Switch On Your Referral Brain

How many times have you heard this?

"97% of all my clients say that they will refer me to others and recommend me to friends?"

And yet, where is this tsunami of new business, this torrent of hotter than hot leads?

They are out there my friends, you just haven't switched on your referral brain yet.

Switching on your referral brain is step one of a process that I have been using for years. I have learned from the very best and continue to see myself as a student of client acquisition. It is my hope that some of the information in these articles will help you grow your business and support you in attracting the right type of clients. It is time for you to switch on.

We are the fortunate ones. In an ever changing and fluctuating economy we work in a profession where our specific skills set are being constantly sought out. Right now, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who are either looking for their first mortgage, needing support in changing their mortgage, wanting help with investment property, securing a second home, looking to consolidate debt, wanting to increase their borrowing for home improvements; the list goes on. The business is out there. So how do we secure that business?

Well, if 97% of all our clients are going to refer and recommend us to others, then really there shouldn't be an issue? Yet, I am guessing that most of us ( myself included ) have room for more clients. So we advertise ourselves. We embrace social media. We link up with other professionals, estate agents for example. We leaflet drop. We take out full page ads in the local paper. We tweet and we tweet and we tweet. In short, we invest in marketing. Maybe, we set aside a monthly budget for this marketing which can be evidenced in our tax returns.

I would suggest that all of this investment is the equivalent to shouting very loudly in an attempt to be heard by all those clients waiting out there, but guess what; our competitors are also adding to the noise with their shouts. Amidst this maelstrom of marketing there may be a few bits of business won, out of countless opportunities lost. Hardly an efficient way to attract clients.

So, instead of chasing clients down, we must learn to attract them and have them seek us out. In my twenty five years as a mortgage broker I have only ever found one solution to how this works. Switch On.

Switch On your referral brain. Switch on and embed within your business a client-centric culture. "Without the client there is no business." Switch on to making sure that the client is the most important person within your business. Remember, no matter how amazing an adviser you may be, no matter how many years of experience you have, no matter how many targets you smash "Without the client there is no business."

Most crucial of all, it is not enough for you to believe in this philosophy, you must switch on and ensure that your client knows just how valuable they are to you. When people feel valued and special, they will in turn value you and your services more. You really need to grab this concept with both hands. Yes, it sounds obvious, but that's why so few businesses out there don't act upon it. They have not switched on.

Switch on to the journey that a client goes through. From first appointment, through to recommendations, from signing up the business to seeing their mortgage complete. Switch on to what you can do before the first appointment to ease that interaction. Switch on to after their mortgage completes and when the madness of moving house has settled for your client.

It is more than a mission statement that can be typed across a business card or a letter head. Switching on is a belief system that is at the heart of your business. Where both you and your client are partners in driving that business forward. Part of the business family. Look to invest your time and energy into your client with as much if not more purpose than all of your marketing campaigns. By switching on your referral brain, I can assure you that the rewards will be worth it.

So this article was all about getting the mind set right. Embracing the philosophy and the culture of the client being the most important and valued person in the business. Next time we can move on to some practical steps to generate more mortgage clients.

"Most of life is an interdependent, not an independent, reality. Most results you want depend on cooperation between you and others." Stephen Covey?