Sales is about building relationships. The more complex or expensive a sales transaction is, the more important it will be for you to develop a trusting relationship with your customer before they are willing to move ahead with the deal.

If you think about a sales interview as a transaction or business agreement, the same applies. Companies are more willing to hire you for a sales job if they can build a good relationship with you during the hiring process. You will have a better chance of getting the job if they trust in you and your ability to do the job well. How do they come to this determination? One effective way is through referrals and references.

So, it’s imperative for you to maintain strong relationships with everyone you encounter throughout your career. If you do this, you will build a strong network of referrals you can leverage when the time comes.

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Where Can You Get Referrals?

There are many places where you can get referrals. Three of the most important when looking for a sales job are:

• Previous employers: Previous colleagues, managers, and other people within organizations you’ve worked for in the past.
• Previous customers/accounts: Past clients and organizations you’ve worked with closely.
• People within the hiring organization: This is a big one. You never know where your next sales job opportunity may present itself. If you know someone within the company, they can act as a referral for you. These types of referrals can often give your candidacy a boost.

Ways Referrals Can Get You a Better Sales Job

Referrals can help you get a better sales job for a number of reasons:

• Trust: A referral is an effective way for you to quickly build trust with an organization even if you’ve had limited interactions. Having someone step up for you, who the company trusts, passes that trust along to you.
• Shows past success: Referrals help you validate your past successes. It helps confirm what is on your resume and what you have said in a job interview to be true.
• Familiarity: Companies are more willing to hire someone they are familiar with.

Don’t burn any bridges as you progress through your career. The referrals you build along the way can help you the next time you are looking to make a career move.

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