Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 50. "Referrals" Are a Waste— Introductions Are Golden

Paul McCord

McCord Training

Rick's client was somewhat uncomfortable with his request. The sale had gone well enough—everything considered. There was the matter of the small overcharge on the invoice, but Rick took care of that within minutes of the discovery. And there was, of course, the issue with the programming that required an additional visit by the technician, interrupting another day of work. But, all-in-all, the process was certainly less painful than other installations the company had undergone.

But this last question about referrals was a little uncomfortable. His client was completely caught off guard. He wasn't the least prepared to give a referral and wasn't comfortable giving one. Nevertheless, Rick asked and stood his ground until his client coughed up the name and phone number of one of his vendors that might be able to use his services.

Rick was excited; the referral he received was to a company he had wanted to get into for quite a while. Better yet, it was a referral to Nadia, the company's COO, the exact person he had wanted to reach. He quickly thanked his client and headed to his office to make the call to his new prospect.

As soon as he was in his office, he picked up the phone, called Nadia, and got her assistant, who, despite Rick's insistence that one of Nadia's clients had asked him to call her, refused to put him through. Instead, the assistant demanded that Rick leave his name and number and ...