Are You Getting Referrals and Don’t Even Know It?

  You may be doing a great job for your clients. They understand and appreciate the value you provide. You may even have educated them on who would benefit best from your services. But you may have overlooked one critical piece.

 Your clients and center of influence can be giving your name to their friends in need without you even knowing it.

People are crazy busy these days. The prospect means to call you. Then the rush of daily urgent matters puts you way down on the to-do list.

A potential client is lost and you don’t even know it.

The solution is clear. Educate your clients and centers of influence on how to refer to you. During your well planned referral discussion, ask them to introduce you to the people they refer to you. It can be in person over coffee or by email. At the very least, ask they give you a heads up that they have given your card. Reassure them you will handle the referral with sensitivity and tact. Then find out all you can about their friend’s financial needs, family, hobbies and interests. The more you know, the easier it will be to get friendly and show you are interested in helping them.

It’s your job to contact the prospect. That’s not always easy. Use the call plus email approach. Call the prospect. Chances are you’ll get voicemail. Tell him you’re sending a follow-up email with a suggested times to talk for 20 minutes. Send the email. Wait for response. You’ll probably have to do this several times.

Keep a positive mindset. It is important you don’t assume your prospect is no longer interested. It’s just the way things go in this busy world.

When you call, it’s a good idea to start with the name of the referring person. This is familiar information and he’ll listen more closely. Then give him your marketing message to alert him to why he should listen to you. Then give your name and phone number and finally your message.

Friendly, persistent follow-up is the key. Many times prospects thank me for being persistent.

But you won’t get a chance to put your follow-up plan into action if your referrers never let you know they made a referral.

You can learn how to create an effective and systematic plan to get a steady flow of referrals. Attend my free online training webinars for financial professionals. I’ll show you how to do it step-by-step. Look for my upcoming announcements.

What about you? Have you been letting referral slip through your fingers? I’d love to hear from you and answer your questions.

Wishing you a rich and rewarding business and life,