Bill Cates - Dont Keep Me A Secret: Proven Tactics to Get Referrals and Introductions

Proven Tactics to Get More Referrals and Introductions

Bill Cates

Copyright 2008 by Bill Cates. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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DOI: 10.1036/0071494545

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To my daughter, Jenna,
and to my sister, Linda, and her family:
Jessica, Kris, and Lee

.

Referrals. Every salesperson and small business owner knows that referrals are the lifeblood of successful sales. The more referrals one gets, the easier everything becomesclosing ratios soar, profitability goes up, and the process is simply more enjoyable. Just about every top producer in every industry has created a referral-based business.

Top financial advisors work almost exclusively from referrals and generate personal incomes of $500,000 and more. Top car salespeople dont wait around for the ups (people to walk into the showroom); theyre working their clients for repeat and referral business. Top real estate agents dont have to advertise much and certainly dont cold call in neighborhoods passing out flower seeds (like the rookies do). They work from referrals. Pick an industry and youll find the same thing.

But most likely youve picked up this book because you probably already know this. The problem is that most salespeople and small business owners dont know how to generate referrals. They dont have a systematic approach to making referrals happen on a regular basis.

As the founder and publisher of Selling Power magazine (now in its twenty-fifth year), Ive seen just about everything under the sun when it comes to selling strategies and tactics. But surprisingly, theres been very little work done in the area of how to generate referrals.

Most of the work on creating referrals has been disappointingly shallow. We are told that we need to get referralswe need to ask, we need to service our clients and customers better to create word of mouth, we need to network in our communities betterbut thats about as far as it goes. Even the top sales authorities that Ive had the pleasure of listening to dont really teach how to create a steady stream of great referrals. Until now.

I dont say this lightly. Bill Cates is truly a master of the referral process. His first book, Get More Referrals Now! (McGraw-Hill, 2004), laid out Catess system clearly and in a way you can act on to produce great results. Since Cates wrote this highly practical and superbly tactical book (which I highly recommend you read), he has taught his system to over 30,000 sales professionals and small business owners. And during that timeas you would hope and expectCates picked up many new ideas and best practices from sales practitioners. Catess insights have evolved just as the marketplace has evolved. Dont Keep Me a Secret! is a superb compilation of these best practices, new ideas, and new tactics that peoplejust like youare actually using successfully to generate more sales.

What I like best about Dont Keep Me a Secret! is the practicality and universal adaptability of his ideas. This is not a theoretical work. This is like an owners manual on making referrals happen for you. Cates tells you what to do, how to do it, and why you should do it a certain way. All you need to do is adjust it slightly to your sales world and your personalityand then have the courage to act.

I dare you to read this book and not come away with a dozen or more ideas you can put to use immediately. And if you really do put them to use, you will increase your sales.

And dont keep this great book a secret! Share it with everyone on your sales team. It may be against company policy to keep these best-practice ideas to yourself.

Gerhard Gschwandtner

Founder and Publisher,