I am taking a new business development job for a wellness and surgery center. We need doctors to refer their obese patients to us. Doctors seem so hard to get in front of. Do you have any new suggestions besides networking and dropping off literature? Kelly

Kelly, before you go looking for referrals, ask yourself: HOW REFERABLE AM I? WHY WOULD SOMEONE REFER ME? Do you interview each patient after surgery or treatment to ask about his or her experience? How the doctor’s bedside manner was? What the administrative ease or pain was? Are you recording the interview? Are any patients posting on Facebook about their experiences? Are you encouraging them to?

BEST IDEA: Meet with doctors who are already referring and ask them WHY they refer. That will help you understand your present status, and give you reasons to share with other doctors.

Referrals are the single best (and most profitable) source for new sales. They are also the LEAST used source. WHY? They require work. Hard work.

REALITY: Most salespeople are not willing to do the hard work it takes to make selling easy.

QUESTION: Why are you (still) ASKING for referrals?

ANSWER: You haven’t EARNED them!

SECOND ANSWER: My boss says I have to.

REALITY ANSWER: When I ask a new customer for a referral, it makes them (and me) uncomfortable.

Salespeople and sales managers are always looking for the fast way out. Their two-word cry is: MORE NOW!

Think about your referrals:

How do you get them?

How should you get them?

Why are you still asking for them?

QUESTION: Do you really know, do you really understand, how customers feel when you ask for a referral?

ANSWER: You are defined in their mind as a “taker.” They don’t just feel uncomfortable; they will now avoid your calls and not return your emails. You’ll wonder why, and BLAME THEM.

How’s that for building loyalty?

RULE ONE OF REFERRALS: Don’t ask.

SIMPLE UNIVERSAL RULE OF REFERRALS: Think EARN, not ASK.

Anyone can “ask.” Top salespeople “earn.”

I love the pathetic line at the bottom of a card or email: “I love referrals.” Even the softer version, “I appreciate referrals.” What kind of a statement is that? It’s a begging one. A greedy one. The statement should be, “I earn referrals.” Or “I earn referrals by giving referrals.”

OK, so what CAN you do to make yourself more referable?

• Deepen the relationship. Create regular dialogue. Help them as much as you are able.

• Give weekly value via your email magazine. Look at mine (www.salescaffeine.com) as an example. Put yours together and press send.

• Promote your customers in your social media. Post them and tag them – good news and compliments only.

• Create and offer incentives. This gives someone who really likes you a reason to go out of his or her way for you.

• Have coffee and a three-way: you, your customer and a potential customer for them. A referral or a great connection. Invite a prospect for your customer to breakfast and they will have a 100 percent on-time attendance record. By far the best way to get a referral is to give a referral.

A referral – especially an unsolicited one – tells you that you did everything else great. They’re rewarding you, and thanking you, for helping them.