Thomas Coles
speaker
43 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2024
last heard May 2024
Thomas Coles’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Hello, both of you. Hello, everybody. And thank you for the introduction. The best thing that's happened in my week has probably been how busy it's been, starting from before eight o'clock Monday morning, getting an order from a new customer right the way through the week. It's just been fantastic.
So there's been all sorts of amazing teams I've worked with over the years, but probably if I had to choose one thing, I would say selling one business as an 82 times return has to stand out as a highlight. Wow. Yes. Why are you still working? People do ask that question. I would say divorce is expensive and my daughter wants to be a doctor. So I've got at least another nine years in me.
There are three really clear, easy answers to that question. Firstly, the most successful way of generating new revenue and therefore growing businesses has always been using referrals. The second thing that I have to highlight in terms of total revenue coming from growth has to be around account management. looking after customers, growing the relationships with customers and retaining them.
One of my businesses, the biggest one, had an average customer life cycle of over 10 years. And that's quite special. And then I think you probably won't be surprised here, the third way of generating new business and therefore being successful is through what we call co-sailing. That is following customers as they change jobs. If they've been happy, they can be a happy customer again.
People talk about teams winning deals. Teams also keep customers happy. It's not down to one account manager. It's down to a whole multitude of different roles, both on the client side and the supplier side. Therefore, having the opportunity to make sure there is continuity when one stakeholder leaves.
I always thought that the best thing that can happen is that a happy customer leaves because you keep the happy customer organization and they become a prospect in their new job.
I tell a story about one insurance client I won back in the year 2000. And by the time we'd finished that relationship with that one organization 16 years later, and that was due to an acquisition of them, we had generated, I think, 25 million of revenue from referrals, coattailing, and that customer relationship.
Let me illustrate it with the point that there's some research from Texas Tech Uni, which I think will really illustrate the point. 83% of most companies' satisfied customers are willing to recommend them, but only 29% of those people do without being asked. In other words, asking for a referral is exploiting the 54%.
Great question. There is lots and lots of passion in lots of people for lots of different topics. I really dislike the word passion because too many people overuse it these days. If you were to push me, I would say my passion in business is asking for referrals. Therefore, I'm constantly looking...
for new techniques new tweaks new ways that they can be used for example you don't just have to use them to generate new business you can use them to generate new relationships inside an existing customer you can use them for hiring you know looking for new candidates
If I'm going to be seen as an expert on this topic and certainly people who I've worked with get huge, you know, significant upside in terms of lead gen as a result. then I do need to understand the nuances, what can work and how relationships change, how culture changes across the world. There's all sorts of nuances we need to be aware of.
Johnny, addressing your point around the international challenge that referrals could present, I simply have one piece of advice, which is very straightforward, and actually it can apply to almost any situation. Some people talk to me and they say they're a bit worried about asking for referrals. It could come across as being needy or desperate, some negative sentiment like that.
I always tell them the best thing you can do, and this works internationally too to overcome the cultural challenge, is to tell anybody you talk to that you run your business using referrals. As soon as they understand that, it doesn't matter how often you ask them, it doesn't matter how you go about asking them, They'll be more surprised if you don't ask than if you do.
And that works so far that it worked in any culture from the United States to Japan and everywhere in between.
I'd probably add that what we are doing by asking for referrals is effectively extending our network. If you're only asking for referrals from friends, you're therefore rather limiting your ability to extend your network.
I think, given why do I have to say it, but everybody should be not only saying it, but truly believing it. Why would you not be using this rich source of the relationships you've already got in order to find new ones?
We need to address the fact that 82% of people who are looking to procure something new, looking for a new vendor, who never get as far as doing a Google search when they're looking for a new vendor because they ask their network and never get any further. So if you don't use referrals, you're only targeting 18% of the available budget.
You probably use the internet to research what model you want, to research colors, that sort of stuff. But then when it gets to the point that you're actively going to go and find a dealer who would suit you, you probably ask friends what good experiences have you had, what dealers would they recommend, rather than asking for reviews on the internet.
I often ask delegates who I'm working with in order to help them develop their referrals technique, when was the last time they asked for a referral? When was the last time they gave a referral? Because these things should definitely be reciprocal. SBR talking about giving to get.
And the vast majority of people talk about the fact that they routinely have asked for referrals and given referrals in their personal lives, but they often have not been using it systematically in their professional lives.
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