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How long have you been searching for the silver bullet of referrals? You’re not alone. Financial advisors have been searching for decades. I’ve been coaching on the topic of referrals for nearly 20 years.
Everyone has an opinion on everything, including referrals. Unsurprisingly, there is no silver bullet, and you will discover some methods are ineffective.
What I’ve realized is that advisors want a referral process that works and is comfortable, sustainable and repeatable. Facing off with clients at the end of a review meeting with a referral request makes everyone squirm.
Those days are over, at least for my clients.
That method may have worked at one time, however it’s certainly not comfortable for advisors and today it’s not sustainable.
Developing a referral process that is comfortable, sustainable and repeatable doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, if something is too complicated, you won’t do it. That’s human nature. The trick is to work with yourself and not against yourself. Increase the chances of your success by developing something that is easy for you to implement, aligns with who you are, and gives you the results you want. If it’s in alignment, you’ll feel comfortable implementing it and will be willing to do it over and over (sustainable and repeatable).
For a sustainable referral process, here are three must-haves you can’t ignore.
First, you must be totally comfortable with referrals. I know you want referrals and from that aspect you’re totally comfortable receiving referrals. You’ll take them all day long if they show up. Key word here is “if.” Typically, not enough referrals just show up. That means you’ve got to do the work to generate referrals. You’ve got to teach others how to refer you effectively. You’ve got to be comfortable having specific referral conversations with clients about who they know that needs your help. You’ve got to eliminate the limiting beliefs you have about referrals that are currently holding you back, some of which you might not even know have tattooed themselves on your brain. Your referral mindset needs to be focused more on helping rather than on selling.
Second, you must capitalize on your calendar to help you stay focused on referral development. A sustainable, repeatable referral process doesn’t happen if it’s not imbedded into your calendar. Too often when I talk to my advisor clients about planning their time, they fail to consider the time they spend on developing referrals. When referral development is not top of mind, it never makes it into your busy day. For example, if part of your referral process is to be meeting regularly with your COIs, that activity needs to be scheduled into your calendar in advance. Planning to schedule recurring meetings with your COIs will help to ensure that your referral process becomes repeatable. In the same light, if you intend to have four referral conversations with clients each month, that also needs to be scheduled into your calendar in advance to make it happen. Your calendar should become a critical tool to keeping you focused on your sustainable referral process.
Lastly, you must track your referral activity as it corresponds to your results. Most advisors don’t track much, if anything, related to referrals. A sustainable, repeatable referral process needs data. This data enables you to know exactly what’s working and what’s not working. Why would you want to repeat activity that’s not working? Your data will help to ensure that you continue the activity that’s making the impact thereby making your referral process more efficient and ultimately more productive. I recommend that when tracking your referral activity, you track what you are doing and with whom. For example, keep track of who you have lunches with and in general what you spoke about. Keep track of when and where you attend networking events and who you met there. Keep track of which clients you meet with to discuss referrals and who they plan to approach on your behalf. Keep track of who gives referrals to you and who you give referrals to as well. You get the idea. Keep track of all your activity that’s focused towards generating referrals. As referrals are generated, you’ll soon know what you did to make that happen.
A comfortable, sustainable and repeatable referral process is completely within your control. It will look and feel different for each advisor. But the silver bullet is already in your pocket – it is your relationships. All you need to do is to get very comfortable with referrals, take the time to schedule and plan your referral activity into your calendar so it happens daily, weekly and monthly, and then make the effort to track your activity and results. If you need help with this, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Michelle R. Donovan is the owner of Productivity Uncorked LLC and helps financial advisors to fix their referral issues and build robust practices with personal coaching and Online Courses. Michelle’s books have become Wall Street Journal best-sellers, Amazon best-sellers and published in seven languages. Email Michelle at [email protected] to learn more about her My Referral Planner for Financial Advisors or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
