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Book Reviews of
Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income:
Sales Success through Client Referrals
Book Review: ChangingMinds.org
Creating a Million dollar a Year Sales Income by David Straker, ChangingMinds.org
McCord P. (2007) Creating a Million dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success Through
Client Referrals, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
From the title of this book you might guess that this is just another sales book that
over-promises and under-delivers. Fortunately, you'd be wrong: This is a serious and
practical book that can deliver what it says on the tin and more. What McCord has done is
identify the most powerful way of gaining sales leads, taken it apart and rebuilt it into a
powerfully more effective process.
The heart of McCord's method is the transaction that you build when you make a sale: a
deliberate deal where you ask for solid referrals in exchange for proven great delivery and
service. Of course you have to deliver on this promise, which then entitles you to ask for a
separate meeting just for getting referrals. In this meeting you seek not just names and
addresses but also introductions that make the referrals far more likely to lead to
conversions.
The neat framing that McCord suggests you can add to conversation and personal branding
that actually legitimizes your referral approach is the 'spiral of success' that: (a) by delivering
great service you get great referrals, and (b) by getting great referrals you save so much
time in prospecting you have the space in which to deliver great service.
Overall the book is very readable and stuffed full of tips, examples and strong how-do detail.
It is, quite simply, the best manual on gaining and using referrals I have found.
The only thing I would change about this book is its title. All sales people know that referrals
are by far and away the best way of gaining more sales and the 'million dollar' title is a
distraction that can be interpreted as cheap sales pap. Personally, I would call the book
something more direct such as 'Referral selling' or 'How to make referrals really work'.
In the end, the joy that earns this book a rare five stars is the practical, thorough and
innovative treatment of referrals that can have literally massive benefit to anyone, not just in
sales, who wants to connect with valued other people.
Note: More generous resources on McCord's methods can be found at his site:
http://www.powerreferralselling.com/html/resources.html
Review posted at http://www.changingminds.org/books/book_reviews/referral_selling.htm
 Book Review: SellingPower Magazine Sales Management Newsletter
Tuesday December 19, 2006
How to Grow a Referral Garden
Your sales reps know they should be asking for referrals. In fact, they tell you they have asked
a lot of customers for referrals but the responses are always lukewarm and their referrals
rarely turn into business. What’s going on here?
Referrals are a tricky business if you don’t know what you’re doing and many reps don’t.
Many say they don’t want to ask for referrals because they don’t want to irritate a customer
with whom they have good rapport. Or, in an effort to be casual about it, they ask in such an
oh-by-the-way manner that the customer quickly dismisses it. Or they ask once and drop it.
And none of these approaches will result in good, solid referrals.
So what’s the answer? Referrals must be an integral part of your sales approach, from first
contact through post-sale. And one way to accomplish this is with Paul McCord’s PWWR
(pronounced power) Referral Generation System. McCord is founder of sales training
company McCord and Associates and author of Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales
Income: Sales Success Through Client Referrals (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). His PWWR
system addresses the issues that keep most sales people from generating large numbers
of quality referrals. Here are the four rules:
PLANT referral seeds. From the very first contact with the customer, establish the fact that
you’re a professional sales person who works primarily from referrals. When you’re on the
phone with a new prospect you might say something like, “Mr. Smith, I called today because,
even though I primarily work only by referral, I ran across your name and believe that
my service could greatly benefit your company.” During the sales process, remind your client
that you work from referrals and that you will be asking for referrals once the sale has been
completed.
WATER the referral seeds. This step is about cultivating the future referrals. As you
exceed expectations, get verbal commitments from your clients to supply quality referrals
after the sale. And make sure your customer knows exactly what a quality referral is for you.
Simply asking if they know of anyone else who could use your service won’t cut it. When you
clarify that a quality referral is to CFOs at technology companies larger than 1,000
employees, you’ll get names you can really use. Finally, change your voice mail, e-mail and
printed materials to include a statement about your referral-based business.
WEED the referral garden. The weeds of the referral garden, like the weeds of a real
garden, are undesirable problems. They can be eliminated by addressing problems or
issues that arise during the sales process promptly and honestly. Weeding is also about
building trust with your clients by keeping every promise you make, no matter how small.
You weed the garden when you meet your client’s exact needs and objectives, not what you
think those needs and objectives are, says McCord. In short, weeding is about earning the
referrals.
REAP the rewards. Once you’ve closed the sale and have done a topnotch job for the
client, set up an appointment with your client for a referral meeting. Let your client know: a)
the meeting will be short, only 20 to 30 minutes; b) that he or she should be prepared with
names, addresses and phone numbers of the referrals; c) that you’ll be asking a few
questions about each referral (i.e., how long have you known the person? How well? In what
capacity? How long he or she has been with their company, etc.); and d) that you may have a
few potential referrals to ask about. End the discussion about each referral by asking why he
or she is referring you to this person. “Hidden in the answer, you’ll often find your primary
sales approach,” says McCord.
Don’t think your client has the time for this meeting? McCord says you’ll be surprised at how
willing customers are to share their time and connections with you if you have done a good
job for them. McCord says he has received great referrals from physicians, CEOs of Fortune
50 companies and other people usually considered “too busy” to give referrals.
For more about referrals, including a discussion board where salespeople provide personal
examples of how they have overcome common referral-generation issues, visit
www.pwwrreferrals.com.
VISIT SELLINGPOWER.COM
Book Review: AllBooks Reviews
Genre: Bu$ine$$
Title: Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income
Author: Paul McCord
Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income is the culmination of 20 years of formal
and informal research into selling. Pg. 1
Paul McCord has excelled as a salesman, trainer and manager in the financial services
industry. This experience has led to the publication of this book, a guide for referral sales.
Paul has researched and developed a deep understanding for the psychology of the referral
business.
Written like a lecture, the book takes the reader step by step from “Why Salespeople Fail” to
“Networking for Referral”. Easy to understand, yet comprehensive the guide is filled with tips
and lessons for the new and the experienced sales person.
Most salespeople have a misguided view of the sales referral. It is not about the name and
phone number that someone passed you on a napkin during your lunch-a name and number
that will probably never come to fruition. It is about how to get a referral from your clients. How
to make the client realize exactly what kind of referral you are looking for and how to use the
referrals to your best advantage. Paul tells readers to make referrals a part of their
business-on the business card, the phone message, the advertising. He guides the student
through the process gently yet effectively bringing better understanding to the entire referral
database.
The lessons in the book include a workbook that students can use to answer some common
questions and help develop their own success with referrals. The book makes reference to
and encourages that readers visit the website: www.pwwrreferrals.com,
www.businessresearchdatabase.com and www.mccordandassociates.com. More
information and support material is available at all of these sites.
Salespeople from every industry will find this a useful and comprehensive sales referral
guide. Chapter after chapter of excellent advice that dispels myth and rumor related to
referral selling.
Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Review recommends you pick up a copy today. You too can
become a successful salesperson using referrals to build your business.
Book Review: Dave Lakhani
The Secret To Referral Selling, February 13, 2007
Frankly I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I hoped for one or two good ideas,
I've been selling and asking for referrals for more than 20 years.
To say I was doing it wrong (even though I'd say I was very successful) would be an
understatement.
The chapters on why asking for referrals doesn't work (because you ask in a manner that
your client can't understand, 55% of clients who salespeople said they asked for referrals
said that they did not). And, the chapter on contacting the referred prospect is phenomenal.
This book lays out in systematic detail the most effective selling and referral system I've seen.
It doesn't make getting referrals easy but it does make getting them predictable.
Even though I consider myself a good referral sales generator, I cringed more than a little at
the mistakes I identified while reading this book and how much money I left on the table
through missed sales and missed opportunities.
I also like this book because it is a quick read with plenty of great examples, the author
doesn't belabor points to fill space, he just gets right to the point . . . so you can implement
and earn.
Excellent book, I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Frank Rumbauskas
The best book on getting hot referrals - ever!, February 12, 2007
Having spent over ten years as a top-producing sales rep, and now having spent over four
years teaching and training salespeople - and having read hundreds of sales books in that
time - I can tell you that Paul McCord's book is hands-down THE BEST book on referral
selling ever written!
Most books that claim to teach you how to get referrals usually go along the lines of "Do a
good job, close the sale, and immediately get three referrals." Or, "Attend as many
networking events as possible." Of course, anyone with years of experience can tell you that
such advice is mediocre at best. Paul McCord, on the other hand, shows you how to rebuild
your entire sales process, from the bottom up, in such a way that you can work entirely on
referrals and blow out your numbers while doing it.
I recommended this book to my private coaching group, and they were equally blown away.
They've already begun using it and are stunned at how easily and effectively they're getting
tons of hot ready-to-buy referrals using Paul's advice. Get this book! You'll end the drudgery
of prospecting and cold calling and instead find yourself flooded with endless referrals!
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