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HOW
TO GIVE AND GET REFERRALS
One of the great joys in a personal services profession is
receiving an enthusiastic, pre-qualified lead referred by another
respected professional. This is one of the best proofs that
you have built a good reputation in your field.
Perhaps the best way to ensure a steady flow of leads is by
actively referring good leads to other competent professionals
in noncompeting fields. By assisting others in their quest
for professional success, you create an environment where they
are more kindly disposed toward you and will remember you when
a potential candidate for your services comes their way.
Finding leads for others should be an essential part of marketing
your personal services. This is not a difficult task but it
does take some thought and a genuine interest. The following
information will show you what to do to identify and properly
distribute leads that you uncover.
HOW TO IDENTIFY A POTENTIAL LEAD
1. Get to know as much as
possible about your clients’ needs. Not only should you get the information you need to
provide your own services, but you also should try
to find out all you can about tangential services.
When we talk to clients we ask them if they have a
good estate planning professional or if they are comfortable
with their current insurance agent. Our intent in probing
is to uncover a need that has not been satisfied, not
to dislodge a good provider.
2. Be sensitive to changes in their life situations. If they have sold a business, retired, inherited money,
got divorced, been widowed, or become ill they may
need new services. Check to see if they have the professionals
that they need to solve their various problems. They
will be grateful for your offer of help.
3. Be proactive and enthusiastic about having
them explore other useful alternatives. When we find out
that a client has an inadequate estate plan or has
missed the boat in exploring their tax-sheltering retirement
plans, for example, we will encourage them to get professional
assistance. |
WHAT TO DO ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND A GOOD LEAD
The
first thing to do is treat the lead as if it was a piece
of gold. Too often a potential lead is given names to call
rather than receiving a proper introduction. How many times
have you provided names of qualified professionals for
a client to call and nothing has happened? We strongly
suggest you both arrange the meeting between the recommended
professional(s) and your client and, if appropriate, attend
the meeting.
The
second thing to do is be enthusiastic and truthful about
the professionals you are recommending. Do your due diligence
before you make your recommendations to avoid having to
apologize for them afterwards. Recommendations should not
be made cavalierly, but only after you have a full awareness
of your referral choice’s skills and areas of specialty.
Make
sure you follow up to find out how the referral turned
out. Check back with the referred party at an appropriate
time to make sure the connection has been made. There may
be times when your intercession may prove beneficial.
IN CONCLUSION
We want you to feel confident about referring your clients
to us. We also want to know as much as we can about
you so we can comfortably refer our clients to you. To accomplish
this we would like you to send us your marketing materials
so we can have them on file to use when the need arises. It
is important that we have current biographies and an explanation
of the professional areas in which you specialize.
One of our primary goals is to increase the assets we have
under trust management. This ever-increasing client base gives
us growing opportunities to utilize a variety of professional
service providers such as yourself. By referring clients to
you, and you hopefully returning the favor to us, we can build
more successful businesses for both of us.
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