Jim Dunn on Referral Introductions and Prospecting Fundamentals
About Jim Dunn
Jim Dunn is a Director with Sandler by BGW Growth Services and a Sandler trainer with 34 years of experience. After buying his franchise from David Sandler, he built a multimillion-dollar business around a straightforward growth model: create value for clients, earn trust, and turn strong relationships into warm introductions.
Episode Notes
Key moments from this episode
Jim Dunn joins Tailwind to explain why durable business development still begins with prospecting fundamentals: win a small group of clients, serve them exceptionally well, and earn the right to ask for introductions. Drawing on 34 years as a Sandler trainer, Jim connects mindset, behavior, and technique through the Sandler success triangle. He shows sellers how to define meaningful conversations, build daily activity into a cookbook, and keep prospecting after early success creates the temptation to coast. The conversation then moves into a practical three-step client discussion: ask how the relationship is going, uncover what would improve the experience, and request help identifying people who could benefit from the same value. Jim distinguishes a referral from a true introduction, explains how to open the resulting conversation with a no-pressure prospecting call, and makes the case for relationship-based growth even as sales technology and AI continue to evolve.
Takeaways
- Build the referral engine from real client value: win the first customers, serve them exceptionally well, and make introduction requests part of the ongoing sales behavior.
- Use the success triangle to align mindset, behavior, and technique, then define a weekly target for meaningful decision-maker conversations and measure conversion into appointments.
- Before asking for an introduction, invite candid feedback about the relationship and identify what would make the client experience better over the next 30 to 90 days.
- Ask the client to make a warm introduction instead of accepting a name alone; the shared context creates trust and gives the new conversation a stronger starting point.
- Keep the resulting call low pressure with a pattern interrupt, a short upfront contract, a relevant commercial, qualification around pain, a clear next step, and a post-sell of the appointment.
Key Moments
- 0:47
Build growth from five well-served clients
Jim shares the prospecting model David Sandler gave him: develop the first five clients, serve them exceptionally well, and ask those relationships for introductions.
Read transcript at this moment - 5:16
Measure meaningful conversations
The success triangle connects mindset, daily behavior, and technique, while a sales cookbook turns prospecting into accountable activity and conversion targets.
Read transcript at this moment - 9:27
Earn the right to ask through value
Consistent service and proactive follow-up create the client trust that makes an introduction request feel earned instead of needy.
Read transcript at this moment - 11:00
Use the three-step client conversation
Ask how the relationship is going, explore what could improve the experience, and then request the client’s help identifying people who need similar value.
Read transcript at this moment - 14:00
Turn a referral into an introduction
A name by itself leaves the seller cold. A professional asks the connector to provide context and make a comfortable email, phone, video, or in-person introduction.
Read transcript at this moment - 18:31
Open the warm call without pressure
Jim applies the six-step Sandler prospecting structure to the introduced conversation, from a pattern interrupt through a clear next step and appointment post-sell.
Read transcript at this moment
Transcript
0:02 All right, Jim, uh, give me the negative
0:04 reverse on why everyone should just stop
0:06 listening to this episode right now.
0:08 >> Absolutely. Austin, here was the story.
0:10 Last week, you called me and you said,
0:12 "Hey, Jim, I want you to do a podcast.
0:15 You're you've been a Sandler trainer for
0:17 34 years." I said, "Well, what's the
0:19 topic?" You said, "The topic's going to
0:21 be on prospecting." I said, "Well, hey,
0:23 here's the deal. We may want to stop
0:25 right here because I probably don't have
0:28 what you're really looking for. If
0:30 you're looking for the 10 best ways of
0:32 using LinkedIn to prospect, if you're
0:35 thinking about how to use Zoom info to
0:38 get in front of more and more prospects
0:39 or all these kind of AI ideas of how to
0:42 do prospecting, I'm not your guy. Let me
0:45 tell you the story. I bought the I
0:48 bought a Sandler franchise from David
0:50 Sandler himself. He sat right across the
0:52 table from me and he said, "Here's what
0:54 I want you to do on prospecting.
0:57 You need to go out and develop five new
1:01 clients, service the living daylights
1:04 out of them, and ask for referral
1:07 introductions."
1:09 So, Austin, I may be disqualifying
1:11 myself right uh right up front, but that
1:14 has been uh my prospecting model for 34
1:19 years now. we all have to make our
1:21 10,000 cold calls. I did that. The hard
1:24 part is getting the five clients. So, I
1:28 said, if you want to talk on from there
1:30 on how to do that, how to get good
1:31 introductions, how to use some of the
1:33 Sandler techniques, great. We can talk
1:35 about that. But if you're looking for
1:37 the latest and greatest on prospecting
1:39 ideas and what's new in the market, I'm
1:42 not your guy. So, maybe we need to stop
1:44 right here and there.
1:46 >> Yeah. And my reaction to that is I
1:49 actually think that the latest and
1:50 greatest is pushing everything back to
1:52 the fundamentals and back to what you're
1:54 talking about because it's it's creating
1:57 so much information and so much noise
2:00 that you have to get back to it. And
2:01 I've talked to quite a few folks that
2:02 are saying getting back to the
2:04 fundamentals is really what's driving
2:06 their business forward. And the latest
2:08 greatest is no longer doing that. Um, so
2:11 you know, you mentioned in that, you
2:13 know, opening line, uh, you still got to
2:15 do your 10,000 cold calls. Is that your
2:17 10,000 to get those first five? Is that
2:19 the step that you take? Yeah. Tell me a
2:21 little bit more about what that looks
2:23 like to get those first five.
2:25 >> So, we all have to work a marketing
2:27 program. We all need to have a plan. And
2:29 certainly, I had that in place and many
2:31 of your listeners have that in in uh in
2:33 in place, too. So part of the 10,000
2:36 cold calls was just picking up the phone
2:40 uh and calling people, having a
2:42 marketing plan to where yes, there was
2:44 an ideal prospect that I was going
2:47 after. Uh and so whether it be driving
2:49 down the highway and and looking at a a
2:53 vehicle with a number that might be a
2:55 good fit, whether it be a manufacturer
2:57 or somebody else, anybody that I could
2:59 call uh was what I wanted to do. you
3:02 have a mailing list and uh that's all
3:05 part of that Sandler help because of the
3:07 no pressure prospecting call. We can
3:10 talk about that a little bit further.
3:12 >> So the idea is how to get those five
3:15 clients. Many of the listeners that
3:18 you're going to have already have those
3:20 five customers or those five clients,
3:22 but they're still spending a lot of time
3:26 on new ideas uh for prospecting. Or the
3:30 other trap may be that you've got
3:32 customers and uh that that part of your
3:36 behavior needs to be I need to go after
3:38 new clients. I have a good base, but
3:42 what's my what's my strategy for going
3:45 after new clients? And then that is the
3:48 idea of servicing [snorts] your clients
3:51 number one, adding the most value that
3:53 you can and asking for introductions.
3:56 >> Yeah.
3:56 >> And so that's the key. And a lot of
3:58 people are really shy about asking for
4:01 introductions. They'll do the work uh
4:03 but for whatever reason they don't know
4:05 how to ask. They may be a little bit
4:07 embarrassed of asking in the first
4:10 place, maybe feeling a little bit needy.
4:12 So that might be part of what we discuss
4:15 here a little bit later on too. There's
4:16 a right way of asking for introductions,
4:20 but that you know that hard part is you
4:22 either don't have those five customers.
4:25 Well, guess what? you got to make the
4:26 10,000 or you have them, but part of
4:30 your behavior needs to be how do I get
4:33 really great introductions from my
4:36 current customers and clients?
4:38 >> Yeah. Now, for clarity sake, would you
4:40 say to somebody continue to make your
4:43 cold calls, but you cannot ignore the
4:46 fact that you should be making those
4:47 referrals first? That's their
4:49 foundation. You need to be asking for
4:50 those introductions. Or would you say,
4:53 hey, actually just do the introductions
4:55 and if you happen to have a time to pick
4:56 up the phone, you're willing to go for
4:58 it.
5:00 >> I'd say go for it. I'd say, you know,
5:02 whether you have one customer, even if
5:04 you have one customer, which is probably
5:06 not the case, many people listening are
5:08 going to have more than that. The idea
5:10 is is that we need to make that as part
5:12 of our behavior. Uh the point of that of
5:14 the matter is if everybody would just
5:16 draw a simple triangle in Sandler. We
5:19 call this the success triangle. It's
5:22 made up of three points. Up at the top
5:24 is attitude mindset which means that I
5:27 have to have law of abundance versus law
5:30 of scarcity. There is plenty out there.
5:33 Uh and so making the cold calls is not
5:37 easy. So we need to have a structure
5:40 technique behind that. But our mindset
5:42 needs to be there's always somebody out
5:44 there who has pain. Uh and you calling
5:49 them could be a good thing. So the
5:52 behavior part is I need to make enough
5:54 of those. So that's why we need to have
5:57 a cookbook. We need to have a playbook.
5:59 We need to have a we need to monitor
6:02 those key performance indicators, those
6:05 KPIs. Am I doing enough behavior each
6:08 and every week? the outbound dials, the
6:11 outbound emails, holding myself
6:13 accountable for that. But what we really
6:16 need to be thinking about is two things,
6:18 Austin. We need to be thinking about
6:19 holding myself accountable. How many
6:22 meaningful conversations do I need to
6:24 have today or this week? And a
6:26 meaningful conversation is a
6:27 conversation with the decision maker,
6:29 not a gatekeeper. And that goal could be
6:33 three a day, four a day, whatever that
6:36 number is. You need to pick that. For
6:38 me, I want seven meaningful
6:40 conversations a week. Um, and then I
6:43 need to have a good concur conver
6:44 conversion factor. In other words, from
6:47 those meaningful conversations, how many
6:50 new opportunities, new appointments did
6:53 I get? So, we're bringing a lot of
6:55 things in there. Attitude, uh, mindset,
6:58 behavior is actually how I'm using my
7:01 time and structuring that technique,
7:03 what I say, what I do. How would you
7:05 define uh what is the or I guess what's
7:08 the minimum for a meaningful
7:09 conversation? Like how do I say I had 10
7:12 conversations but only seven were
7:14 meaningful? What difference between the
7:17 three and
7:18 >> were Yeah. So a meaningful conversation
7:21 is with a decision maker. They may be
7:24 part of a team. It's not really with a
7:26 gatekeeper. Gatekeeper that's not a
7:28 meaningful conversation. But if I get to
7:31 you because you're the CEO
7:34 and and I had a conversation with you
7:36 and we were able to have an appointment,
7:38 that's a double win. One, we had the
7:40 meaningful conversation. Two is we were
7:43 able to get the appointment. So a
7:45 meaningful conversation could be with
7:48 part of the decision-making team. Uh and
7:52 that's what we need to find out is what
7:54 does that decision process look like? So
7:57 the point of the matter is I need to
7:59 hold myself accountable to the minimum
8:03 daily requirement of action steps. So
8:07 you need to define what those are. When
8:10 I got into Sandler years ago, I was
8:12 asked you need to make 25 to 50 cold
8:15 calls a day. That's what it that's what
8:17 it that's what it took. You need to have
8:19 you need to be you need to have two new
8:22 meetings uh a day. So go to coffee
8:25 shops, go to restaurants. That's that's
8:28 really your behavior. So you need to
8:30 figure out in your world what does that
8:33 look like and you need to hold yourself
8:35 accountable to that because what happens
8:37 is success breeds uh kind of this uh
8:41 passivity. In other words, we start
8:44 closing some deals, but we're getting
8:46 away from that prospecting, whether it
8:50 be new opportunities with our current
8:52 customers or um expanding opportunities
8:57 with those current customers. So,
8:59 whatever your market looks like, whether
9:01 you're an account manager or whether
9:02 you're a hunter.
9:03 >> Yeah. So, so back to the get the five
9:07 first people, right? So, I've got my
9:09 five first clients. those are the
9:11 serviced I feel like hey they can't they
9:14 they've been really like complimentary
9:15 they're really happy
9:17 >> what are my app uh sorry actionable
9:20 steps uh that I can take to then start
9:24 activating that network to begin those
9:26 referrals
9:27 >> right I just read a great book actually
9:30 it's a book that came out in '09 uh
9:33 called the go-giver I highly recommend
9:35 that book to everybody is is that it's
9:38 all about how do buy create and add more
9:42 value that I'm getting paid for. Bob
9:45 Berg Bur is the author of it. Uh and
9:49 John David man both of them wrote the
9:51 book. Highly recommend it. It's a very
9:54 simple book as many book great books
9:56 are. So the idea is I how do I create
10:00 more and more value to my customer? In
10:02 Sandler, we have all these rules and
10:05 insights. And one of my favorites is
10:07 that you will lose more business over
10:10 stroke deprivation than a price
10:12 increase. And what that means is how
10:15 often am I reaching out to my current
10:17 customers? Maybe you helped them out
10:19 last week uh yet. This week they didn't
10:21 call you uh they didn't email you, but
10:23 you just want to make place a call. Hey
10:25 Austin, you know, we spoke last week. I
10:27 just want to make sure that what we did
10:29 really worked out well for you. That's
10:31 like putting a uh going to the bank and
10:34 making a deposit. I'm putting a deposit
10:36 into your account. That's really what
10:38 that rule means. So, am I adding more
10:41 value than I'm getting paid for? So,
10:44 then I can be asked to get referrals.
10:46 So, let me give you kind of a three-step
10:48 formula if I can to answer your
10:50 question. Three steps in a sense of uh
10:55 I'm adding value. I feel like I'm doing
10:57 that, Jim. Wow. Okay. So, so here the
11:00 here are the three steps. Step number
11:02 one, uh when you're with your when
11:05 you're with your client, uh is that how
11:08 are we doing? Austin, just want to, you
11:10 know, scale of 1 to 10, you know, how
11:12 are we doing? Um and now here's the
11:16 problem, team, everybody listening in,
11:18 the four-letter word that causes more
11:21 restaurants to go out of the out of
11:23 business is the four-letter word f i ne.
11:28 you're doing fine. If you go to a
11:31 restaurant and the and someone asks you,
11:34 "How was your meal tonight?" and you
11:36 say, "Fine." That is a guarantee that
11:38 restaurant's not going to last long.
11:40 Now, here's the problem. The problem is
11:43 you're going to ask that question. And
11:45 you're probably going to hear something
11:46 like, "Jim, you're doing great. You're
11:48 doing fine. You're doing okay." Now what
11:51 we need to know and in Sandler we really
11:54 teach how to ask that those second and
11:57 third level questions. So the second
12:00 question is hey Austin I appreciate the
12:02 fact that you said we're doing okay.
12:04 Really do. Hey you know we could always
12:06 do better. We could improve. Right. So I
12:10 need to ask you whether it be how we're
12:13 how we're invoicing what our customer
12:15 service is doing our quality control.
12:19 Hey, what could we do in the next 30 to
12:23 90 days that could better enhance our
12:26 experience with you? Now, that's going
12:29 to get them thinking and that and and
12:32 when would you rather know? The whole
12:34 idea is you would rather know right
12:37 away. So, let's go back real quick to
12:39 the restaurant analogy.
12:41 Well, you know, um my soup could have
12:43 been a little bit warmer. Here's what a
12:45 smart matraee does. Or the owner of that
12:47 restaurant. Hey, thanks for letting us
12:49 know that, Mr. Dunn. Here's here I tell
12:51 you what. Here's a certificate. When you
12:53 come back, you've got a free appetizer
12:56 on us. I'm going to come back to that
12:58 restaurant just because of that. And
13:01 oftent times restaurants don't ask that.
13:03 So, we have question number one.
13:05 Question number two on the table. And
13:07 finally, here's question number three.
13:08 Hey Austin, you know, thanks. Hey, could
13:11 I ask for your help? I mean, what's
13:13 somebody going to say? They're going to
13:15 say, 'Well, of course. Yeah, sure.
13:17 >> Yeah.
13:18 >> Who do you know? Who do you know that is
13:24 somebody that you play golf with? Who do
13:26 you know that is in your networking
13:29 group? Who do you know when you're a
13:31 manufacturing association? Who do you
13:34 know that is a vendor of yours? You know
13:36 what we do? who could who could use what
13:40 it is that we do
13:43 and people want to help you. They may
13:45 not give you a name right away, but
13:48 oftent times what happens is is that you
13:51 plant a seed with that.
13:54 >> So, who do you know now? And just a
13:57 really another quick followup with that.
14:00 >> Amateur salespeople get referred.
14:03 Professional salespeople get introduced.
14:06 So, someone was to say, if you were to
14:08 say to me, hey, you know, Jim, you need
14:11 to call Eric Zir. You know, Eric
14:13 probably could use what you have, what
14:15 I'm gonna say is, Austin, thanks. I
14:17 appreciate that. Eric's not going to
14:19 know who I am. Can I ask you a favor? Do
14:22 you mind making an introduction?
14:24 >> Yeah.
14:24 >> Could be by email. It could be by phone.
14:27 It could be, "Hey, we're in the same
14:29 city. Let's go out and have coffee.
14:31 Let's go out and have lunch. but could
14:34 you introduce me to Eric? Are you
14:38 comfortable with that? And that's what
14:40 professional salespeople do. They make
14:43 those connections and that's what's so
14:46 so important.
14:47 >> Yeah. So, basically the idea being ask
14:51 for who they might know. That plants the
14:53 seed and then you're then going to be
14:55 expected to do some more work, right?
14:57 Because you're not going to just say,
14:58 "Well, then they'll they'll keep this on
15:00 top of mind. they're going to come back
15:01 to a week and have been like, I thought
15:03 about every single person that I know
15:04 and here are the five. Uh they're
15:06 probably not going to do that. So,
15:07 what's what's the step that you take
15:09 after you've planted the seed to get the
15:11 uh the buy in on their behalf?
15:13 >> Out of those five, Austin, who do you
15:15 think would who do you think would be
15:17 most receptive to taking to taking that
15:20 call to to you making an introduction?
15:24 Would you be would you be does it nice
15:27 enough or does it make some sense or are
15:28 you are you comfortable making an
15:30 introduction? Now remember if you and I
15:33 are working together and I've added
15:35 value to you. See it all goes back to
15:36 that value conversation I think you'll
15:39 want to help me.
15:40 >> Yeah.
15:41 >> And see that's where the mindset comes
15:42 in. The mindset is people want to help.
15:45 The mindset is I need to brave to be
15:48 brave enough, gutsy enough to ask the
15:51 question of will you introduce me? Are
15:54 you comfortable making an introduction?
15:56 And it's like anything else, maybe you
15:58 are, maybe you're not. If you're not
16:00 comfortable and I don't sense you're
16:01 comfortable, the first thing I'm going
16:03 to do is, hey, let's not do this.
16:05 >> Let's not, you know, let's not Yeah,
16:07 let's not let's not let's not do let's
16:09 not do this.
16:10 >> So, uh, that's what that's what I'm
16:13 going to say. The idea is is that as a
16:15 as a customer, as a client, uh I think
16:19 most people want to help. And that's a
16:20 mindset of being receptive that people
16:24 want to help you.
16:26 >> Yeah. Well, you know, I've done that um
16:28 with somebody before and I said, you
16:30 know, we're we're just a little too
16:31 early in our engagement to to feel
16:34 comfortable making an introduction, but
16:35 I'll tell you what, like, let's talk in
16:37 a couple months. It was a perfectly fine
16:39 conversation. Like, it did not feel
16:41 awkward. That was that was politely said
16:44 no to it didn't it was like you know
16:45 what you're 100% right
16:47 >> you you need to feel a little bit more
16:49 comfortable I respect that we'll touch
16:51 base in a couple months if and if we can
16:53 continue to you know service like crazy
16:56 will have earned the right at that point
16:57 in time and I think
16:58 >> that's right
16:58 >> you know maybe for some folks it'll be a
17:01 couple months maybe for some people it
17:02 will be a year um but in my own personal
17:04 experience asking uh if that timing is
17:07 okay at that point really doesn't hurt
17:09 to do it as long as you start pushing
17:11 then it becomes awkward and doesn't feel
17:12 good. But after that, it's becomes
17:15 really easy. It's an easy conversation.
17:17 >> You make it part of your behavior. You
17:19 make it part of your belief. And again,
17:21 it goes back to to adding value. Here's
17:23 a great question for anybody to ask. If
17:25 somebody says that and I get that
17:27 earlier on in engagement, you know,
17:29 here's a the question that I like to ask
17:31 is Austin, let's say it's six months
17:33 from now and let's say this is the best
17:35 thing that you ever have done and you're
17:37 seeing great improvement
17:40 um with our working together and the
17:42 value that we've been able to offer you.
17:45 What what does that look like? Mhm.
17:49 >> And then all of a sudden someone starts
17:50 say, "Well, you've been able to do this,
17:52 you've been able to do this, you've been
17:53 able to do this." And then it's like,
17:55 "Well,
17:56 providing that that happens, are you
18:00 comfortable? Are you okay with me asking
18:02 if I'm hearing that from you, are you
18:04 okay with me asking for that
18:06 introduction?"
18:08 >> Yeah.
18:09 >> And of course, they're going to go,
18:10 "Yeah, absolutely. Sure."
18:13 Now, for those when you get that
18:15 introduction, when you had that person
18:17 say, "All right, I'm going to send an
18:18 email that connects the two of you, you
18:20 know, you set up some time with that
18:21 individual." Are you handling that
18:23 initial conversation the same as if you
18:25 had cold called, or are you adjusting
18:26 that initial conversation to be
18:28 different based on the uh the context?
18:31 >> Okay, this leads us into uh into
18:34 technique. Now, I can use the no in
18:38 Sandler. We have a great format for a no
18:41 pressure prospecting call
18:44 >> and it's six steps and the six steps are
18:47 number one pattern interrupt. Step
18:50 number two is a mini upfront contract.
18:53 Step number three is a place for your 30
18:56 second commercial. Step number four is
18:59 either get an appointment or it's really
19:02 not a fit. Step number five uh is to
19:06 close for that appointment and you know
19:08 and working the pain those two together
19:11 and lastly is to postell it. So it's a
19:14 beautiful setup. So it is the same. So
19:17 what it would sound like is let's say I
19:19 let's say you're the referral
19:20 introduction and um let's just say I'm
19:23 calling you and somebody else has made
19:25 the introduction for us. The first thing
19:28 I'm going to say is hey Austin this is
19:30 Jim Dunn. You probably didn't know I was
19:32 calling. My name probably doesn't even
19:35 sound familiar to you.
19:38 >> Pause. Now all of a sudden, oh yeah, Joe
19:42 Smith said that you would be calling
19:44 because the pattern interrupt is you
19:47 didn't know that I was going to call.
19:49 And it and and and you're using, you
19:52 know, you're a Sandler client, so you
19:54 know the power of that. Then I can go
19:56 into a little mini upfront contract. Hey
19:58 Austin, have you got a couple minutes?
20:00 Does it make sense for us to speak or am
20:02 I calling it a bad time? No, I got a
20:05 couple I got a couple of minutes. Knew
20:07 that you were speaking. And then I can
20:09 go on from there. I can then go into
20:11 hey, why I'm calling my 30 secondond
20:13 commercial. I can step four work the
20:16 pain a little bit. And then five, if it
20:19 makes sense for us to talk further,
20:21 maybe the two minutes isn't enough. And
20:23 then lastly, I do a little bit of post
20:25 cell. Hey, are you sure we got something
20:27 on the calendar? Are you sure? Are you
20:29 okay with doing that? You're not going
20:31 to ghost me? You're not going to be
20:33 there uh you know to take my call?
20:36 Whatever it may be, putting that in
20:37 there just so I make sure that it makes
20:40 sense for us to have that call again.
20:43 >> Yeah. And so for you, you get that
20:45 introduction, you have that
20:46 conversation. That's a good one. Are you
20:48 going back to the person who made it and
20:49 having a conversation with them to let
20:50 them know what happened or, you know,
20:52 are you not?
20:53 >> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
20:54 because they want to know too. Look pe
20:57 sometimes
20:59 people are afraid of making that
21:04 introduction
21:05 right and that's why you have to add
21:09 value and more value isn't it funny
21:12 we're always really coming back to that
21:14 and that's why I like this book the go-
21:16 giver am I adding enough value to my
21:21 customer relationship and the product
21:24 and the service that I have am I putting
21:27 in that deposit always into them? And if
21:32 you are, I promise you, and everybody
21:34 listening, folks,
21:36 I am here to tell you, I have built a
21:39 multi-million dollar business on what
21:41 we're talking about right here.
21:42 >> Not on the latest and greatest in in
21:44 marketing and prospecting ideas. And I'm
21:47 not negating that. There's lots of good
21:49 ideas out there. I like to make things
21:52 simple. I like to make things easy and I
21:56 believe in the power of people wanting
22:00 to connect you to other people. And
22:03 here's what we know. Here are the facts.
22:05 Here's the data. Okay, the data says
22:08 this. Out of every 100 cold calls that
22:11 you make, one's going to lead to a new
22:14 client. out of every uh networking
22:17 meeting that you're attending, 15% of
22:20 your efforts are going to lead to a new
22:22 client. You ready for the math? I get a
22:25 good introduction. I have a 50%
22:29 probability of doing business with that
22:32 particular account. And better
22:35 >> if I have a physical, which means even
22:38 Zoom like this or Teams, if I have a
22:43 physical introduction,
22:45 85%
22:47 chance of doing business with that
22:49 person. So folks, work hard, work smart,
22:54 your choice.
22:56 >> I think you know what to do. Well, in
22:58 getting the introduction, let's be
22:59 honest, just from being a creature of
23:00 comfort, getting an introduction is a
23:02 lot more comfortable than picking up the
23:04 phone and calling a hundred strangers.
23:05 So, not only is it going to be, you
23:08 know, a lot more successful, probably
23:10 going to be a lot more comfortable once
23:12 you start, you know, earning the right
23:13 to ask for those referrals and, you
23:15 know, gaining trust to do it.
23:16 >> That's right. That's right. But you got
23:18 to earn your stripes. This the earning
23:20 the stripes as a professional
23:21 salesperson is you got to hear no. You
23:24 got to be hung up on. You got to have uh
23:27 people telling you uh that hey it won't
23:30 work. Call me back in 90 days. Call me
23:33 back in one year. It's through that
23:36 adversity that we get stronger and
23:39 stronger and stronger. So again that
23:42 goes back we pay the price to get those
23:45 five customers, those five clients but
23:49 afterwards I think we know what we need
23:51 to do.
23:52 >> Now would you change any of that? Like
23:55 let's say you have somebody that you
23:56 have known for a long time and you want
23:58 to do some networking with them. Would
24:00 you approach it the exact same way or
24:01 would you adjust that a little bit based
24:03 on then opting the client uh
24:06 relationship that you have with them?
24:08 >> Why would I want to adjust it when I
24:10 know it works?
24:11 >> Perfect.
24:11 >> If if it ain't if it if it ain't broke,
24:13 keep doing it, you know. So, uh that's
24:16 that it it works. So I like doing things
24:19 that uh at work you know it and it's not
24:22 that we you know adjustments are okay
24:25 but you know here again you know whether
24:27 you go to the gym you make adjustments
24:29 there with that that's okay but when you
24:32 have something that that we're speaking
24:34 about in business development and
24:37 creating new business and bringing on
24:40 new accounts keep it simple and it all
24:43 does come it all comes down to
24:46 relationship I don't care where AI is
24:49 going, folks. Here's what we know and
24:51 here's what we're going to know in the
24:52 future. People buy from those they like,
24:56 people buy from those they trust, and
24:59 people buy a product or a service that
25:02 is a best fit. So, when you have all
25:05 three of those together, the probability
25:07 of doing business is going to be great.
25:10 So, if there's a breakdown in one of
25:12 those three, that can negate the
25:15 relationship.
25:18 Jim, this has been great conversation.
25:19 We had an upfront contract that we'd
25:21 have our hard stop in place. Any final
25:24 thoughts before we end the episode?
25:27 >> Only final thoughts are that if you have
25:30 not done this, then begin to try. It's a
25:34 battle of the beliefs, everything that
25:36 we have. So, you may have a belief that
25:41 uh you're not worthy in a sense of
25:43 getting referrals or it won't work. You
25:46 can't tell me something won't work
25:48 unless you try it. Try this as a
25:51 philosophy for the next 30 days. And you
25:54 will be amazed at what starts to happen.
25:58 You won't get names right away from from
26:01 people, but you will come back and next
26:03 thing you know, you got a message on
26:05 your phone and your message is, "Hey,
26:07 had lunch with ABC Company. Your name
26:11 came up today. They're expecting your
26:14 call." What a great message that would
26:16 be. And with that, everybody, good
26:19 selling. Austin, thanks so much for
26:21 reaching out to me. Hope it was helpful.
26:23 >> Jim, this was fantastic. Really
26:25 appreciate you coming on and sharing
26:26 some wisdom with us.
26:28 Thank you.
Questions answered in this episode
How can salespeople build a referral-based prospecting engine?
Start by winning a manageable group of clients and serving them well enough to create genuine trust. Keep direct prospecting in the activity plan, but make client feedback and introduction requests part of the regular sales cookbook. Jim recommends tracking meaningful conversations with decision-makers and the share that convert into new opportunities.
What should a salesperson ask before requesting an introduction?
Ask how the relationship is going, then move beyond a vague answer such as “fine” by asking what would improve the client experience during the next 30 to 90 days. Once the seller understands and acts on that feedback, they can ask who the client knows that may benefit from the same work and whether the client is comfortable making the introduction.
What is the difference between a referral and a warm introduction?
A referral may provide only a name, leaving the prospect without context. A warm introduction asks the connector to bring both people together by email, phone, video, coffee, or another shared setting. The seller can then use a low-pressure opening, establish expectations, explain the reason for the call, test for fit, and agree on a clear next step.
