04/18/2008

Make investment in referral strategy, and watch that pay off

Colleen Stanley

There are thousands of dollars invested every year to create a compelling brand. Once created, well-designed pieces of collateral hit the streets through different venues, such as email newsletters, direct-mail postcards and brochures. All are important strategies for generating qualified opportunities.

There is one more important strategy, and it requires a lot of money. It's called a "referral strategy" and requires the willingness to invest in people and relationships.

People are bombarded and overloaded with information. Now, more than ever, it's important to develop referral partners and strategic alliances in order to push past the clutter and be considered for the next opportunity.

Unfortunately, most salespeople and companies don't execute a referral strategy very well. The intentions are good, but the methodology is poor. Let's take a look at the top three mistakes made in building referral partners.

Click here to read on.

Colleen Stanley is president of SalesLeadership Inc. in Denver. Reach her at cstanley@salesleadershipdevelopment.com or 303-708-1128.