"Salespeople who actively seek out and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than those who don't."
Now that stat may be old [source], but referral based selling is a successful. Think about Angie's List, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon and even Facebook -- people ask for referrals when buying or hiring. It takes the fear away.
How actively do your salespeople ask for referrals?
How active is your referral program?
How frustrated are your salespeople trying to cold call and network? Yeah. Pump some vigor into the referral system.
The key to a networking group like BNI is that to get good referrals, you need to give good referrals. (Give Vale First). Here are some other points on referrals.
