Go-to-Market or Go-to-Network?

According to Dale Carnegie, 91% of your customers would be willing to provide a referral if you asked.

You read that right.

And only about 11% of sales reps are willing to ask.

That means most of you are leaving money on the table.

The question isn't whether there's a clear path to growth right under our noses. There is.

It’s why we're not taking it…

It's not getting any easier to go to market.

Phone pickup rates continue to drop (currently ~4%). Email response rates are dropping too (~1-2%).

It's easier than ever for the people you're trying to reach to disappear. I have an email address I only check once a quarter, usually just for password resets, and I'm not alone.

It's an arms race for access, and as the tech advances, so do the obstacles placed between our prospective clients and us.

That doesn't mean you avoid cold outreach. If you're not willing to do the hard work of prospecting, you're not going to make it in sales.

But I also think cold outreach should be one of your last resorts.

The Underutilized Path

Going to your network, and doing so in a way that gives as much as it receives, is a massively underutilized way to grow your book of business.

Referrals are the most efficient path to growth.

Trust is built faster. Sales cycles are shorter. Close rates are higher. The customers are better fits.

It’s a win all the way around, so why don't more people ask for them?

Well… because it's hard, but not in the way you think.

Dialing 100 times a day and getting 4 pickups is hard. Sending 200 emails and getting 2 responses is hard.

But letting your guard down in a business context? Getting vulnerable with people when we've been trained to believe vulnerability is weakness? Asking for help from people you're supposed to be helping?

That might be even harder. At least the data would suggest that.

I’m here to remind you that you can choose your hard, and there are more choices than you may realize.

The Truth About Relationships

Show me a strong relationship that doesn't include any vulnerability.

They don't exist.

If your relationships are as strong as you say they are, you should be able to get vulnerable with those people. You should be able to ask them for help.

This is where my Excavate/Validate/Integrate framework starts to bear fruit.

The boardroom work gives you clarity on what makes you different.

The validation conversations confirm it with your best customers and deepen those relationships in the process.

That depth earns you the right to ask: "Who else do you know who might appreciate what we do and the way we do it?"

The full piece is here.

Speaking of Relationships

My #ThankfulThursday post this week was about Todd Caponi.

Todd is the biggest sales nerd any of us knows. He studies sales history like it's the Dead Sea Scrolls and somehow distills that timeless wisdom into modern-day lessons that feel like thoughts he's just had.

I call him my "brother from another sales mother" because it feels like we were cut from the same cloth.

His new book Four Levers Negotiating released this week and is an instant bestseller. It might be his best work, and that's a high bar.

I sat down with Todd recently for a Candid Conversation on my YouTube channel. If you want to hear us riff on what actually works in sales, check it out: [Watch it here →]

Where Do You Stand?

If you've been following this series, you've seen the framework: Excavate → Validate → Integrate.

You've seen the symptoms that show up when the work doesn't get done.

Now the question is: where are you?

I built a self-assessment to help you figure that out. 14 questions, about 10 minutes, free.

It will show you where the gaps are and what might be getting in the way of your next level.

Take the assessment here.

We know growth is hard, and we know referrals work.

The path is right there. The people who can help you are closer than you think.

All you have to do is ask (and if you need help figuring out where to start, I'm one of those people).

Cheers,
JB