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I don’t think any one method of prospecting works particularly well, but they all work. The idea is to pick one and stick with it. Whichever method you choose, give it a chance. Don’t bounce around. Get so good at the method you choose that getting referrals become as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning. Position yourself to be referable.
To make yourself more referable, make sure you bring more value to a relationship than do your competitors. Stand out in people’s minds because of your added value.
Our industry is locked into a rhythm of competition that almost prevents us from being different from one another. The more we try to follow the same path, the less different we become from one another. It appears from the outside looking in that we’re all offering the same solutions at the same price. We all look alike to the public. The toughest question an Advisor will ever face is, “Why should I do business with you versus another Advisor?” It’s hard to come up with a good answer when we don’t stand apart from the crowd. The same dilemma exists for wholesalers who don’t have the benefit of being number one in performance. How much alike do most wholesalers look to you?
The best advice I can give you about getting referrals is to make sure you are referable. Your service must be so good and your culture so unique that people just naturally want you as their Advisor. It’s all about being different. If everybody is alike and all doing the same thing, nobody can be better than anybody else.
A five-star service model cannot be overrated. If you went to a new restaurant and the food was great but the service was lousy, would you recommend it to your friends? Of course not. What if a client finds that an Advisor’s food is great but the service is lousy? He or she will not refer the Advisor to his or her friends.
As service is one way to be different, so is the ability to be understood. The Advisor who can make our business understandable to someone who knows little about our business will gather more assets and get more referrals than another Advisor.
In addition to service and plain speaking, passion makes someone stand out.
There are other differentiators, but I’m sure you get the point.
Focus on being a client advocate. Sharpen your relationship-building skills. The number of referrals you get is a direct reflection of the strength of your client relationships. Be likeable, be trustworthy and focus on the client experience.
Revisit your referral strategy and make sure you are doing all those little things that make people want to refer you to their friends and associates. You’ll know you’ve arrived when you get referrals without asking.
Make the focus of your strategy the fact that you are one of a kind. You cannot be replicated and you cannot be replaced. Nobody does it as well as you.
As blogger Bill Taylor of HarvardBusinesss.org asks, “If you went out of business tomorrow, would anybody really miss you?” Let your answer dictate your strategy.
Related: 5 Must-Have Priorities for Financial Advisors to Thrive