Why Thoughtful Advisors Get Referrals
Referrals are the cornerstone of your business. In order to get them you need to cement the relationship with your clients by being passionate and committed. If you are creative and look for different ways to engage with your clients you will become more referable.
To get referrals you need the soft skills that illustrate you can get along with people as well as a self-awareness. You also need to show you are caring. If you care more than people expect you to care, clients will flock to you.
To illustrate this point further: You wouldn’t recommend a restaurant that served great food but had lousy service. In the same way your clients won’t refer you if you make them feel like they’re just another number. Even if you’re doing a great job, investment-wise, for them, they won’t recommend you.
Referrals come from the inside, from the inner circle, not from Facebook or LinkedIn but from clients who feel like they’re top of your agenda.
Make clients feel special
A little extra thought can go a long way when it comes to getting referrals. As an example of how this works, I know of a highly respected successful advisor who, in a small town managed to host client dinners for 1200 people. When asked the secret of her success she said that perhaps it was due to the fact that she made things simple for her clients.
In her presentations she used the analogy of a cake – and how buying into a mutual fund is kind of like eating a piece of cake. No matter whether the piece is big or small a mutual fund, just like a cake, has the same ingredients. It’s the same cake or ‘fund’, whether you buy a big or small piece, it just depends on how much the client wants to buy that day.
To remind the clients of the analogy she used in her presentation, every time someone opened an account with her she sent them a cake. She didn’t send the cake in order to get referrals, she sent it as a simple act of kindness and as a visual reminder of the cake analogy she uses. But because of the thoughtfulness of the gesture, clients started to refer her more frequently. The fact that people don’t tend to eat cake alone meant the cake was sometimes a point of conversation too, among friends and family – another unexpected bonus.
Treat your client like a member of the family
Call your clients often. Always remember you are in a long term relationship with your clients.
One advisor I know accompanies his client on real estate closings – another helps his clients buy cars. I even know of an advisor who hires a social worker to look after his clients’ health commitments. You don’t have to go to this degree – just make sure they know you appreciate their business, and are there for them.
If you go that extra mile for your clients you will stand apart from the crowd and get more referrals than everyone else.
So don’t just do the minimum, be different, show you care.
Order this mp3 recording to learn how to stand apart from the crowd!
Featuring Don Connelly’s ideas how Advisors can distinguish themselves from the crowd.
