With Accountant Referrals, Sometimes it’s Better to Join the Running Instead of Dominating the Show

Dan Richards, a Toronto based advisor, recently tackled the subject of accountant referrals on his blog, Getting Clients / Keeping Clients. He raises many good points, chief among them that the key to establishing relationships with accountants is to approach them with an understanding of their point of view.

Aside from the challenge of getting their attention in an environment where they are flooded with demands on their time, accountants, like you, cherish the trust they have cultivated with their clients and are loath to do anything that would violate or diminish that trust in any way. To refer one of their clients to a financial advisor is to risk the client getting burned, something that will reflect negatively on their judgment and integrity.

To overcome an accountant’s fear of damaging their client-relationships, Dan recommends setting your sights a little lower:

“One thing that reduces risk for accountants is to refer clients to two or three different advisors and let them choose who to work with. Rather than having the goal of being the only advisor who is recommended, consider instead setting the goal of being one or two or three—a much safer proposition for accountants to consider.”

It may seem subtle, but by putting yourself in the running for a client’s attention instead of pushing for referrals, you can take the burden of risk off of the accountant and open the door for recommendations.

How Do I Get Clients to Bring Friends to Events?

Brie, an advisor in Fort Worth, TX, writes:

We are holding monthly educational dinners and suggesting clients bring guests. We are getting the same clients and no guests. Everyone seems to enjoy themselves, but the response is not what we were hoping for.

We asked Katherine Vessenes to tackle this one. Katherine is president of Vestment Advisors and the country's leading authority on building a multimillion-dollar practice.

This could be a good reason to have a client advisory board meeting. Or you could call a couple of them and run through some questions like this over the phone:

Jane, this is Katherine. I just wanted to get some feedback on our last educational dinner. (Pause and wait for a response).

How did you like the food? What where the top three ideas you got from the speaker? Is there anything we could do better?

(What you are looking for here is a rave review--if it is not a rave, the rest of this won't work.  If it's not a rave, take careful notes and use the criticism to improve your next event.)

Great, well I am thrilled you had such a good time, but can I ask you something personal?   You know the best way we can grow our business is with recommendations from happy, satisfied clients like you. We always ask our favorite clients to bring friends because we think that is the best way to meet them and introduce them to what we do. Unfortunately, none of our clients have been bringing friends to these dinner parties! Now, we know each other pretty well, so I thought I could ask you: what am I doing wrong? What should I be doing to get our favorite clients to bring their friends to our dinner meetings?

Once again, shut up and just let them speak--you will learn exactly what you need to be doing. I suspect this little phone call with your top 12 clients will probably have at least 3 or 4 of them bringing guests to the next event. From there, it starts to snowball.  Good luck.

How Do I Get Clients to Refer Friends to My Seminars?

Marc, an advisor in Durham, North Carolina, writes:

I conduct seminars on a monthly basis with most people coming from advertising in a local paper. I have been conducting these seminars for over a year and have had well over 200 people come through. I know that people get value but I very rarely get them referring their friend or colleagues to the next one. (I put everyone on my email newsletter list). How can I get more people referred to me and my seminars?

We've asked Ginita Wall, CPA, CFP® and CDFA of San Diego, California to answer Marc's question. Ginita is co-founder of the non-profit Women's Institute for Financial Education and author of eight books, including The ABCs of Divorce for Women.

Let me see, how can I put this politely?  Financial seminars are perceived to be boring, even by those who attend them. That’s why they don’t refer their friends.

How to get around this? Offer something wonderful for referrals, or offer something exciting in addition to the seminar. For example, we once did a seminar with a local department store where they provided a personal shopper to show how ten articles of clothing could create a number of different looks, and we showed how to construct a variety of portfolios with the same number of financial products. And of course, we presented first, so the audience couldn’t just see the fashion show and leave.

You could offer a free something to the person who referred the most number of people to your seminars. Or give out movie passes at the seminars, so that people could win them by being there. Anything to cause excitement and get people to come back and bring their friends.

And that brings me to the final point. If someone refers you to a seminar, you probably won’t go. But if someone invites you to come with them, you probably will. So it would help if you offered a variety of seminars, so that people would want to come back the next month. That’s the first step in getting them to bring their friends.

Here are more ideas to help you put on seminars and other events that will inspire clients to bring their friends along (free registration required):

How to Turn a Client Event Into a Referral Event
In a recent Horsesmouth discussion forum, Michael Brizz dished up tips on how to throw a client event that will also attract high-quality referrals.

The ABCs of Client Education Workshops   
Tired of the same old seminars that don't yield much business? Client education workshops strengthen relationships with your best clients, often for a far lower cost than a typical seminar. 

4 Steps to Filling Seats at Your Next Client Event
Top-performing advisors follow this sophisticated, multi-step process in order to ensure successful client and prospect events. Print out this plan now so you can follow it during your next client or prospect campaign.

7 Ways a Unique Seminar Location Boosts Business
You wouldn't jump at the chance to spend an hour in a hotel conference room—why should your prospects?

9 Tips for Referral Success In a Choppy Market

A sales manager in Canada called today looking for help talking to his advisors about asking for referrals in a volatile market.

Here is a key rule to remember at times like this: look around you, see what everyone else is doing, and then DON'T do that.

During choppy markets, most advisors have their heads stuck firmly into the sand.  They're hiding. But this is no time to hide. This is the time to INCREASE your visibility and show your clients just how great you really are.

1. First and foremost, make sure YOU are calm.  Reacquaint yourself with what you really believe and what your real value is.  This is a great time to get clear about what you actually do to help clients,  what is special and unique about you, and why a client working with you and your firm is better off in this market than a client working with another advisor, or going it alone.

2. Take proper care of your clients.  Your best referral strategy in a volatile market is to make your existing clients feel cared for and special.  They may not even be feeling especially concerned about the market, but you will make a big impression when they get that call from you saying "I thought you might have some questions or concerns about your portfolio and I wanted to call and put your mind at ease."

Again, remember, most advisors will NOT be proactive in a difficult market.  The referrals will come naturally if you show your clients you care enough and are confident enough to get out in front of the problem.  Just think about how you feel when you can't get a wholesaler to return your calls when his funds are tanking—and how much you appreciate those wholesalers who not only take your call, but who reach out to you proactively when there are performance issues, even if you don't have a ton of money in their funds.  So reach out and call every single client. Even the smaller ones. Even the ones whose portfolios are in the toilet.

3. Be ready to answer clients' questions in as much detail as possible. Be prepared to offer them specific comfort—not platitudes about how the market always goes up again, but details about how THEY are protected from disaster and why THEIR financial future is not crumbling before their eyes.  Put what they're seeing on the news into perspective based on their specific investments and your particular investment approach. 

4. Be a good listener. Sometimes clients just need to vent. This may be their life savings, after all.  Don't be defensive. But once they've vented, be prepared to explain to them how they are protected from the volatility, and focus on the ways that YOUR advice and counsel are contributing to helping safeguard their financial lives.

5. Watch and listen for referral opportunities.  In this environment, clients may mention family members or friends who are having problems, feeling scared, or being neglected by their current advisors. They may mention people they know who have been do-it-yourselfers but are now rethinking that approach, or who are otherwise unhappy with their investment situation.   

Be prepared to jump on those opportunities when they arise by talking about how you might be able to help those people.  "I can understand that your friend is frustrated and nervous that she can't reach her advisor.  If you think it might help, as a favor to you, I would be happy to sit down with her, take a look at her portfolio, and give her my perspective." 

6. Remember YOUR unique value proposition. If you happen to specialize in defensive investing or have special value to offer in a volatile market, be ready to mention that.  And even if you don't, remember that in your client's eyes, YOU are the expert. You have knowledge that you can share.  Offer to share it.  "Wow, it sounds like your mother is feeling very worried.  Would you like to bring her in to chat, and perhaps I can help put her mind at ease?" 

7. Listen for referral cues. During volatile markets, you're likely to hear compliments and recognition of your value from some of your clients.  You can probably guess which clients those will be—they're the ones whose portfolios are doing well, so they're likely to be feeling happy and grateful when you call them to discuss market conditions.  If a client does rave about how well his portfolio is holding up or what a great job you've done protecting her from volatility, be ready to leverage that compliment, because there's no better time to ask for an introduction or referral.  Learn to recognize praise and gratitude as a referral opportunity. 

8. If you have a newsletter or firm literature that offers valuable insights into what's happening in the market right now, you can offer to send it to people your clients know.  To add some urgency, you can mention that you're preparing a mailing right now because you want to get the word out to your existing clients quickly, to allay their concerns, and if they know anyone they think would find the information helpful, you'd be happy to include them in the mailing.

9. Continue using the same network mapping and targeted introduction strategy you've hopefully been using (the one you learned from Automatic Referrals), but in this environment, try to focus your efforts especially on clients who:

• are happy with how their portfolios are doing
• seem to have performance in good perspective
• have made it clear they value you for more than just their performance

Remember, change and uncertainty can be huge drivers of opportunity, as long as you're prepared to harness them.  Referrals happen because your clients recognize your value.  And there is no better time to prove your value than a choppy market!

How Can I Get Clients to Refer Up Instead of Down?

L.H., an independent in Montana, emailed last week and asked:

"I get many referrals to lower quality prospects. How can I get 'referred up' rather than'referred down?'"

It's a great question. There are two pieces to the answer.

The best way to get referred to the type of clients you want is to take control of the process: by asking directly for introductions to specific people your clients know, rather than waiting for them to suggest names.  Automatic Referrals teaches a process called "network mapping" that helps you match the types of prospects you want with the people your clients know, and then ask for introductions to those people. 

This is the referral method that the most successful advisors use.  It gives you much more control over your referral flow, and also makes it much easier to make contact with and make a good impression on referred prospects.

However, the reality is that sometimes clients will provide unsolicited referrals, and you want those prospects to be qualified.  The best way to deal with this is to make sure that you are properly educating your clients about your business and the types of clients with whom you work. Don’t assume that clients know your areas of specialty, specialized services you may offer, account minimums, etc.  You can educate them in casual conversations, in marketing materials, in your newsletter, or by discussing it with some standard language during client reviews.   And, to the greatest extent possible, it's good to train clients to check in with you before making a referral.

Here’s one example of how you might phrase this, either in a meeting or in language you include in a client letter or newsletter:

"A number of my valued clients have been kind enough to ask if I am accepting new clients.  I am always grateful for your trust in recommending me to friends and family members.  At present, I am able to take on new clients in two specific areas: business owners who are seeking the opportunity to sell or transfer their business, and corporate executives who are within five years of retiring.  If you have someone in mind who may be looking for this type of financial advice, please call the office. If I am not the most appropriate choice to provide the help they need, I will always try to recommend another advisor who would be suitable."

On a related note, if you are going to turn away underqualified referrals (which is entirely appropriate and necessary from time to time), make it a point to identify one or more other advisors to whom you will feel comfortable referring those referrals—advisors who will appreciate their business, and provide them with quality service.

Referral Clinic: "How Do I Get Around Referral Roadblocks?"

We're continuing to revisit some of the great questions we received during our Referral Clinic and Blogathon.  Today's question will be answered by Katherine Vessenes, JD, CFP®, RFC. Katherine is president of Vestment Advisors and the country's leading authority on building a multimillion-dollar practice.

Question: I have asked existing clients for referrals. One said he has a divorcee friend with $2mm investable dollars. Every time he speaks to her about me, she seems to be traveling. Another client gave my name to friends and they never called. I asked her for their number and she said if they wanted to speak with me they would call. I need ways to get around the roadblocks.  —Stewart, independent advisor, New Mexico

Katherine Vessenes' answer: I think it is time to do what I call the "Country Music" approach to marketing. There is a very popular song by Keith Urban with a chorus that goes: "I am gonna love you like nobody loves you and I will earn your trust building memories of us."  What you want to create for your clients is an experience so powerful that they can't stop themselves from recommending you.

Take these clients and the people they want to refer to you. What do these prospects really enjoy doing? Is it baseball? Opera? Gourmet dinners? Note I did not say what do you enjoy. This is all about the client and creating a great, memorable experience for them-something that other brokers are not doing for them.

Whatever it is that is important to this group, I would call them and give them this speech: "Say Jim—I know how much you enjoy baseball. Well, I got 6 tickets for the big game on (date). I thought this would be a good time for us to have a fun evening and for me to meet Suzy in a non-threatening environment—what do you think? Can you guys come?"  If they are busy, find out a day they are free and then plan an event around that.

Note the key thing here is pull marketing, not push. The night of the big party, you probably don't even mention getting together unless the prospect brings it up.  Once you know them personally, you can either add them to your drip list and invite them to seminars or other events you are doing. Or you could call them in a week or so directly and say you enjoyed meeting them and would like to get together again and see if there is a fit for what you do.  This depends on the prospect and the level of response you are getting from them.

Good luck.

Avoiding Conflicts of Interest with Friend and Family Referrals

We're continuing to revisit some of the great questions we received during our Referral Clinic and Blogathon.

Today's question comes from Shane, an advisor in Richmond, Va. and will be answered by Michael Brizz, creator of the Referral Mastery System.

Question: "Should you approach the referral process differently if you perceive a conflict of interest for your client? For example, your in-law's family is successful and you work with your in-laws. What is the best way to ask them about their brothers/sisters and not have it feel as though they'd be referring you based solely on your marriage?"

Michael Brizz's answer: Keep in mind that the reason for the referral is to help the referral, NOT you.  Therefore, it is important in your qualification process of the in-laws to learn about them and ways you can help them. 

When you do this, it becomes very easy for your client to refer you because there is a relevant reason for the introduction.  Your client would happily refer the heart surgeon who saved his life to a family member with a heart problem.  Your client will also refer you if there is a relevant reason for the referral.  Rather than try to get referred to many of the in-laws at once, focus on learning a lot about a few—starting with one. 

How to Avoid Sub-Par Referrals from Other Professionals

We're continuing to revisit some of the great questions we received during our Referral Clinic and Blogathon.

Today's question comes from Chris, an advisor in San Diego, and will be answered by Ginita Wall, co-founder of the non-profit Women's Institute for Financial Education and author of eight books, including The ABCs of Divorce for Women. We asked Ginita to respond to this question because she has long experience in co-marketing and collaborating with other professionals to conduct seminars for women who are going through divorce.

Chris' question: "How do you position yourself to ask politely for referrals from another professional (attorney, CPA) so that you are not in the uncomfortable position of turning away non-ideal prospects (i.e. too small, too conservative) that are referred to you?"

Ginita's answer: It’s kind of like training a dog, where you reinforce good behavior, and reprimand bad behavior.

Here’s what I mean—when you get a referral that’s wonderfully appropriate, call the professional and thank them right away. Tell them exactly what there was about the client that fit you to a T, and how specifically you are going to be able to help the new client.  Then you might even send a little gift to the referral source, just to thank them again.

When you get a referral that isn’t appropriate, make sure that you have a list of advisors who work with smaller clients so you can refer them on. Then call your referral source, and tell them, "Thank you for sending the client.  He/she wasn’t quite right for me and I referred them to so and so." Then say, "I am always happy to be a resource to help your clients find what they need, but let me tell you about the type of client that fits my practice, just so you know for the future."

When you are asking for referrals from someone who has referred good clients to you before, begin by thanking them for the old referral, and telling them what a good job you’ve done for the client and how happy the client is. That will reinforce what kind of client you are looking for.

When asking for referrals from someone who has never referred before, tell a story about a perfect referral you got from another similar professional, so that the source can picture what kind of client to refer. You could even add, "Sometimes I get referrals of clients who are not quite right, for example [fill in why they aren’t the type you work with], but I am always able to find someone good for them to work with." That lets the referral source know the standards you set for yourself and that you intend to stick with those standards.

Here's a case study about how an advisor succeeded (free registration required) using Ginita Wall's Second Saturday divorce seminar format—and a discussion board where you can ask Ginita Wall questions about putting together a divorce seminar that gets results.

More on Forming Relationships with Attorneys

We recently asked Tom Kane, president of Kane Consulting and author of the Legal Marketing Blog, to provide some insights into how advisors can form successful strategic alliances and referral relationships with lawyers. Tom answered two questions we received from advisors during our Referral Blog-a-thon.

Tom's first post addressed what to do when an attorney doesn't reciprocate the referrals you send his or her way.

Another advisor asked, "How can a financial advisor differentiate him/herself in the eyes of an attorney who is being courted by lots of advisors to form a strategic alliance?" 

Here's Tom's answer:

There really is no easy formula for establishing such a referral arrangement.  The relationship between a financial advisor and a lawyer is no different than any relationship between two professionals, whether it involves accountants, physicians, brokers, real estate agents and so forth.  It must be developed, and that takes time and work. And remuneration or quid pro quo for such an alliance isn't in the cards due to the bar's ethics rules.

So my advice is really straightforward.  First, establish a relationship.  Make contact, and get together to begin a dialogue about mutual interests.  Then, follow-up with meetings, telephone calls, send information of interest, and otherwise do what you are comfortable with in building on the relationship.  To borrow an analogy from the real estate field, the three critical factors in professional services marketing is contact, contact, contact.

Of course, sending potential clients to the attorney won't hurt either.  Do so without expecting an immediate pay back. 

Furthermore, you should be doing the kinds of best marketing practices that will expose you to lawyers (and others), such as:

• Speaking
• Writing
• Networking
• Entertaining
• Joining organizations that lawyers join that allow affiliate members

Being active and visible will open up opportunities to meet lawyers and others with whom to build relationships of mutual interest.

Remember that most other advisors will not bother to do real research into the needs and interests of attorneys before they make contact—so doing that research is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself. Tom's Legal Marketing Blog is a great place to start, as are the other legal blogs you'll find in Tom's "Fellow Bloggers" list (on the right-hand side of his blog).

Also check out these articles (free registration required) for more ideas about meeting and forming relationships with attorneys.

How to Work With Estate-Planning Attorneys 

Collaborative Divorce: A New Opportunity for Financial Advisors  (contains a section called "Getting started" that offers ideas applicable to most types of attorneys, not only family law specialists)

Estate Planning—Help Clients Find the Right Attorney

Create Strategic Alliances With Attorneys

How to Deal with an Attorney Who Won't Refer

Building relationships with attorneys is one of the more common referral and networking topics that advisors ask about. We've gotten an advisor's perspective. Now, in the spirit of going "straight to the horse's mouth," I've asked Tom Kane to provide a few insights on the issue from his side of the table.  Tom is president of Kane Consulting, author of the Legal Marketing Blog, and a former practicing attorney himself. He has generously offered to answer some questions that we received from advisors during our Referral Blog-a-thon.

This first question will sound all too familiar to many of you:

"What's an advisor to do with the situation where the advisor has sent numerous clients to an attorney, but hasn't received any in return; and the advisor's clients are very pleased with the lawyer's services?"

Here is Tom Kane's response.

Interesting dilemma!  You certainly want your clients to be well served.  But, quite frankly, there are other attorneys who could in all likelihood serve them just as well. 

A couple of questions:  Does the attorney know that you have referred that many cases? Has she thanked you for each one? (In my experience, believe it or not, lawyers don't always know or ask where referrals come from.)  Does she have a close personal relationship with another financial advisor? 

Bottom line: I would have a "sit down" with the lawyer and make it absolutely clear what you've done for her practice, and ask her advice on what your firm might do differently/better to get more of her referrals to cross your threshold.

You might ask some or all of the following questions:

• "What kinds of information would you need to have in order to recommend my services to your clients?"
• "Are there things about financial advisors and that you yourself are not aware of or do not feel comfortable enough to pass on to prospective clients?"
• "What other kinds of services or information do you think your clients would want to receive from financial advisors?"
• "Would you like to have written information about my services available to give clients?"
• "Are there any other questions you have that would make it easier for you to recommend my services to others?"

I don't  mean to sound like Dear Abby here, but I have a serious question as to whether any of the alleged referrals have taken place.  I can't think of any ethical rule that would prevent her from telling you whom she has suggested contact your firm.  Her hesitation in giving you the names of those she has "referred" brings to mind that great Southern expression,"that dog don't hunt."

If she isn't sharing the names because she's afraid you might hound (pardon the pun) them for business, you can assure her that you would not do so; but would only send them a letter and brochure mentioning that you know about the referral, and ask them to contact you, if you could ever be of service.  If the lawyer has problems with that, I have problems with the relationship.

Stay tuned for Tom's answer to another tough question: How would a financial adviser approach attorneys to establish a strategic alliance when they are being approached by a lot of financial advisors?

While you're waiting for Tom's response, here's food for thought—give some thought to how you can help the attorney, rather than the other way around.  One great starting point? Recommend some great resources to the attorney to help build his or her business... like Tom's Legal Marketing Blog!  Also take a look at his "Fellow Bloggers" list (on the right-hand side of the blog) of other excellent Web resources that lawyers might appreciate.