How do I Get My Bank Colleagues to Send Me HNW Referrals

Welcome to Day 11 of our Referral Clinic and Blog-a-thon.  We asked advisors to send us their toughest referral challenges. Now we're featuring the 20 best, along with solutions from top referral experts and veteran financial advisors. 

Today's winning question was submitted by Dylan, an advisor from British Columbia, Canada. Congrats, Dylan!

Dylan's question will be answered by Bob Cobb, the President and CEO of Ultimate Bank Advisor, a sales training and coaching company dedicated to helping advisors build the practice of their dreams. Bob's 20-year brokerage career included six consecutive years of Chairman's Club Production and 12 years of Sales Management and Branch Administration. Bob was voted Banc of America Investment Services Sales Manager of the Year in 2000.

Question: "I work at a full-service brokerage firm owned by a bank and we are competitors when we come across prospects or existing clients. On paper we are to work together, and we are positioned better to work with HNW families. I have sent referrals their way. How can I position myself to be on the receiving end?"

Bob Cobb's answer: Great question.  You are already sending some referrals their way, so you are already letting them know that it will not be a one-way street (this is one of their biggest complaints), but just as when you are attempting to work with CPAs and attorneys, that is not enough.

Here is a 5-step process that will have a dramatic impact on your referrals received:

1. View the world through their eyes.  Bankers often see only risk when they refer to you.  They have the relationship with the client (and they often have only 30-40 active at a time). If they don't know you, they often assume that referring business to you could be risky.  (This is the result of previous relationships that seemed like they were off to a good start, but were not). 

   Broadcast a bit on their favorite radio station WIIFM (What's In It For Me).  When you talk to them, be better able to answer the question "What will you do to make my relationships with my clients better?"  (Hint: Investment Management, Trust and 401K plan business all make their relationships with their clients much stickier, and give them a great reason to reconnect with clients that don't have a banking need today).

2. Develop a Joint Value Proposition. When you start working well together, clients will love that fact that you have experts on both sides of the balance sheet. 

   How can you position yourself as a team that will have the prospective client concluding you are different (read better) than the competition?

3. Walk the walk.  You say that you are referring people to them today. When you do that, are you positioning the banker powerfully in the mind of the client?  Does the client conclude that they definitely should meet with the banker? 

   Have you elicited the banker's ideal client and their value proposition so that you are making a powerful hand-off to the banker (and not sending them the equivalent of a 529 plan that starts with $500 and adds $50 per month)? The training that you have received dwarfs what they have been exposed to—so lead by example, be their sales coach, walk the walk!

4. Go on joint calls.  They have new business goals and in most cases are not comfortable making new calls.  Picking out some "joint prospects" is a great way for you to coach them on some new call strategies and demystify your process. 

   When they have seen you in action two or three times, and see that you have a client-centered process, much of the risk and resistance melts away.

5. Go above and beyond!  When you do get a referral, keep them in the loop.  Call them with updates as to exactly where you stand.  If you have left three messages and the prospect hasn't called back—or if you are playing phone tag—let the banker know.  In a new referral relationship, not knowing equals fear and uncertainty.  Think the Weather Channel and CNN: constant updates! 

   When you open the account, service the daylights out of them.  Nothing builds your credibility and trust as quickly as a newly referred client calling the banker back and saying, "Oh my goodness, John, I have been an investor for 20 years and I have never seen anything like that advisor you referred me to at Galaxy Financial!" A couple of newly referred clients that give you that feedback and you will be well on your way to the relationship of your dreams.

The bankers might be intimidated by you (like being paired with Tiger in a Pro-Am Golf Tournament) or might have a Hollywood impression (Wall Street and Boiler Room) of what advisors are like.  These five steps will reframe the way they look at you and help them to see you as an incredibly valuable asset in helping them reach their business goals.

Hope this helps!

Best wishes,
Bob

Got questions or thoughts about today's challenge or Bob's response? Post a comment.

Comments

[Dylan]

One issue I have found is that the Retail Bank has a belief that they can do all that we can as a Full Service firm. They know they cannot provide all the services but they don't mind because they do not feel they are necessary unless a client specifically requests them. Ie; individual stock, Insurance. I have a feeling it is tied to revenue they generate for their grid and if they give us a referral it is off their books.

[Jim Zapeda]

Bob

I like the comments they make a lot of sense, but my biggest issue by far is trust. They don't trust me because of all the people that have been here before me have burned bridges. I am having trouble even getting out of the blocks with some of my bankers. What else would you recommend to get them going?

Thanks

Jim

[Bob Cobb]

Dylan

This is a very common problem and it has to do with a scarcity mentality.

Let's flip it around for a second and see if you can see the world from their side of the conference table.

Imagine that you are with a client that might need fiduciary services in the very near future, they are fine today but that day is clearly coming. Imagine (for the purposes of this exercise) that you don't provide them.

In this scenario what will you do?

1- close the business and handle the fiduciary need if and when it arises?

2- recommend that the client talk to a CIBC trust officer that might be better positioned to handle the client through the transition?

3- show the client and their family all of the options that are available through your corporate family and put your best foot forward the first time?

My experience has been most advisors (and for that matter most bankers--choose 1). The reason is simple, bird in the hand.

That comes from a scarcity mentality that perpetuates the silo mentality prevalent in so many institutions.

The truth of the matter is, if you and your banker are both putting your best foot forward, virtually no one can compete with you.

It sounds like your bankers see you as the competition. The biggest problem with this is if and when they eventually call you in, it will usually be because the client has rejected their proposal and they figure they have nothing to lose.

They have a Terrell Owens mentality. "Get me the ball and we will win." They don't see that the a strong running game, frees the receivers to make even more spectacular plays.

If however, you can show them how you will make them stronger, show them how you are a team player, show them how to make more sales...in the end the pie will be bigger for all of you.

One of the leading advisors in the world in a bank setting is Kurt Sylvia of Wachovia. He faced this exact same problem with his wealth management partners. In the community they serve (Palm Beach, Fl) it was rare that money was moving that they didn't know about. Often, several areas of the bank and securities company were competing for the business.

When they sold against each other the client was confused and disillusioned and, as we should have all learned in Persuasion 101, the confused mind always says no!

Kurt and his partners got together and made the decision as a team (in no small part due to Kurt's world-class persuasion skills) that they would always put their best foot forward.

The result is they are THE dominant players in that market and rarely lose an opportunity to give their full presentation.

Their motto is "let's not slice the cake until it's baked," meaning let's make sure that we put Wachovia's best foot forward and if we do that, there is ultimately no competition.

Help your partners see the vision of what life can be like when you create an Ultimate Value Proposition that includes local experts to help you achieve your dreams in every aspect of your financial life.

Much success,

Bob

[Bob Cobb]

Jim,

I feel your pain. My best referral source didn't give me a referral for almost 2 years. She told me later, "you have to realize--these folks are not my customers, or my clients. They are my friends, relatives and family. If you mess up, you can move on, I will be with these folks forever."

This was an extreme case, but it taught me a valuable lesson. Referrals are not a right but a privilege. Also, the trust that is transferred to us is an asset that can help us build the practice of our dreams or that can disappear in a heartbeat.

Here are a couple of strategies that will help.

1- Send everyone that you meet with back to the banker. It will put you in the right frame of mind to put their needs first and there is no quicker way to earn your partner's trust. Even the ones that don't invest. Your banker doesn't need to hear too often that the client was glad that they met you to take some of the risk away.

2- with new clients, deliver dazzling client service. I have a whole program on that called the 90 Day Dazzle. It is literally designed to have the client conclude that you are head and shoulders above the competition. It doesn't take too many clients to give your bankers that feedback before they begin to think of you as a wonderful corporate asset.

3- take them through your process. The more that you can "demystify" what you do, the less risky it will seem to them to make the referral. Even if you are just giving them a translation of their 401K statement, it can make a world of difference.

Best Wishes

Bob