Are You Worth Meeting?

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Are you worth meeting?

An even better question:  Are you worth my introducing you?

Those two questions, believe it or not, are the primary reasons why you are, or, are not getting more referrals to business owners as a financial advisor.

After decades of coaching and consulting with high performing financial advisors it all boils down to those two questions above because at the end of the day, you are either interesting or you aren’t.

Let's break it down:

If you are only interesting to a business owner when they are in the market for what you sell…you are only interesting for an extremely small window of their lifespan and you are also counting on a few things (a) they don’t know anyone else that does what you do in that moment and (b) they know you and/or are in front of someone that does.

Think how much of your sales and marketing training (if any) has been focused on trying to find the ideal prospect that is looking to buy now or in the very near future.  This fantasy drives two terrible realities:

  1. We have a horrible attrition rate in our industry because we are trying to find unicorns and failing.
  2. Financial advisors that make it to the next level are successful, but lack confidence in growing their firm because they can’t predict growth.

So, how can I be interesting to business owners if I am trying to meet them earlier in the sales process (the vast majority of the available time)?

Here is where you are going to need to make some choices about what you are trying to accomplish…and you can pick more than one btw.

First, you need to ask yourself and do some research on what business owners are interested in most of the time (Hint: it is NOT investments).

From my perspective and experience as a serial entrepreneur and someone that has successfully exited multiple companies here are the things I am consistently interested in:

  1. Growth
  2. Increasing my business value
  3. Recruiting and retaining talent
  4. Finding new and better advisors
  5. New technology opportunities
  6. Other business owners perspectives and wisdom
  7. Buying and selling businesses

That is a short list and you can grow it, but that list is incomplete.  Here are some other things that I am always interested in:

  1. Fly Fishing
  2. Wine
  3. Cooking
  4. Special Needs Parenting
  5. Legacy giving

I had a great conversation with a new friend from Utah named Dallin the other day about the challenges of wanting to work with business owners as a financial advisor and getting the opportunity to meet them initially.  Dallin is, like me, a CEPA (Certified Exit Planning Advisor) and he and I met last month in Marco Island, FL at the Exit Planning Institutes Annual Summit.

One thing that is true, even for FA’s that have pursued advanced designations like the CEPA is that knowledge doesn’t translate into action or results.  You need to do something with it.  Dallin, like so many of you, has the knowledge and skills to make significant impact on business owners…but, is trying to figure out how.

As I explained to him, one temptation/option is to pursue becoming a stone cold SME in exit planning and become known in his region as one of the best practitioners around along with building the best professional network of like minded professionals to deliver top shelf service and results for his clients. This is a long term strategy and is one that should be pursued.  However, it isn’t enough.

Do you remember the first thing at the top of the second list of things I am interested in?  That’s right:  fly fishing.

If you are really into fly fishing AND you get referred to me by someone I know there is almost a 100% chance I will take a call/meeting with you…rising to 100% if you happen to live in an area of the country that has abundant wild trout!  I love fly fishing and find that I love working with other people that do as well.  If I get a chance to buy from someone that shares one of my life’s great passions AND they are good at what they do..it is a great day my friend.

Talking with Dallin, I asked him what he loved to do and it was mountain biking.  My advice was to dive into the local mountain biking scene, get to know his local shops and clubs and most of all find other business owners and professionals that serve them that love mountain biking as much as he does.

There aren’t any shortcuts without spending a lot of money…and most of those options are risky.  Instead, embrace the journey of building expertise and sharing WHO you are.  I guarantee that if I come across a business owner anywhere near Utah that loves mountain biking two things are going to happen:  (1) I will remember Dallin and I will get him a meeting.

Sounds easy?  Not at all.  You need to understand how to safely manage referral relationships (giving and receiving) in order to be confident that the long term investment of time is going to pay off.  I would semi-humbly suggest that buying AND reading a copy of my latest book “Can I Borrow Your Car?  How Financial Advisors Can Grow Their Business and Love Their Life” might be of use to you.

The real reason we don’t get more referrals, in addition to not being more interesting, is because we haven’t learned to to be a safe driver and how to identify other safe drivers.  Referrals, handled incorrectly, are an exponential risk to your business.  On the flip side, handled correctly referrals are an exponential scaling factor to your business that can be predicted and allow you to change lives will having fun.

Related: Navigating Growth in Financial Services: Choosing from Abundance