Beyond Referrals Read online

  Copyright © 2013 by Bill Cates. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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  This book is dedicated to my daughter, Jenna Cates,

  who continues to show me the joy and power of unconditional love,

  and to the loving memory of my sister, Linda Cates.

  * * *

  The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground. You fix attention upon the common, the poor, the squalid, and the mean—and your mind takes the form of those things. You will then transmit these forms or mental images to the formless. Thus, the common, the poor, the squalid, and the mean will come to you. To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and to surround yourself with inferior things. On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best and to become the best.

  The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best. Therefore, it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best and will receive the best.

  —Wallace Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich (1910)

  CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREFACE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  SECTION I

  Get More Referrals: Leverage

  Your Successful Relationships

  1 Your Referral Mindset

  2 Enhance Your Referability

  3 Promote Referrals

  4 Ask for Referrals

  5 Create “Word of Internet”

  SECTION II

  Get More Introductions:

  Create Connections to Your New Prospects

  6 Introduction Basics

  7 Securing Effective Introductions

  8 Event Marketing

  SECTION III

  Get More Appointments: Reach Your New

  Prospects and Begin the Conversation

  9 Crafting Your Approach

  10 Contacting Referral Prospects

  11 Staying in Touch with Prospects

  SECTION IV

  Get More Clients: Confirm the New

  Relationship with High-Value Clients

  12 Building Trust

  13 Asking the Right Questions

  14 Creating an Effective Sales Process

  15 Talking About Your Value

  16 Dealing Effectively with Objections

  17 Asking for the Business

  APPENDIX 1

  What’s Your Referral Confidence Quotient?

  APPENDIX 2

  Professionals Never Stop Practicing

  APPENDIX 3

  Get Your Assistant or Staff Involved

  INDEX

  FOREWORD

  It is a real pleasure for me to write this foreword for my friend and colleague Bill Cates. Bill and I have known each other and worked together for years in the exciting business of selling and personal success. He is now the foremost authority in America on helping professionals acquire more and better clients through referrals, faster and easier than ever before, and helping companies build a thriving referral culture.

  When I began selling in my early twenties, I received no training except the words “go out and talk to as many people as you can.” I worked for many months, making calls and going from door to door, making very few sales, and feeling both frustrated and inadequate. Finally, I began asking the question “Why is it that some salespeople are more successful than others?” The answers changed my career and my life. Once I learned how to sell professionally, my sales increased dramatically. Soon I was recruiting and training other people with my sales ideas. By the time I was 26, I was responsible for six countries and had 95 people under my control, each one of whom I had recruited and trained personally.

  Since those early days, I have developed sales training systems that have now been used in 60 countries to train more than 2 million salespeople. Many of the graduates of my programs have gone on to lead their fields, become the top income earners in their professions, own their own businesses, and become self-made millionaires.

  One of the factors I discovered was that top salespeople were professionals. They understood every part of the selling process, and they followed a definite plan and schedule to achieve exceptional sales results.

  Another key factor I discovered was that top salespeople were extremely good at getting referrals from each customer or non-customer. These referrals led them to more and better sales, faster, and easier. Eventually, the top professionals I worked with developed their careers so that they worked “by referral only.”

  I only wish that I had known the wonderful strategies and techniques that Bill Cates teaches in this book earlier in my career. By following these ideas, salespeople, small business owners, and professionals of all types can create more
referrals and stimulate more word-of-mouth sales than they ever thought possible.

  It turns out that the highest-paid salespeople in every field, and the highest-paid professionals, are all excellent at getting referrals from one client to another. And the good news is that this is a skill that you can learn, and quite quickly. If you ask properly, referrals are easy to get. Referrals cost nothing. Referrals dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for you to get in front of a prospective client. Your closing ratio with referrals is higher. The sales process is faster. A good referral will lead you to other referrals from the customer’s personal and business circle. Referrals are truly the “keys to the kingdom” of sales success and high income.

  This book will help you convert the referrals you get to what Bill calls “Engaged Introductions.” An engaged introduction is a collaborative effort where the referral source works with you to make sure you get connected to the new prospect. An engaged introduction is not just word of mouth. And it’s not just “give her a call and feel free to use my name.” An engaged introduction gets your foot in the door and establishes a genuine connection between you and the new prospect.

  Bill Cates has coined the term “The Law of Perpetual Revenue” and created “The Perpetual Revenue System.” This is a great concept in the field of selling. It requires that you serve your clients well. This leads to referrals. Referrals lead to introductions, which lead to appointments, which lead to new clients. And the cycle continues—perpetually.

  There has never been another book like this. There are books on referrals. There are books on sales skills. But no one, until now, has written a book designed to help you turn referrals into new clients. When you follow the steps that Bill has explained in this book, you will be on your way to perpetual revenue. So, if you are ready for a career-changing experience, put up your tray table and do up your seat belt. Bill Cates is going to take you on a journey to the highest levels of sales and sales income possible for you in the exciting months and years ahead.

  Brian Tracy, 2012

  PREFACE

  When I graduated from the University of Maryland (go Terps!), I was shy, lacked confidence, and had a degree in sociology. So, naturally, I took a job in sales. My first job was selling home improvement services. It wasn’t a very sophisticated selling situation. In fact, we didn’t even set our own appointments. They were set for us, and we just showed up trying to make the sale.

  So I was 22 and my sales manager, Larry, was 23. He had been in the business about nine months, and so he was the “veteran” among us. For the first three weeks, my job was to observe Larry make sales. My fourth week on the job, I started to run the appointments and Larry observed me.

  I’ll never forget my first sale. In fact, it left an indelible mark on my consciousness. It was a nice home in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. I had driven that night, and as I began to start the car, Larry put his hands on the keys and wouldn’t let me start the car.

  “What’s up Larry? Do you want to debrief or something?”

  “Actually, Bill. You forgot the most important thing.”

  “I got the contract; it’s signed. And I got the check; it’s signed. What did I forget?”

  “You forgot to ask for referrals.”

  “You’re right! Tell you what. I’ll call the homeowners tomorrow and see if I can get some over the phone.”

  “Well, actually Bill, I was thinking it would be a good training experience for you to get out of the car now and go back in and ask for referrals.”

  Now I was thinking, “This guy is nuts.” So we proceeded to get into an argument—my fourth week on the job—about why it was or was not a good time to go back into the home and ask for referrals. In the meantime, the downstairs light went off and the upstairs light went on. They were getting ready for bed.

  Finally, Larry said to me, “Look, Bill. Here’s your choice. Either you go back now and ask for referrals, or I lay on the horn, wake up the entire neighborhood, which will blow the sale, and tomorrow you could be looking for a new job.”

  Wow! Well, I didn’t know any better and I needed the job, so I got out of the car (without Larry), rang the doorbell, and said, “Sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but my sales manager is a maniac. He said if I don’t ask you for some referrals to a few of your neighbors, I could lose my job.”

  Now what saved me in this predicament was that this new customer of mine was a sales manager. So not only did he appreciate my asking for referrals (wishing his salespeople would do the same), but he appreciated the courage it took to go back and ask for referrals. He said, “Come on in. I’ll help you out.” He sat me down and proceeded to give me three great referrals. He gave me full contact information and told me a little about each person.

  Three great referrals—for a new job! I contacted all three of those referrals and was offered a position from each one. I accepted one and sold moving and storage services for about a year.

  Now we don’t condone Larry’s style of management. It was pretty heavy-handed. But Larry gave me a huge gift. He gave me the gift of awareness. After an experience like that, I don’t ever forget to ask for referrals. Sometimes I decide “Now’s not the right time,” and I’ve even wimped out from time to time. But I never forget. (And I’ve actually built a highly successful business teaching others how to acquire more clients through referrals. How ironic is that?)

  What I hope to do with this book, in a kinder, gentler way, is bring that same awareness to you. Awareness is a powerful thing. When you’re aware of what’s possible, you tend to see opportunities and take action. I’m hoping this book will show you the opportunity that is in front of you every day—referrals from your happy clients—and then give you the tools to leverage those referrals into introductions, appointments, and new clients. You’re probably sitting on a gold mine of opportunity. Let’s go capture that together.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’ve been fortunate to surround myself with an extremely supportive group of friends and colleagues. Either directly or indirectly, they have contributed to the success of my writing this book, as well as the success of my business.

  My Staff. Jennifer Kreitzer, Jennifer Hill, and Kevin Schriver

  My MasterMind group. Steven Gaffney, Willie Jolley, Marissa Levin, Suzi Pomerantz, and Zemira Jones

  My men’s team. John Hurley, Jay Magenheim, Les Picker, Randy Richie, and Joel Rosenberg

  My support team at McGraw-Hill. Donya Dickerson, Janice Race, and Cheryl Hudson

  My family. Jenna Cates, Lee Bristol, Kris Cates-Bristol, Jessica Cates-Bristol, Kate McCrae, Joe Schoenbaur, and Nancy Bierer.

  INTRODUCTION

  THE PERPETUAL REVENUE SYSTEM™

  For 18 years, I’ve been helping businesses of all sizes acquire new clients through referrals. For individual sales professionals, to small business owners, to Fortune 100 companies, I’ve produced growth for my clients. My first three books focused on the referral process itself—becoming more referable, getting referrals without asking, asking in a confident manner without pushing or begging, networking more effectively, using reputation marketing, and engaging in all the other strategies that generate an unlimited supply of referrals. But a referral isn’t the end game, is it? Getting a referral is only a means to an end in your efforts to obtain a new client. While a referral is clearly the best way to meet a prospect, your process can’t stop there. Allow me to introduce you to the Perpetual Revenue System.

  Satisfied clients give you referrals (sometimes without even asking). You turn those referrals into introductions so that the new prospects will be open to hearing from you. From the introduction, you set an appointment to begin the client-courtship process. From there, you endeavor to win the new clients and make the sale. As you provide great value to the new clients, the process starts all over again. It’s simple. It’s easy. And you can get this going right now!

  One of the beautiful aspects of this dynamic is that it does not result
in linear growth, one new client at a time. This process creates exponential growth, where one client can lead to two, two to four, four to eight, and so on. Your business grows geometrically!

  Why Referrals Are Best

  If you’ve picked up this book, then you probably have a sense of why you want to get more referrals. But let’s make sure you know the full benefit of working from referrals.

  1. Referrals cost you nothing to acquire. (Do you know your “cost per lead” with other lead-generation methods?) The only cost of a referral might be a small thank you gift.

  2. You start at a higher point of trust. When you meet a new prospect for the first time, you need to show up “trustworthy.” There is no better way to show up worthy of one’s trust than through an introduction from someone the prospect already trusts. Referrals are “borrowed trust.” You borrow the trust in one relationship long enough to establish your own trust in the new relationship.

  3. Your price is usually less of an issue. While your price, fee, or however you charge for your products or services is never off the table, when you work from referrals, people are almost always willing to pay a little more when you’ve been recommended by someone they trust. (There’s that word trust again. It’s a topic we’ll deal with throughout this book.) In fact, if a significant component of your client attraction plan is referrals, you can usually charge more for your products and services.

  4. Your sales process moves faster. Most sales that start with a referral move through the sales process more quickly. Sales come faster because, again, you start at a higher point of trust. Many prospects come to you predisposed to do business with you.

  5. Your “closing ratio” is higher. Most salespeople experience closing ratios of 10 to 30 percent from other lead sources. Referral-based sales usually close at 50 to 70 percent (sometimes even higher).