Mentors Magazine: Issue 2

30 | MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 2

cause the trust they place in you – put there
by the person who referred them – adds val-
ue to you.

But most sales teams are not receiving as
many – or any – referrals. Here are four com-
mon reasons why your sales team may be
struggling to bring in referrals.

1. You are telling them to ask

I get it, it is the majority of the
advice out there. There are
articles, books, training pro-
grams and more teaching
people how to ask for refer-
rals... who to ask, when to
ask, what different scripts to use when ask-
ing and more.

It is what we have heard for so long we have
started to believe “asking for referrals” is the
only way.

But when you understand the human dy-
namic and psychology of a referral, you rec-
ognize that asking for a referral dilutes the
power of a referral. A referral happens be-
cause your referral source (the person who
sends you referrals) knows someone who
has a problem or issue and they know you
can solve the problem. They refer to help
someone out – the person who has the
problem – not to send you a new client.

If I am willing to help someone with a prob-

lem, the help I want to provide is that of a

trusted resource. Which means the relation-

ships you or your sales team has with your

referral sources matter most.

What your team needs is to be able to stop

asking for referral and start

cultivating relationship with

referral sources or potential

referral sources.

2. The only tool you provide
   is an incentivized referral pro-
   gram

It seems when asking doesn’t

work, many companies will turn to incentiv-

ized referral programs for their sales team to

promote to referral sources. The program

typically involves paying a referral source for

a referral. But what is missed with this

attempt at a solution, is that only a small mi-

nority of people are willing to “refer” for a

commission.

Most people refer because it is how they

help someone with their problem. They

would feel uncomfortable if that friend, col-

league or peer found out that they received

a commission for referring them.

It doesn’t matter if the company is B2B or

B2C. Providing commission for

“referrals” (which are really just leads you

are willing to pay for) not disclosed up front

If we are fixated on a

short-term, then we

miss out on doing

what we need to do

now to have a

different future when

it comes to referrals.