrals after the sale, calling an existing customer to see if they know of anyone they could refer me to along with adding more referrals on Linkedin.
Good selling!
