Referrals

Good grief, has it really been since November?

Latest "Eureka!" moment: I'm part of a sales leads group through Greater Spokane Inc. and I've made myself the personal librarian for the ~25-30 folks who are in the group. They love it. They love having a personal face to put on the library and the longer I'm in the group the better sense they have of just how much we have to offer.

But the real beauty of participating in the leads group is that when people from the group refer others to me, they are usually sending them my way because they know that I can help this particular individual with their particular problem. The end result is that those being referred to me (after not being in a library for a number of years) come to me with softball questions that I can crush out of the ballpark. It makes a good first impression and makes it likely that they will come back with other questions when they arise.

So the nugget to remember here is this: get a group of folks out in the community who are familiar with what the library can offer and then bask in joy of being able to look really competent when referrals are sent your way.

Comments

Librarian Man said…
From Dave Tafts on launchpadinw.com:

I think it depends on which sales environment you are in and what the product or service is that you are selling.

Someone who sells copiers for Xerox is going to already have a built in level of credibility based on the product name and history and therefore will need to build trust in the relationship.

Where as someone in a consultative capacity, say a psychological marketing analysis expert for example, has to create a high level of credibility since what he or she is selling isn't a tangible product, but an actual service where expertise needs to be established early and often in the sales process.

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