Why recommendations matter in sales and how to ask for them properly
Think about the last time you booked a holiday. You probably asked a friend, checked reviews online, or did both. When we went on our first cruise this year, we looked at recommendations from travel agents and then dug into reviews of different cruise lines before committing to anything.
It's the same on Amazon. You might go for the cheaper option, or the faster delivery. But you almost always check the reviews first.
Business works exactly the same way. When someone is deciding whether to hire you, they look at what other people say about you. They check your LinkedIn profile. They read your website. And if your recommendations are thin on the ground, or the most recent one is five years old, you've already made their decision harder than it needs to be.
Recommendations give you credibility, visibility and a reason for someone who doesn't know you yet to take a chance on you. They sit at the heart of any sensible referral strategy - and yet most people either don't ask for them at all, or ask at the wrong moment and get nowhere.
When to ask for a recommendation
The obvious answer is when you've delivered what you promised. But delivering what you promised is just doing your job. That's the baseline, not the moment to ask.
The right time to ask is when you've overdelivered. When the client is genuinely pleased, when the results have exceeded what they expected, when they've just told you how well things have gone. That's the moment. Their enthusiasm is real, the experience is fresh, and they're far more likely to say yes and mean it.
How to ask for a recommendation without making it awkward
Start by checking in properly. Ask whether you've delivered everything you promised. If they say no, that's valuable information - find out what you could have done better before you do anything else.
If they say yes, ask them what the experience of working with you was actually like. Listen carefully and take notes on what they say. Then, when they've finished, you can say something like: "I'm sure you know how much recommendations matter in business. Would it be okay if I sent you what you've just said as a LinkedIn recommendation request?"
It's that straightforward. And here's roughly what happens when you ask.
Around 60% will say yes and do it. Around 20% will say yes and then forget, so you'll need to follow up a week later. The remaining 20% will find a reason not to - "it's not company policy" is a common one, as is "I don't want competitors to find out I'm using you." You won't win them all, and that's fine.
How to send a LinkedIn recommendation request
Once someone has agreed, here's the process on LinkedIn:
Go to their LinkedIn profile, click the More button underneath their headline, select Request a Recommendation, and in the message field type out what they said about you during your conversation. Send it. You've done the hard work for them, which makes it far more likely they'll actually follow through.
Don't let good work go unnoticed
Business is hard. When you do something well and a client genuinely appreciates it, that matters. Ask for the recommendation, celebrate the win, and make sure the evidence of your good work is visible to the next person trying to decide whether to hire you.
For more on building the kind of LinkedIn profile and presence that turns recommendations into enquiries, take a look at how LinkedIn training works.
Every week I'm also uploading new videos on sales and LinkedIn - subscribe to the YouTube channel so you don't miss them.
If you want support with your sales approach, your LinkedIn presence, or both, get in touch and we can talk about what would help most.
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