To Get Past No… Find Someone They Know!
By Todd Earwood on Sep 5, 2007 in
I’m a believer we’re all in sales. Maybe you’re selling your boss or your husband, but sales skills can be applied in many areas of life. If the person you’re selling to keeps telling you no, I suggest you find someone they know. This quote from Entrepreneur magazine (which I found from Rajesh’s great post) summed it up rather well.
It’s a fact: People would rather do business with people they know–or know of–than with strangers. When you’re introduced to a prospect through a personal recommendation, that prospect has a vastly higher comfort level than, say, a buyer you find through cold calling.
Contacting someone cold is tough and although it can be overcome, it’s not easy. Stop pushing a stranger and start finding a a mutual contact. Get the inside scoop from your contact and ask if they can refer you to the prospect. You can find out what you can do to return the favor. If you don’t have a large network to reach out to, start offering to help others with the ones you do know. Your friends will appreciate a good referral and you’ll be surprised how willing they’ll return the favor.
If you want more resources on referrals, you can check out the 4,000+ links tagged on Delicious.
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