Customer Referrals and Trust: A Simple Guide
“Effective networking is about building relationships with others who can refer you once they’ve come to trust you, have confidence in you and feel loyal to you. This truly is the key to networking success. And this process takes time.” Duct Tape Marketing, “The Keys to a Referral Relationship.”
What is the easiest way to get new business? Referrals.
Is it easy to get referrals? No and yes.
The Dilemma
Most salespeople and managers agree that referrals are the best way to get leads for new business. There are methods for getting referrals, however it sill remains “difficult” for a salesperson to get them.
So how do we “speed up” the process and make it simple?
Build the Relationship
As for “speeding up” the process, there are no methodologies that can really get you to where you need to be to ask for referrals quickly. Too often salespeople jump on the opportunity too early, at the wrong time. It takes time. So be patient.
Where to start? Make steps to build the relationship and add commercial and personal value. The best way to build a relationship and add value is by establishing trust. In order to build trust for refferals, you should understand the components of trustworthiness.
The Components of Trustworthiness
The components of trustworthiness, in the world of the The Trusted Advisor, reside in the Trust Quotient.
The Trust Quotient consists of the Trust Equation=
C=Credibility
R=Reliability
I=Intimacy
S=Self-orientation
C=Credibility has to do with the words we speak. In a sentence, we might say, “I can trust what she says about intellectual property; she is very credible on the subject.*
By contrast, reliability has to do with actions. We might say, for example, “If he says he’ll deliver the product tomorrow, I trust him, because he’s dependable.” *
Intimacy refers to the safety or security that we feel when entrusting someone with something. We might say, “I can trust her with that information; she’s never violated my confidentiality before, and she would never embarrass me.” *
Self-orientation refers to the focus of the person in question. In particular, whether the person’s focus is primarily on himself or herself or on the other person. We might say, “I can’t trust him on this deal—I don’t think he cares enough about me, he’s focused on what he gets out of the deal.” Or—more commonly—“I don’t trust him—I think he was too concerned about how he was appearing, so he wasn’t really paying attention.”
Keep in mind that Credibility and Reliability are the easiest aspects of the Trust Equation. Intimacy and Self Orientation are by far more difficult to attain.
(*for more information, see Trust in Business: The Core Concepts from Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates)
Simply Ask for Referrals
So, once you establish the relationship, you can simply ask for referrals. The biggest problem is, salespeople just don’t bother approaching clients for referrals. How many times do salespeople actually ask for a referral? rarely. Ray Silverstein suggests a few simple but great pointers in his article, Get More Referrals by Asking.
So, build the relationship and ask. It may take some time but it sure is simple.
Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore
Tags: Refferals, Relationship Management, Sales Success, Trust
