A perennial question financial advisors ask themselves is whether or not they should ask their current clients for referrals.

Stan Mann, on Financial Advisor magazine's LinkedIn group, asked that very same question. The answer: an emphatic "yes," with nearly all 46 respondents saying that referrals are a key component in growing their business.

"Referrals are the brick and mortar of my 22-year practice," replied Riyad K, Mohammed, a financial advisor at Toronto-based Advantage Concepts Inc.

And while the general consensus among advisors is that asking for referrals is critical to their business, some respondents also offered a handful of caveats and suggestions with their affirming vote.

Many advisors indicated that timing is key to getting successful referrals, which should not be requested from clients until a solid relationship built on trust is established.

"Asking for a referral is better than not asking," says Stefanos loisou, a financial advisor and owner of Middleton, Mass.-based Financial Workshops/Strategies For Life. "However, you must first earn the right to so do by providing exemplary service or product to the customer," he says. "If you do that, you won't have to ask for referrals, they will be offered to you automatically by the client."

Kimberly Hamilton, a high-net-worth consultant at Chicago-based Educate2Motivate, agrees that building solid relationships with existing clients will automatically open the door to more. "If you do a great job for people and earn their trust, business will follow," Hamilton says.

Rick Torres, owner of Torres Financial Services, a Boston area firm that specializes in retirement plans, says, "Ask ... but also make sure you've planted the seed and have actually earned the right."

Meanwhile others say developing a method or approach is key to a successful referral-asking strategy. Merrit Strunk, chief marketing officer at Kansas City, Mo.-based Creative Marketing, says the lack of having a clearly defined referral-asking system is 'epidemic" in the profession.

'It's sad, as referrals are the best and most cost-effective way to grow your practice," Strunk notes. "Of course referrals must be earned, but that doesn't mean don't ask."

And some say the key to getting a successful referral lies in correctly "prepping" clients so they know the advisor will be asking for them in the future.

"I'd venture to say that most financial professionals are afraid to ask for referrals out of fear of rejection," says Chris Lennan, founder and owner of Washington, D.C.-based ProFeds, a firm which coaches financial professionals. "By prepping them, it takes the surprise out of the equation and gets your client to think who they should introduce to you."

-Jim McConville