Episode #352: Ivan Misner
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Ivan Misner
Kristie is the go-to expert for SaaS Founders wanting to build or scale their Sales and Customer Success teams. After 15+ years as a sales leader in the SaaS space, she founded Sales Acceleration Group in 2016 to help other SaaS companies build, grow, and scale their Sales and Customer Success teams to increase revenue, reduce churn, and scale more quickly. Her willingness to get her hands dirty and her “take no prisoners” approach when helping companies with everything from sales process and strategy to hiring and training Sales and Customer Success Reps. is what makes her so valuable to her clients.
Our Mission Is To Change The Negative Perception Of Sales People
Our Vision Is A World Where Selling Is A Profession To Be Proud Of
A referral is an opportunity to do business with someone in the market to buy your product or service. They’re expecting you to contact them to have a conversation. It’s different from a normal lead. A referral is someone ready to chat with you. But how do you get to that point? Ivan Misner has identified the “VCP” process to go from visibility and credibility to profitability. Learn what it is in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Outline of This Episode
- [1:24] What are referrals? How do they help?
- [2:00] Mistakes salespeople make when asking for referrals
- [3:42] How can salespeople leverage social media?
- [4:56] The VCP process: Visibility, credibility, and profitability
- [6:18] What metrics to track with your referral program
- [7:30] How to ask for referrals without being pushy
- [10:08] What role does technology play in referral selling
- [11:10] Top 3 referral selling dos and don’ts
- [13:25] Don’t assume your referrals are great
Mistakes salespeople make when asking for referrals
People always say, “It never hurts to ask.” But Ivan believes that sentiment is completely wrong. It hurts to ask for business, referrals, or sales if you don’t have some sort of connection. If you’re meeting someone for the first time and asking for business. It’s just face-to-face cold calling. Don’t ask for the sale or referral when you don’t know someone. You need to connect with the person.
Secondly, when you know someone or they’re your client, don’t be too vague with your ask. You can’t just say, “Hey if you know anyone who could use my services please refer them.” Talk about what you did for them and what you’ve done for other clients. “Specific is terrific” when it comes to referrals.
The VCP process: Visibility, credibility, and profitability
Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. It’s about cultivating relationships. To foster relationships, Ivan teaches a VCP process: Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability.
- Visible: People need to know who you are and what you do.
- Credibility: People know who you are, what you do, and that you’re good at it.
- Profitability: People know who you are, what you do, and that you’re good at it, and they’re willing to refer business to you.
People try to bypass visibility and credibility which, to Ivan, is just premature solicitation. You don’t go to networking events to sell, you go to work through the VCP process. The goal is to create visibility with people you’ve never met before, maintain credibility with the people you know, and continue profitability with the people who are referring to you.
What metrics to track with your referral program
How often are you connecting with someone? How many networking meetings are you going to? How many connection calls are you making? You’re following up with people to build a relationship. That’s the key. If you get referrals, did you say thank you? When you track the number of touchpoints you have, it’s similar to tracking cold calls. If you have x number of touchpoints, you get y number of referrals. Ivan covers this concept in his book, “Networking Like a Pro.”
Best practices for asking for referrals
If you have a relationship with the person, it’s easy to ask for a referral. And if you refer people to them, it’s even better. You simply need clear and direct communication with people you’ve built credibility with.
The reticular activating system screens out stimuli that you don’t need to be aware of. It removes background noise. It’s operating properly when that happens. You need to make it easy for people to bypass that system. You can do it with a simple technique: The language of referrals.
Follow “I can’t, I need, I want, and I don’t know” with phrases specific to you. Train people on those phrases. So if someone hears that exact phrase, they’ll know that’s a good referral to your business.
What do you do if you’re sending someone referrals but getting none in return? Listen to the whole episode to hear Ivan’s thoughts!
Resources & People Mentioned
Connect with Ivan Misner
Connect With Paul Watts
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Learn More About Ivan Misner
Are there any books, podcasts, or classes on Referral Selling that you recommend? Networking like a Pro and the Connector Effect, Bob Burg’s Endless Referrals, and Susan Roane’s How to Work a Room.
In the field of ‘Referral Selling’ – Who do you most admire? Brian Tracy and Harvey McKay
How can salespeople track and measure the success of their referral program? There is a section in the book Networking like a pro 2nd Edition.
What are some common reasons why customers may not provide referrals, and how can salespeople overcome these obstacles? People are more likely to talk about you when they are upset with you, rather than when they are happy with you. You want to find creative ways of asking – Chiropractor’s use a sign thanking their customers who provided a referral and other clients want to appear on that board also (always ask when you are at credibility)
What is the difference between a referral, an introduction and a lead? Referrals, are ready to have a conversation have been primed, whereas a lead is someone telling you that a new company moved into town, and you should see if they need your product.
How do you determine which customers to target for referrals, and what are some effective strategies for reaching out to them? Every customer that loves what you are doing, you should be asking what you are doing. Raving fans.
What are some potential risks or downsides to relying heavily on referrals for new business, and how can sales teams mitigate these risks? The biggest downside is believing that referrals will just fall from the sky. Sometimes people get more referrals from their business associates than they do from their customers.
Finally, what advice would you give to salespeople who are looking to launch a referral program or improve their referral generation skills? Networking is a contact sport, you’ve got to get face-to-face with your customers. You’ve got to be out there, and you need to diversify your networks.
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