There’s one thing many advisers and planners say that could cost them referrals.
In this week’s blog, we’ll tell you what it is and what to say instead.
Picture the scene: it’s the day of your annual review meeting with David and Ruth Archer. You’re looking forward to catching up with them and keen to hear how things are going after they announced who will inherit their farm.
They arrive at your office, warm handshakes are exchanged, and David asks: “How are you?”
Instinctively, you reply: “Good, but very busy. Run off my feet, in fact”.
We’ve all said something similar and thought nothing of it, but that seemingly innocuous phrase could reduce the chances of David and Ruth recommending you to other people.
Why? Because you’ve just put doubt in their mind, potentially leaving them thinking:
- “I don’t want to recommend my brother to them if it’ll add to their workload.”
- “They’re probably too busy to take on my friend as a client.”
- “I don’t want to bother them with a call.”
So what should you say instead?
Well, we recommend following advice from the ever-excellent Matthew Jarvis (click here to give him a follow) that he shared on LinkedIn a few weeks ago:
“Doing great. Been helping a bunch of clients decide if Trump Accounts make sense for their family.” (Change Trump Accounts to an alternative, for example “navigating the new pension and IHT rules”.)
“Doing great. Helping clients take advantage of the new tax laws.”
“Doing great. Just helped another client retire.”
As Matthew says, answers like these show that you love your work and give clients specific examples of how you help people.
That makes it easier for them to spot referral opportunities and explain what you do to friends, family, and colleagues.
So, next time a client asks how you are, resist the temptation to say “busy” and tell them who you’ve been helping instead.
Referrals require strategy
This is just one tactic, and while it’s certainly a marginal gain, it’s no substitute for a carefully thought-through and well-implemented referral strategy.
We believe that strategy should be based on three things:
- Education
- Appreciation
- Communication
The education element should focus on teaching clients:
- Who to recommend you to
- How to do it
- When to do it
The strategies we teach have helped one planner increase the number of referrals they receive by 222% over the past two years.
We have plenty more examples too. If you’d like to discuss how we can help you implement a referral strategy, reply to this email with one word, “referral” and Abi Robinson, our head of client engagement, will be in touch to arrange a Zoom call.
