How can sales training help you get more referrals and repeat business?
Sales training is not just about learning new techniques and strategies to close more deals. It is also about building long-term relationships with your customers and prospects, and turning them into loyal advocates for your business. In this article, you will learn how sales training can help you get more referrals and repeat business, which are essential for growing your sales pipeline and revenue.
Referrals and repeat business are two of the most powerful sources of sales leads, because they come from people who already trust you and value your solution. They are also more likely to convert, because they have a lower level of resistance and a higher level of interest. Referrals and repeat business can also reduce your marketing and acquisition costs, and increase your customer lifetime value.
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Referrals are the fastest way to start trust-based conversations. However, the challenge is that your clients and referral partners can’t always come up with a list of people that need your solution, and while they are happy to refer you, it isn’t a reliable way to prospect, until now. Prior to asking them for a recommendation, connect with them on LinkedIn, mind their connections, and bring a full list of people they are connected to that you’d like an introduction to. Review the full list with them and whittle it down to a few good introductions. This will also spark other introductions to folks in their network that they wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
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There is a great quote that speaks to the proper mindset. A customer buys once while a client is a repeat buyer. You should try to ensure that everyone you interact with becomes a client on their way to becoming a raving fan of you and your business. A raving fan will not simply buy from you but will proactively tell others and will always be willing to share a referral or make a strategic introduction.
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I posted about the importance of referrals and that these are so underutilised. The retention rate and also advocacy hugely improve when using referrals. It's such a simple ask, if you're not using it, you would have to ask why?
Sales training can help you improve your referral skills by teaching you how to ask for referrals effectively, how to leverage social proof and testimonials, how to reward and recognize your referrers, and how to follow up and nurture your referral leads. Sales training can also help you overcome any fears or objections that might prevent you from asking for referrals, and show you how to create a referral culture within your organization.
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Typically we look at sales training in 5 buckets: 1. Mindset- Be a resource. Detach from what the prospect is worth to you and attach to what you are worth to the prospect. 2. Prospect Preparedness - This is research, conversations and social listening. Know the challenges your prospects face before they need you, when they need you and articulate why they need you. Know the risks of status quo. And, understand your prospects’ customer ecosphere. 3. Hone the Message-clearly define your outreach process and discovery conversation and case studies. 4. Map Social Proximity to identify who can introduce you to your stakeholders. 5. Master next steps. 6. Create a bridge of your internal subject matter experts the aligned stakeholders. 7. Close
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The points above are the first layer of the cake. The training around coaching these behavioral changes is the most essential part, and it cannot be ignored.
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There are certainly some techniques that can assist you in becoming better at asking for and receiving referrals. The most important thing is to just start. Start today by asking a great client for a referral or introduction to someone else who might benefit from a relationship with you.
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Sales training can significantly enhance your referral skills by teaching you effective communication techniques, relationship-building strategies, and how to leverage satisfied customers to generate referrals.
Sales training can help you boost your repeat business rate by teaching you how to deliver exceptional customer service, how to upsell and cross-sell your existing customers, how to communicate and educate your customers regularly, how to solicit and act on feedback, and how to create loyalty programs and incentives. Sales training can also help you identify and segment your customers based on their needs, preferences, and potential, and tailor your offers and messages accordingly.
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Sales training can significantly boost your repeat business rate by equipping your team with the skills and strategies to build stronger customer relationships, enhance customer satisfaction, and increase customer retention.
Sales training can help you enhance your relationship building skills by teaching you how to listen actively, how to ask open-ended and probing questions, how to empathize and rapport with your customers and prospects, how to adapt your style and approach to different personalities and situations, and how to add value and solve problems. Sales training can also help you develop your emotional intelligence, your trustworthiness, and your professionalism.
Sales training can help you increase your referral and repeat business opportunities by teaching you how to spot and seize them. For example, you can ask for referrals when you have delivered a positive outcome, when you have received a compliment, when you have solved a problem, or when you have exceeded expectations. You can also ask for repeat business when you have established a strong relationship, when you have demonstrated your expertise, when you have identified a new need, or when you have launched a new product or service.
Sales training can help you get more referrals and repeat business, but only if you find the right one for you. There are many sales training programs and providers out there, but not all of them are suitable for your goals, your industry, your budget, or your learning style. To find the right sales training for you, you need to do some research, compare different options, ask for recommendations, check reviews and testimonials, and look for evidence of results and credentials.
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When looking for sales training, be sure to find someone who will take the time to deep dive into your business before making a recommendation. You want to get beyond the symptoms and get to the systemic issues that require additional training or some other remediation to improve. Training is good investment only when it is strategic with a clear ROI.
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1. Do an internal SWAT strengths, weaknesses, advantages, and threats. If you don’t know these, you will not know what kind of training you actually need. 2. Do you an audit on your best clients how you got them in the first place. Chances are you want more of those. 3. Ask your sales team and peers if they’ve gone through other trainings in the past, and if they’d recommend you speaking with any of those trainers. 4. Prepare interview questions for the sales trainers and questions they should ask you about your team. 5. Beta test with either a small group or a virtual training to evaluate if the fit is a good one. 6. Develop KPIs to measure success 7. Ensure ongoing support
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Apart from considering myself :-)) To find the right sales training for you, assess your specific needs and goals, research reputable training programs, check for reviews or testimonials, and consider the training's content, delivery format, and cost. Tailor your choice to align with your learning style and the skills you want to develop.
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priya bose(edited)
Sales training helps sellers to understand the deep value and accurate uses of product that leads the seller to sell right information that results to gaining trust of buyers ultimately resulting more referrals and repeated business. Sales training also helps sellers to learn ethical selling and infuses the right technique to sell product to consumers who can benefit from it. With the right and ethical sales technique seller manage to earn trust,respect and buyers support to sell the product in the referral of the buyers. Buyers gain with such techniques are more likely to be loyal customers leading to the repeated business.
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