“I get all my clients from referrals or from word of mouth.”
Stephen Oliver, MBA
Founder - CEO @ Stephen Oliver's Advisor Wealth Mastery | Martial Arts Wealth Mastery | Mile High Karate
Every struggling financial advisor says the same thing…
“I get all my clients from referrals or from word of mouth.”
What this really means is they are not doing any marketing. Of course, getting a load of referrals is ideal for your business, but you want to be using referral systems to create the traffic. This is essentially a series of strategically planned methodologies for sparking referrals.?
The worst thing you can do is sit back and hope things happen on their own. Crossing your fingers is not exactly the most efficient or sustainable way to do business. It means you are taking your success out of your own control.?
Of course, sitting back and letting things happen can result in some referrals. If you have been doing a good job, past clients may tell their friends and family about you. However, in our experience, unless you have an unbelievable number of clients, it does not happen enough to sustain your business over the long run. Even if you did have a load of clients, it arguably still wouldn’t be enough to replace other marketing methods.?
If you are meeting with someone once or twice a year and a relevant problem they are having comes up in conversation, it means they are not thinking about you. Basically, they have been having this problem, you offer the solution, but they still did not connect the dots. You are not on their mind, and you are not on the tip of their tongue. Not only does that mean you are missing out on their business, but it also means they are likely not talking about you to their friends, family, or colleagues too.?
This is both a client issue and a communication issue. If you are not communicating with your clients, they are you missing out. And when we say communicate, we don’t mean dropping them a message once per month to see how they are. We mean contacting them every single day. Of course, this does not have to be a phone call or face-to-face visit – that would be far too intense. However, you should be sending out regular emails, note cards, etc.?
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One great example of this is Joe Gerard. He is the Guinness World Record for selling the most cars – high-end cars too. One thing he did was send out monthly greetings cards to every single past client and prospect. These could have been Merry Christmas cards, Happy Easter, Happy St Patrick’s Day, etc. What he was doing is keeping his name firmly in the minds of any potential customer.?
I have even experienced this firsthand. I went and bought a Jaguar XK8 from a man called Hector, and he ended up also selling me a 911 Turbo because of his superb communication. He was constantly touching base with me, calling me when new cars were coming out. When I went back and bought the 911, he almost sold be two Porsches on the same day. Years later, I still remember Hector very well. However, I do not remember the BMW salesperson who sold me three cars. The difference was he stayed in constant contact and made himself memorable, hence I am still talking about him now.?
And that’s what the essence of referrals is – constantly being in front of your clients. They should instantly associate your service with your name. Just like when you think of shopping, you think Amazon. When you think search engine, you think Google. If you are a financial advisor who specializes in dentists, you want them to think of you straight away.??
This could come in the form of emails, gifts, holiday cards, note cards, or anything along those lines. Even podcasts can be used with the same concept in mind. Releasing an episode each week keeps you at the forefront of your audience’s mind because they consistently see your name, hear your voice, and keep an eye out for you.
We once talked to the owners of a family business who had retired and since passed it onto the kids. The business had around 600 clients on the books, but the kids were too scared to get into regular contact with them. After all, most of these clients had only ever dealt with their parents, so they were worried they would take their business elsewhere after finding out they had retired.??
If a client does not remember who you are and if they don’t feel that constant connection to you, you are never going to come up in conversation and they are never going to refer you to people.?
With financial advisors amidst a financial crisis, we find that some jump under the table and actively avoid their clients. However, the successful financial advisors we have worked with actually went the other way. In the middle of a financial crisis, they talked to their clients more than ever. And in most cases, they got even more business out of that. This is because, when things calmed down again and people were ready to invest, the first person that came to mind was the advisor who reached out consistently.?
When we tell people about the importance of communication and how much they need to be in contact with their customers, many give us the same answer. “I’m really busy already.” If you are looking to grow your client base, then this answer isn’t really good enough. As we said before, communication does not have to be individual phone calls for each and every client. It could be cards, emails, letters, etc. You could speak to a load of people from a stage. You could have a meeting where people can bring their friends. You could hold a big Zoom meeting.
Warm and fuzzy feelings -?
The client or prospect should walk away with warm and fuzzy feelings about you, for want of a more technical term.??If they like you and you are unique and you are personable, they will be more than happy to stay in contact with you. Therefore, you become more memorable. You are a real person. You are fun to be around. You distinguish yourself from a name behind a screen to a face. This not only applied to face-to-face meetings and video meetings, but also audio such as phone calls and podcasts. Once a person sees your face and/or hears your voice, they feel a certain connection to you.?
The worst thing you can do is create a PowerPoint that doesn’t include your face and is narrated by someone else. There is none of your personality in there – nothing for the client to associate with you. You should always be customizing your content to make it an extension of you in order to appeal to your clients. A photo of you and the kids on vacation. A picture of you and the dogs. A photo of you on a motorcycle. Something that makes you human and unique and fun.?
Meetings and events –?
As we said before, meetings and events are a great way to inject your face, voice, and personality into your business. You are no longer just another company name or logo, you are John the motorcycle guy or Liam with the five dogs. People associate with you, they relate to you, and they like you. The better you do that, the more they will come back and the more likely they will be to refer you.?
This could be a podcast, a live meeting, a zoom meeting, a recorded meeting, a webinar, an event where people are asked to bring their friends, etc. We have had a lot of clients be very successful recently with live online meetings, because people are a lot more used to being on zoom, or on a video conferencing system. Older people have been limited to conversing online a lot during recent COVID times too, so that has been a big way to reach them. The virus has really taught people how to use Zoom and conference tools well. Before 2019, Zoom had a pretty limited audience.?
There is also a distinct advantage to having online meetings, especially ones where people are urged to bring their friends – you are selling yourself directly to people. Relying on your clients to effectively sell you to their friends is a fool’s errand. They are not in your line of work, they are likely not salespeople and they will not be able to sell you as good as you can sell yourself.?
Holding a meeting or event on an interesting topic really is low hanging fruit. Whether it's the pilot retirement program at American Airlines, or whether it's the Biden tax plan and how that's going to affect your retirement planning. You are looking for an interesting topic that will convince your clients to ask their friends to come along. If there is something going on in the news, it is always a good idea to use that to your advantage and make the topic more current and relevant. The more current it is in their mind and in their life, the more likely they are to come along and appreciate the event.?
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Another great idea is to really make the event an event. Holding a meeting in a dusty and stuffy office is a pretty hard sell, even if the topic is interesting. But holding a meeting in a winery or an art gallery is both an interesting event and a great day out. If you ask someone to bring their friends to a winery or gallery, they are a lot more likely to do just that. We, for example, are currently at the US Naval Academy, which is a great hook to get people to bring their friends over.?
It's an easy reason for them to come, because it's going to help their business, but it is also interesting on another level.??It's even better if you hold it at a venue that has some relationship to their business. But it could also be something in your business that's vaguely unrelated, like at the art gallery, or a customer appreciation night. This is also a great way to generate leads.?
Some people hold events like these and swear they will never do it again because they “didn’t work.” We can help you make them work and be really successful. Let us tell you, hoping your clients will refer their friends definitely will not work. Whereas, events, if done correctly, can be extremely effective.
Incentivizing referrals –?
We see a lot of people trying to incentivize referrals. For example, if you refer a friend and they sign up, you get a cash reward. Unfortunately, with the vast majority of businesses, your clients will not bring you anyone. What we have found is that the personal touch works best with incentivized referrals. Let’s say Sue Jones refers her friend and the friend ends up being a great client. Our next step should be to find out what Sue really likes. Does she love an Italian restaurant? Does she enjoy a spa day? Let’s say it’s the latter – you get her a $200 voucher for a local spa with a personal note attached.?
"Hey, I really appreciated the opportunity to be of benefit to your friend and I really appreciate you thinking about me. By the way, here is a $200 certificate to your favorite spa.”
This is a good example of how to do it right, but it makes sense to give you an idea of a major fail too. Years ago, we used to spend a load of money on TV. Adjusted for inflation, we probably spent around $750,000 per year on TV advertisements. One day, we turned up at the office and there was a very expensive leather golf bag waiting for us. The TV channel had attached a note thanking us for being a great client. We knew nothing about golf and didn’t play so this just missed the mark completely. In fact, it does even worse than nothing because it makes you think they don’t know you or appreciate you. That was 27 years ago, and we are still using it as an example, which proves how bad a choice it was.?
Something else we also know does not work is preemptively gifting. What we mean by this is, as described above, when a business offers a gift card or cash reward for referrals ahead of time. You are much better off rewarding clients after the fact with something personal and surprising. It is just a better way of doing business and yields better results.
One of the best examples in the world is Paddy Lund, who built a multimillion-dollar dental practice through referrals only. The whole thing was that the front doors were locked. There were no walk-ins. No one got in without an appointment and you could only get an appointment if you were referred by another client. If you called up and had not been referred by a client, they sent you somewhere else. Therefore, every single client was a friend of another known client. They advertised it as a tight family practice where they cherished every client and provided extraordinary levels of customer service.??
If you got to, for example, CPAs or lawyers to pay for referrals, you are not likely to see great results because they are not good at selling. Remember, referrals revolve around the person being able to sell you effectively to someone they know. So many businesses look to build this circle of influence, working out deals with people in exchange for sending clients their way. We cannot describe strongly enough how much this does not work. It has never worked. We have never seen anyone who has been very good at it. And it never will work. Referrals rely on a good relationship, not a transaction.?
The real circle of influence –?
That is not to say that a circle of influence cannot be achieved, you just have to build it in a different way. For example, if you use book pass alongs in which people hand your relevant books onto potential new clients. You give your book on college planning to someone, and when the subject comes up in conversation with a friend, they pass along your book. That would be an effective way to create and use a circle of influence – far more organic than paying someone to suggest you to people.?
If you take those CPAs or lawyers as an example again, you could throw a joint event with about the impact of a new tax plan. They could invite all of their clients and you could invite all of yours to a webinar or live event. Suddenly, you have a load of potential crossover business that organically works as a relevant referral.?
We have also seen and done joint referrals in which the contact/client sends out your material to their clients. Of course, most people don’t want to just hand over their address book and that is completely understandable. In the past, we have written emails and forwarded them over. We have written letters and put the stamps on the front for them to add the addresses. We have written text messages. We have done automated voicemails. Whatever the case, you are not relying on them to market you, you are marketing yourself through them.?
The basic principle of the circle of influence is that you are still selling yourself but earning referrals through someone else, whether that comes in the form of a meeting, event, or direct messages of some form. A client is not going to sell you or your business very well. A client’s employee is going to do an even worse job. So always be in control of your own brand and your own sales pitch.?
Constant communication guarantees you get them at the right time –
We touched on this above, but it is worth repeating. If you contact someone once per year, You have to get extremely lucky to catch them at the perfect time when they need your services. An hour or a day after they receive that email from you, they are going to forget your name again. If you contact them once a month, they may remember who you are but you won’t spring to mind when you should. If you contact them in some form every single day with emails, texts, phone calls, newsletters, letters, books, invites to meetings and events, etc, they will always know who you are. You are instantly identifiable and as soon as they have a need for you, they will call you. After all, if you contact them every day, you are guaranteed to contact them on the perfect day.?
For example, if a client of yours has a grandparent pass away and inherits $400,000, they may want to invest that money in something. If you only contact them once per month, you are likely going to get there too late. By the time they receive your message, they will have already spent it on a new car or thrown it in a Nibex fund. However, if you were at the top of their mind and contacted them every day, you would immediately associate the money with you and your investment expertise. That represents a win-win scenario for all involved.?
Make it as simple as you can for them. By the time that they actually need your services, they should already be familiar with your podcasts, your events, your meetings, your webinars, your emails, your texts, your phone calls, your free material etc. You should be THE investment guy. Everyone has a series of people they go to for certain things. You might have a car guy. You might have a legal guy. You should be the go-to investment guy, or whatever your niche is.?
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Always be appreciative –?
As business owners, we all know how valuable referrals are and, therefore, how valuable the people referring you are. If someone comes to you with a referral, be as appreciative as you can. Show how much it means to you, but also show knowledge about them. Acknowledging a referral is one thing, but showing appreciation is completely different. Acknowledging would be like saying a simple thank you or sending $50 their way. Appreciating would be sending a personal letter and treating them with something you know they actually love. After all, if you do not show appreciation, that person will likely not refer you again.?
Know your clients –?
This leads us nicely onto the next big point – know your clients. We mentioned before how valuable it is to personally know your clients and gift them something they really love after a referral. However, knowing your clients extends far beyond that. Do you know where they all work? Do you know what their job role is? Do you know what's going on? Remember, not only are they existing clients, but?they are also resources too. One client could be a perfect link to another client. For example, we once helped a friend Don go from working with the HR departments in companies to being the C-suite guy for Hyundai, Kia, and more.?
We had the HR director of one of the largest employers in the state of Colorado at the time as a client. Thanks to that contact, we managed to get invites to a load of huge events. They had 45,000 employees in a contained Metro area, all with the same basic structure of what was happening in the company. We basically had a carte blanche to do anything we wanted because the person in HR knew and loved us. Unfortunately,?most advisors never figure out what their resources are, or they don't see the opportunity.
We once got someone’s assistant to go through each client’s LinkedIn profile before they meet with them. We were looking for: who do they know? Who are their associates? What companies are they affiliated with? What are their hobbies? After that, they could go into the meeting and say, “I see you’re friends with… I have some things that might be really helpful for him.” Or you could congratulate them on their recent promotion. Or you could ask about a hobby. It’s all about establishing a connection and finding out how you can help each other.?
Do not beg for referrals –?
This is an extremely important point to hammer home. Never beg for referrals. It just isn’t a good look for your business to come across as desperate. All it does is leave current clients and potential prospects wondering why you have to beg. Are you not doing well? Are you not good at your job? Should they look to work with someone else??
Instead, you should give them an easy reason to refer. The best reasons are that you are excellent at your job and you make referring easy thanks to your communication via events, podcasts, emails, source materials like books, etc. Give them a reason and give them easy access. Those really are the two pillars of referrals.?
Remember…
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About the Author:
Stephen Oliver attended Georgetown University, earning an honor’s degree in international economics, expecting to head on to Harvard or Wharton for an MBA on the wall to Wall Street.???He’d worked his way through college running a Martial Arts School for the most successful organization in that field in North America and training to be a professional Kick-Boxer.
Along the way, best laid plans were derailed and instead of going directly to graduate school he ended up opening 6 Martial Arts Schools in Denver, Colorado.??Along the way he did complete an Executive MBA while becoming a National Event Promoter and an internationally recognized Marketing Expert in that field.???He served on the Board of Directors on a Financial company that worked in that field and for a National Sanctioning Organization.???He developed and franchise organization that opened locations throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.???
He ended up helping business owners ranging from Law Firms, to international consulting organizations, martial arts schools, to Wealth Managers with grass roots marketing, sales, internet marketing and organization management systems.???He’s written 7 books on management and marketing and, co-authored a book with Marketing Guru Dan Kennedy.???As a speaker he’s shared the stage with Dan Kennedy, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, Lee Milteer, Tony Robbins, Chuck Norris, former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and others ranging from business leaders to retired professional football players and actors.
Take a Moment to Connect Here on LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/stephencoliver/