The reference story
Most people are naturally risk-averse. As a result, they do certain things to
counteract their fear of risk of loss, or of making a mistake.
In certain situations (most notably high-involvement, low-differentiation
product or service choice situations), one of the things we turn to is
references. We want to know that someone else has made the decision we are
contemplating, and that they believe the solution provided to be a good one.
Salespeople are often asked to provide customer references for prospective
clients to call. The novice provides nothing more than a list of names for the
prospect to call. The professional knows there is a lot more to it than that. In
fact, a proper reference story can circumvent the prospect's need to ask for
references altogether.
There are 6 parts to an effective reference story:
- The situation
- The critical business issue
- The reason
- The capability needed
- What the vendor provided
- The results
The following is an example of a good reference story. It is lifted from a
real-life selling situation in which a sales professional is trying to preempt a
prospect from asking for references. The prospect is the Chief Technology
Officer for a major law firm on the U.S. west coast. They are considering buying
a procurement automation software application.
Situation
A situation you might be interested in, is when I was working with a CIO of a
major firm based in Los Angeles who was having difficulty.
Critical business issue
Keeping IT and computer products purchasing within budget.
Reason
One of the reasons for this was that people in various offices were placing
orders with several different suppliers for the same products, and circumventing
the purchasing contracts he had in place with a few key suppliers.
Capability needed
What he told us he needed was a way, when orders were placed by staff in
branch offices, to keep requests for items that are available under contract
going to the preferred vendors.
Provided
ACME Technology Company provided those capabilities.
Result
As a result, the CIO is able to keep within budget, which drops more cash
flow to the bottom line and helps the Finance Officer increase earnings and
improve profit payout to the partners.
But enough about me. Can you tell me about your situation?
With a little practice, you should be able to adapt this approach to your own
situation. Develop reference stories in advance for each of your most common
selling situations. Then practice the format until it becomes second nature.
Delivering effective reference stories can smooth the way for your sales calls,
and make your work as a salesperson much easier.
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