Slay the Sales Monster: Ramp Up Your Referral Process

Everybody knows someone in business that has it easy with sales. Maybe it's a doctor who carries a six-month backlog of new patients. Or a design firm that stays busy almost magically without spending a dime on overt marketing. You probably also know someone at the opposite end of this spectrum: the sales monster, who struggles and frets for each lead and close and works at a company that spends bags of money on getting new clients to replace the ones constantly leaking away.

What's the difference between these extremes? Other things being equal, it's about three fundamentals:

1. Being "referable"
2. Handling referred business gracefully
3. Consciously managing the referral process

Those three things remove the need to play sales monster. They have the power to free you from even putting much effort into overt lead generation.

You can set up shop on Easy Street when you set these referral fundamentals in place and follow through. A real referral is not a testimonial you use when you sell. Real referrals come from evangelist clients in action—your happy clients who spontaneously tell others "they have to" contact you, give them your contact information, and check back with them to see if they liked the experience.

It's About the Experience

Referability means never having to say "buy my service." Referable is what you become when you please and delight clients constantly by giving them something they want so much that they're happy all they have to do is pay your price. Their enthusiasm spills over and infects others.