Stay curious.
According to a Harvard Business study, around 84% of B2B sales are initiated by referrals or repeat biz.
Although it’s VERY important to not forget about the 16% of sales that are not even in your email or call log yet (more on that here), that 84% is amazing and equally frightening.
For starters, “referral” does not mean you or your team can sit back, relax, and count on WOM or returning customers. Yes, it does happen, but are you willing to risk 84% of your success by simply waiting? Hope not.
I’d even go as far to advocate that reengaging past customers and initiating referrals requests requires more work. More GENUINE follow ups, shares, and helpful nuggets along the way. This is how you stay top of mind. It’s even how you share new offerings within your business. When people work with you one particular way, they tend to keep you in that box. Can’t blame them – that’s how the SEE you. Staying actively connected helps open the door to other opportunities and gets you out of that dreaded box.
My recent act of follow ups recently turned into follow throughs. One conversation led to another and BAM, now I’ve been introduced to 2 new teams in their organization (1 of which is now a new client and the other 1 we’re solidifying next steps today). And just yesterday, I resurrected a client from 2022 that I am SO excited to be working with again. All because I stayed curious and played the delicate dance of not being a pain-in-the-butt.
If you find your pipeline a bit light, I encourage you to go back a couple of years and ask yourself…
Who did I LOVE working with?
Why did we stop working together?
Is it something we might be able to revisit or rethink?
What is pressing in their world and HOW can I help?
Green flag ‘em and get to work!
What’s the work? It’s the thing no one wants to do – RESEARCH. After you’ve done that, ping them with something that proposes VALUE for their business. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They don’t reply (oh well). They say no (ok, that’s where you are now so who cares!).
Need to hash out some ideas? Just holler!
-Ashley
On the flip side…
It didn’t occur to me that something I sent out to another network might actually be helpful to my creative peeps here! Here’s a 12-month guide (ie: deadlines, eligibility, tier, need-to-knows) of the most frequented creative marketing competitions (think: Clio, GEMA, Shorty, Webby, Effies, Cannes, etc.). See award competitions open and quickly coming up here.
Speaking of Shorty Awards, I’m judging again! The final deadline for submission is Feb 20. PLEASE submit some fun things so I can sit there and think “DANG, I wish I worked on THAT!” View the categories here.