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In this, the 14th secret of the 17 Secrets of the Master Prospectors, John Kalench get down to a much overlooked source of new business – referral business! But, you have to know what and how to ask for referrals.

The person whom you ask for a referral is your referral source. The person he refers is the referral.

In general, there are 3 objections or reasons why your referral source will be hesitant to give you any referrals. The master prospectors know this, and they know how to get around it.

Firstly, they may not be comfortable with your product or service, or network marketing in general.

Secondly, they may be wary of what you are going to say to their contacts, and they may not want to be quoted as giving a recommendation or endorsement.

Thirdly, your referral source doesn’t want his or her contacts to be annoyed by your approach and, in turn, annoyed at him for giving you their name.

Let’s look at these now.

Discomfort factor #1: Uneasiness with your product or network marketing in general

Rule number 1 – Only ask people for referrals with whom you have earned the right to ask.

There are two categories of people with whom you have earned the right to ask.

The first category is small and includes your closest family and friends. You have earned the right with them, because they obviously care about you and your success.

The second category, which is much bigger, is the your customers! Once they are happy users of your product or service, they are perfect candidates to provide you with qualified referrals.

Rule number 2 – Educate your referral sources about your business

If you educate them about your products, your company and network marketing, they will feel more comfortable to refer their contacts. Keep your information short and to the point with perhaps 2-3 testimonials.

Discomfort factor #2: What you are going to say to the referrals

When asked for referrals, people may feel uncomfortable giving you names, because they think you will be telling the referral that they endorsed or recommended the product of business opportunity.

This discomfort stems from their desire to protect their own reputation.

So, the way to address this discomfort, is to come right out and tell your referral source what you will be saying to the referral. Reassure them than you won’t be saying that they recommended or endorsed your product. Focus on giving/sharing information and ideas, not selling.

Discomfort factor #3: “Don’t bother my friends”

The real fear here is that the referral source might jeopardize a valued relationship with the referral if you annoy him when you call.

The best way to overcome this, is to have your referral source genuinely excited about the benefits of your products that he wants you to call. If he is a happy, excited, customer, he will already know the benefits of the products. In his mind he already knows which of his contacts could also benefit from these products.

Simply ask your referral source: “Jane, who do you know that will also want the kind of results that you are having?”

Referral profile

Create your ideal referral profile. Then, when you ask for referrals, you can share your ideal referral profile with your referral source and say to them, “who do you know who possesses 2-3 of these qualities on this list?”

Here is an example of an Ideal Referral Profile for a nutritional product: