--- title: 100% Referrals vs. 100% Inbound Marketing description: how to transition to inbound marketing --- # [SELLING IN THE 21ST CENTURY](https://www.rickroberge.com/) [![header-sm-linkedin-blue](https://www.rickroberge.com/hs-fs/file-465400397-png/images/header-sm-linkedin-blue.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickroberge) [![header-sm-twitter-blue](https://www.rickroberge.com/hs-fs/file-465371692-png/images/header-sm-twitter-blue.png)](https://twitter.com/RainMakerMaker) [![header-sm-google-plus-red](https://www.rickroberge.com/hs-fs/file-462412948-png/images/header-sm-google-plus-red.png)](https://plus.google.com/+RickRoberge/posts) [![header-sm-rss](https://www.rickroberge.com/hs-fs/file-480298330-png/images/header-sm-rss.png)](https://www.rickroberge.com/rss.xml) # [Science for Sales Rock Stars](https://www.rickroberge.com/) ## [100% Referrals vs. 100% Inbound Marketing](https://www.rickroberge.com/Blog/bid/250712/100-Referrals-vs-100-Inbound-Marketing) ![](https://www.rickroberge.com/hs-fs/hubfs/RR.jpg?width=35&height=35&name=RR.jpg) By [Rick Roberge](https://www.rickroberge.com/author/rick-roberge)   Apr 2, 2013 9:00:00 AM You've probably heard it before. I started my business in 1986. I had no money and not a lot of brains. I'd been in the industry for less than a year, but I did know how to make cold calls. So, I started. 30 cold calls every morning before noon. Spend the rest of the day following up on the promises that I made and received on the calls. I made thousands of cold calls in the first year of my business, but I didn't make any in year 2. I learned how to ask for and get referrals. In 1994, I had a huge backlog of referrals that were waiting to talk to me. Not good. So, in the era of 'Yellow Pages being King', I switched my main office number to a non-published number. In other words, if you didn't know somebody that knew my number, you couldn't talk to me and I didn't care. When I sold that business in 2006, we were operating in 40+ states and a couple of countries. A few weeks ago, I wrote, **[Starting a New Sales Job (or Starting Over)](http://rickroberge.com/Blog/bid/235498/Starting-a-New-Sales-Job-or-Starting-Over)** and it's probably gonna rank as one of my most popular posts ever, but ever since I wrote it, I've been thinking about how important referrals are to a business and the similarities between building a referral-based business and building an inbound marketing based business. If you're reading this, you're probably not new. You probably have some business and you may have some happy customers. You may have also heard about how 'magical' inbound marketing is and if you learn how to do it and buy some [unnamed software](https://www.hubspot.com/), you'll have an unending supply of prospects saying, "Please let me buy." and you'll live happily ever after. Let's face it. You can't stop doing what you're doing to put all of your resources and time into inbound marketing. Think about it. When I started my company I made cold calls. I hated making cold calls, but I did it until I had enough referrals coming in to pay the bills. I made cold calls AND I ASKED FOR REFERRALS until I could transition to straight referrals. Same thing with inbound marketing. You need to keep doing what you're doing to keep paying the bills, but you need to START DOING INBOUND MARKETING today if you ever expect to get in the game.  Incidentally, you may think that your customers are not on line. You may think that inbound marketing is not for you. No problem. Just tell me who you are so that I can tell your competitors that now is their chance. So, why is an old sales guy talking about inbound marketing? **[Read this article](http://rickroberge.com/Blog/bid/238328/How-to-Maximize-Client-Retention-Evangelism-and-Sales)**. The bottom line is that many marketing people don't understand how you got where you are. They can't help you sell and don't know how to help you get referrals. They want you to focus on views, hits, landing pages, blog posts, and other fancy metrics and they want you to stop doing what you're doing and put all your time, effort and resources into inbound marketing and they don't really care that you have to eat and pay the bills while you're building up your web presence. I am not trying to paint inbound marketers as bad people. They're simply polarizing to make a point, but the point is that you have to ease into it. Yes! Inbound Marketing is awesome, but let's pick a date and integrate inbound into your existing processes. And that's why, this old sales guy is talking about inbound marketing. If you're looking to integrate, use your salespeople. They already know your customers and evangelists. They are connected to them or can easily get connected to them on social media. They can exponentiate the reach that your content has and the same way that they get referrals, they can get new followers, new on line attention and engage in on-line and real life conversations naturally. So, that like my referral business in 1987, you can be 100% inbound marketing (if you choose to) a year from now. Want help, use the link to the right to schedule a call with me. Topics: [referrals](https://www.rickroberge.com/topic/referrals), [inbound marketing](https://www.rickroberge.com/topic/inbound-marketing), [sales ready leads](https://www.rickroberge.com/topic/sales-ready-leads) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ### Want updates as they're published? #### Enter your email: BTW, do you have an idea or question that would make a good article? Would you like to write or co-author it? Either way, **[ send me an email](mailto:therainmakermaker@gmail.com?Subject=Blog%20article/author%20idea)**. **[Rick Roberge](https://plus.google.com/116082120720832878924/posts?rel=author)** ## About this blog *This blog is for, by and about Sales Rock Stars, RainMakers, Entrepreneurs (and/or those that strive to be)* ## [Read My Articles on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/rickroberge) ## [About Rick](https://www.rickroberge.com/contact-me) **[The Original ](http://therainmakermaker.com/)****[RainMaker Maker Blog (pre-2012)](http://therainmakermaker.com/)** [**Remote Bookkeeping**](http://www.slcbookkeeping.com/blog/bid/116710/remote-bookkeeping-made-easy)[** Made Easy**](http://www.slcbookkeeping.com/blog/bid/116710/remote-bookkeeping-made-easy) [**Awesome Website Design**](https://www.inbounddesignstudio.com/contact/) Search RainMakers & Sales Rock Stars Search ### Subscribe to Email Updates ### Posts by Month - [November 2025 (19)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2025/11) - [October 2025 (18)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2025/10) - [June 2025 (8)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2025/06) - [May 2025 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2025/05) - [April 2025 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2025/04) - [July 2023 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2023/07) - [June 2023 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2023/06) - [May 2023 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2023/05) - [March 2023 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2023/03) - [January 2023 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2023/01) - [November 2022 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/11) - [May 2022 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/05) - [April 2022 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/04) - [March 2022 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/03) - [February 2022 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/02) - [January 2022 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2022/01) - [December 2021 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/12) - [November 2021 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/11) - [October 2021 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/10) - [September 2021 (13)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/09) - [August 2021 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/08) - [July 2021 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/07) - [June 2021 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/06) - [May 2021 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/05) - [April 2021 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/04) - [March 2021 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/03) - [January 2021 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2021/01) - [December 2020 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/12) - [November 2020 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/11) - [October 2020 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/10) - [September 2020 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/09) - [August 2020 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/08) - [July 2020 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/07) - [June 2020 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/06) - [May 2020 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/05) - [April 2020 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/04) - [March 2020 (7)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/03) - [February 2020 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/02) - [January 2020 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2020/01) - [December 2019 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/12) - [November 2019 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/11) - [October 2019 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/10) - [September 2019 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/09) - [August 2019 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/08) - [July 2019 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/07) - [June 2019 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/06) - [April 2019 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/04) - [March 2019 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/03) - [February 2019 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/02) - [January 2019 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2019/01) - [December 2018 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/12) - [November 2018 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/11) - [October 2018 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/10) - [September 2018 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/09) - [August 2018 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/08) - [July 2018 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/07) - [June 2018 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/06) - [May 2018 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/05) - [April 2018 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/04) - [March 2018 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/03) - [February 2018 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/02) - [January 2018 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2018/01) - [December 2017 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/12) - [November 2017 (9)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/11) - [October 2017 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/10) - [September 2017 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/09) - [August 2017 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/08) - [July 2017 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/07) - [June 2017 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/06) - [May 2017 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/05) - [April 2017 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/04) - [March 2017 (8)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/03) - [February 2017 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/02) - [January 2017 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2017/01) - [December 2016 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/12) - [November 2016 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/11) - [October 2016 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/10) - [September 2016 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/09) - [August 2016 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/08) - [July 2016 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/07) - [June 2016 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/06) - [May 2016 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/05) - [April 2016 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/04) - [March 2016 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/03) - [February 2016 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/02) - [January 2016 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2016/01) - [December 2015 (8)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/12) - [November 2015 (2)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/11) - [October 2015 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/10) - [September 2015 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/09) - [August 2015 (7)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/08) - [July 2015 (3)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/07) - [June 2015 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/06) - [May 2015 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/05) - [April 2015 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/04) - [March 2015 (1)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/03) - [February 2015 (4)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/02) - [January 2015 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2015/01) - [December 2014 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/12) - [November 2014 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/11) - [October 2014 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/10) - [September 2014 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/09) - [August 2014 (7)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/08) - [July 2014 (7)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/07) - [June 2014 (11)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/06) - [May 2014 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/05) - [April 2014 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/04) - [March 2014 (8)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/03) - [February 2014 (9)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/02) - [January 2014 (14)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2014/01) - [December 2013 (9)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/12) - [November 2013 (5)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/11) - [October 2013 (9)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/10) - [September 2013 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/09) - [August 2013 (13)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/08) - [July 2013 (11)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/07) - [June 2013 (12)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/06) - [May 2013 (12)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/05) - [April 2013 (13)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/04) - [March 2013 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/03) - [February 2013 (10)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/02) - [January 2013 (6)](https://www.rickroberge.com/archive/2013/01) [see all](https://www.rickroberge.com/Blog/bid/250712/100-Referrals-vs-100-Inbound-Marketing#) Website designed by [Inbound Design Partners](https://www.inbounddesignpartners.com/)