If you don’t have time to talk to all of your top clients, you might have too many.
The senior vice president of a major bank recently told me that his team reaches out to their clients once a year. “Each of my reps has 250 clients,” he explained. “They can’t possibly talk to all of them.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Once a year?
When I strongly suggested that all 250 clients didn’t match the profile of their Ideal Clients, he agreed.
The irony is that his trust officers have regular meetings with their top clients. It’s the perfect time to find out who these people know—in other words, the perfect time to ask for referrals.
Narrow It Down
Many organizations believe the best method for developing and increasing sales funnels is to cast a wide net. But that’s how you catch a bunch of tiny fish that aren’t worth your time. To reel in the big fish—the Ideal Clients with money to spend and who are great to work with—you have to be a lot more choosey about where you go fishing.
Where do you start looking for Ideal Clients? They won’t walk into your office asking for you. You won’t find them on social media, and you won’t find them by cold calling or emailing. You will find them through referral introductions from people they know and trust.
Since our current Ideal Clients know other people just like themselves, we should be talking to them on a regular basis—ensuring they’re getting ROI from our solutions and asking them for referrals.
Attract the Clients You Really Want
When you build your business based on referrals from your Ideal Clients, you work with the customers you really want—all while increasing sales and reducing your costs. These are the hard numbers and bottom-line results your boss, executives, and investors will love. (Read “4 Reasons to Lock in Your Ideal Clients.”)
Referral selling works, but only if you work it. Don’t have time to talk to your clients? Get real. Get busy. Get referrals.
Connect With No More Cold Calling
Follow Joanne on Google+ or Twitter @ReferralSales, or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook.
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How many people are on your “A list”?
