You may be further helped to appreciate the value of our approach by imagining you are friends with the most sought after and capable attorney in your city. If another friend suddenly needs legal assistance, what will you do? Will you not call this high-powered attorney and ask them to accept your friend’s case? Will you not be grateful for their willingness to do so? Similarly, we desire to position ourselves as the most capable and sought after financial advisors in our area. We want our clients to know that our first desire is to help their loved ones - not to grow our own business. Graciously accepting their referrals, rather than asking for them, sends this message in a powerful way.
In conclusion, I would like to cite the findings of another industry leader, The Oechsli Institute. According to their recent research, 83% of affluent investor-respondents to their study said they had a negative feeling about being approached for referrals. Why on earth would you ever do something to make 83% of your clients feel uncomfortable?
Asking for referrals may work for some people, some of the time, but the approach described above is working better for us and the hundreds of financial advisors who belong to our Platinum Advisor Strategies program. We are confident it can work for you too!
What do you think? How are you generating referrals?
Thomas Fross is co-founder of Fross & Fross Wealth Management and president of Platinum Advisor Strategies, a marketing and practice management program for financial advisors. He also co-authored the practice management book "Members Only - A Powerful New Way to Grow Your Practice."
My experience is that the biggest problem advisors have-in obtaining high-quality referrals on a continuing bass-is the lack of any organized prospecting system.Figures I've seen say only about 11% of financial advisors prospect regularly - regardless of the method used.
So my hat is off to Messrs Fross and Carson, because they abide by the basic rule of prospecting: Devise a system and use it regularly. Do this, and you'll find your prospecting efforts will yield better results almost instantly.Your only challenge is to prospect regularly- some might even say religiously.
NickRay, CLU ChFC RHU MBC Business Coach