How to Get Referrals: Ask the Nice People
It’s a brand new week, which means we’re kicking off a new series of Three Minute Videos. All this week we’re going to be covering something that can be a bit of a sticky subject: how to ask for referrals.
“I know all the reasons why it’s hard. There’s an awkwardness to when you ask, how you ask, I think we’ve all been asked for referrals in a really horrible way and that sticks in our mind. But I’m going to ask you to turn a corner on referrals, because it’s a huge opportunity.”
Why do we say it can be sticky? We work with tons of agencies, and when we do, we ask a whole series of questions about sales skills. Something that sticks out to us is that time and time again, almost everyone who answers these questions says that asking for referrals is their lowest skill set. And it’s ironic, because most people also say that this is the business that they want more of.
This week we’ll be covering four strategies to ask people for referrals. These apply to everybody, not just producers or account managers. Here’s our first strategy for asking people for referrals:
- Ask the nice people
What do we mean by this? It’s pretty straightforward. If you’re having a good call or interaction, and the energy feels good, just focus on asking the nice people. We get so twisted up when it comes to wondering how to ask for referrals. If you have 15 or 20 interactions a day, pick one or two that were nice, and ask those people. Asking for referrals can be really simple, and it doesn’t have to be this big thing that we make it out to be.
Your challenge for today is to go through your day, pick a nice person, and simply say that you can help their family and friends with insurance. This means being willing to provide service, instead of just focusing on sales. And that’s because asking for referrals isn’t a sales strategy, it’s a service strategy that allows you to help people with a complicated product.
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