Unlocking Referrals

This should not be all about you. One way you can feel good about asking for referrals is by having something of true value for the referrals, whether they do business with you or not. I call this “altruistic business development.” In our process, we use the book Values-Based Financial Planning as the introductory gift. This book is valuable to the referral, whether he or she becomes a client or not. The client writes a nice introductory note on the book describing the character of the advisor and how the advisor will be of value and service. The note will say that the referral will get value from talking to the advisor, whether he or she becomes a client or not.

The book is followed up by eight non-market, investment, product or economic-forecast-related newsletters sent weekly. These are valuable to the referral, whether he or she becomes a client or not. The referrals are much more likely to now be receptive to the follow-up call from the advisor because they are already receiving value. On the phone call, the advisor will offer to be of further value with a personal phone consultation followed by a face-to-face meeting, both of which will be valuable to the referrals, whether they become clients or not.

How much more confident would you feel asking for referrals if you had a service-oriented gift system for a referral process? There’s no “gotcha” sales pitch. It’s just a solid, value-giving, relationship-building process. Some people will become clients and some people will not. And your clients will get good feedback from their friends, family and colleagues about how professionally you interacted with them and how much value they got, whether they became clients or not. How is building your business by referral good for your clients? The bottom line is that all of your expenses are passed on to your clients. The more you spend on prospecting and marketing, the more you have to charge each client or the more clients you have to have. The more clients you have, the less time you have per client. Have you ever considered just telling them the truth about this? If you expect them to trust you, then you have to trust them.

Here’s how this conversation might flow. The perfect time to have this conversation is at the end of a client meeting when he or she is at a peak state of gratitude, is thrilled with the experience of working with you and has received high value.

Advisor: “Many advisors spend too much time prospecting and marketing for the next client at the expense of taking care of their existing clients. I decided to run my business differently by focusing most of my energy on you. That being said, just like I help you make smart choices about your money to achieve your goals, I also have financial goals to achieve and those goals are funded by the profit this business generates for my family. The optimal numbers for this business are 50 ideal clients who each pay $20,000 per year for our services. This provides the revenue necessary for the business to succeed, which is important to you. As well as having few enough clients so there is plenty of time to deliver the value you’re paying for, which is also important to you. We currently have 20 ideal clients and you’re one of them. Essentially, I can spend my time prospecting and marketing for the next 30 ideal clients or I can spend more time being of maximum value for you. As one of my ideal clients, how would you prefer for me to spend my time?”

Ideal client: “We want you to maximize the time for our benefit!”

Advisor: “I’m not surprised to hear you say that. Which is why we have created a very effective way to meet your friends, family and colleagues who might be a good fit to join our ideal client community.”

Ideal client: “How does that work?”

Explain and execute your process. Building your business by referral requires more skill than other methods, but the benefits are significant for your clients, your future clients and you.

Bachrach & Associates Inc. trains the best financial advisors in the world, and those who aspire to be, to create their Ideal Life, build their Ideal Business and work with Ideal Clients. i[email protected] / 858-558-3200. Since 1988.