RELENTLESS RADIO

 

Author:	Sean Luce
Published:	May, 2000

 

If you could increase your business by 20% by asking one question, would you do it? Everyone in my seminars says yes! But less than 5% of us ask for a referral on every call. In my opinion, if you have been in the business over 5 years, 80% of your new business should be coming in off of referrals. If you have been in radio sales for over a year, that figure should be at least 20%. Your greatest increase in sales this year should come from your active client base. How many of us like to pick up the phone and make 20 cold calls just to secure 2 appointments? That's not working very smart, yet with qualified referrals, how would you like to call half the prospects and get twice as many qualified appointments? In most cases, we just need to work smarter and that's what you do with a systematic approach to asking for referrals. Why aren't we asking for referrals? Maybe nobody every taught us the correct way to ask. No more excuses! Here are the four cornerstones for building your referral system. 1.  Know where to get your referrals.  The best source of referrals are (A) Satisfied clients (B) From prospects who say no. (C) Ones referred to you by another trusted friend or professional outside of your industry. 2. Form a referral alliance.  Not all of your referrals should come from satisfied customers. When you accept the notion that the best way to build your business is through referrals, then you will constantly look for referrals within groups and associations that you are involved in. Getting referrals from other salespeople within and outside of your stations is also another great way to build this alliance. 3. Target niche markets.  Create a reputation for you and your stations within one or more categories of business and your referrals will be more targeted. Businesses tend to want to copy each other and they want to talk to the person who is helping their competitor grow. With this strategy, you automatically bring a high level of expertise to the table and your personal reputation within a targeted niche spreads very quickly. 4. Use a simple 3-step process for qualifying and asking for the referral.  First, describe a typical client of yours, qualitatively and psychographically. Now let them imagine the faces of people they know such as: vendors, friends, members of associations they belong too and then ask directly for the referral and wait for their answer. They will think of someone. This is better than just asking, "Do they know anybody who might like to advertise on our station?" A properly managed referral system will help you develop more qualified appointments than you actually need, hard to believe. You will then be in the enviable position of working only with people who are qualified to use your stations. That's working smarter!