Diffusing Referral Objections By Bill Cates, Csp, Cpae

As we begin this discussion of dealing with referral objections, I’m
assuming that you are doing everything you need to do to become referable
quickly in your relationships and doing everything you can to stay referable
over the lifetime of your client relationships.

The Objections
If you’re asking for referrals, then these typical objections should sound
all too familiar: “I don’t give referrals.” “I’m not ready to talk
referrals yet.” “Let me think about it and get back to you.” “I’ve
been telling people about you, I’m surprised no one’s called.” “Give
me some of your cards to pass out.”

The Objection Formula
When I deliver The Unlimited Referrals® System in seminars, I like to play
“Stump the Referral Coach.” Applying the following formula allows me to
deal with virtually every objection thrown my way.

STEP 1: Acknowledge and validate their position.
Whatever they say, it’s okay. Let them know you understand their
perspective.

STEP 2: Explore the objection.
This is the most important step in this formula. You must learn the nature
of their resistance before you attempt to give them a different perspective.
Ask a few questions and try to figure out the true objection. The initial
objection is usually an intellectual response such as, “I don’t give
referrals.” But the real objection is usually an emotional response such
as, “I had a bad experience in the past and I don’t ever want that to
happen again.”

STEP 3: Re-frame their perspective, if you can.
Once you know the nature of their resistance, you can attempt to re-frame
their perspective, i.e., have them see the process in a different light.
Usually, all you need to do is say, “Maybe you can call them first – to
let them know why I’m calling.” Once they realize they have some control
and that you’re going to help them protect their relationships with their
friends or colleagues, they become more open to the process.

STEP 4: Collect referrals.
If you’ve been able to re-frame their thinking, you can move onto
collecting a few names. Since they’ve been somewhat resistant, you may only
go for 1 or 2 referrals at this time.

OR STEP 5: Plant a seed and back off.
If your client just doesn’t want to go there, back off and live to ask
another day. Plant a seed like, “Bob, that’s fine. I just wanted to let
you know that I’m never too busy to see if I can help others through the
important work I do. Fair enough?”

The two most important things to remember are: 1) Don’t try to overcome the
objection, just explore it to see if there’s an objection behind the
objection, and 2) If the client shows heavy resistance, you need to back off
and live to ask another day.

As I said earlier, a decision to not give referrals is usually not a logical
one, rather it’s a subconscious, emotional decision based on some fear the
client has. Address those fears, and you have a chance to re-frame their
thinking and get referrals. Don’t address their fears, and you’ll likely
get nowhere.