Here in northern Vermont, we endure about six months of winter every year. Sure, we get to ski... but that doesn't help much in March, when the ground is muddy, the trees are bare, and the thought of having to bundle the kids up in a snowsuit yet again is enough to send everyone who can find the time and money packing off to Florida for a few weeks.
That's why, when you go for a walk on a glorious spring day like today (68 and sunny), complete strangers nod and smile knowingly at you, and you return the grin. Maybe you even say, "Great day, isn't it?" and strike up a conversation.
Yup, days like today are absolutely perfect for cold-walking. And what does cold-walking have to do with referrals, you ask?
Plenty.
If you follow the rules of networking during your constitutionals, you can learn a tremendous amount about your community by cold-walking—and, over time, build some very strong referral relationships. That's what Henry, an advisor in Ontario, Canada, discovered when he started cold walking in his community of about 14,000.
One of the four case studies in the Automatic Referrals report lays out Henry's success strategy in detail—but in a nutshell, he started walking up and down Main Street, "looking for things that piqued my curiosity." One day, he struck up a conversation with a nicely dressed man on the street, who turned out to be an undertaker.
The two had lunch, one thing led to another, and Henry ended up as a regular at the undertaker's monthly seminars for widows and widowers. Soon, the undertaker began referring business his way. In 18 months, Henry doubled his production from $300K to $650K and brought in $35 million in new assets, including three multimillionaires and seven millionaires—half of whom are referrals from the undertaker he met on Main Street.
Oh, and a side benefit: walking will help you reduce stress and get in shape (free registration required).
Got spring? Take a walk!
Synchronicity, Miriam! I had no idea you were going to write about cold-walking--and posted an item on The Prospecting Professor...
Wait a minute...I've heard this before somewhere.
Anyway...advisors don't get out of the office enough...through cold-walking, or any other means. I gave a presentation to an office the other day, and took a quick poll. 75% of the advisors had NOT been out of the office to meet face-to-face with clients or prospects...during the previous week!
Posted by: The Prospecting Professor | April 20, 2006 at 06:55 AM