If you’ve followed our research over the years you know that we produce a rank-order list of effective marketing activities. It’s a great way to keep our training focused on the activities most likely to land new clients. It’s hard to miss the fact that referrals and introductions appear at the top of the list every year.
We all know this intuitively—it’s likely that many of your best relationships came from loyal clients. But how do we turn this up a notch? The crux of our recommendations around generating more introductions is that you need to uncover prospect names within your clients’ spheres of influence, then ask for personal introductions.
In our coaching, we find that teams who excel in learning about their clients’ family members, colleagues and friends tend to get more referrals and introductions into these connections as well.
The beauty of this process is that, from a client perspective, you’re solidifying the relationship as you’re marketing your practice. By asking questions, you’re being seen as taking a genuine interest in them and their family—exactly what they want. Make a commitment to ramp up your name-sourcing. Not only will it help you generate more personal introductions, it’s a secret ingredient for hosting high-level intimate client events. If you can suggest specific client guests, your results will skyrocket.
Here are some tips to uncover your clients’ connections with more regularity.
@StephenBoswell is President of The Oechsli Institute and co-author of Best Practices of Elite Advisors. @KevinANichols is the Chief Operating Officer for The Oechsli Institute and co-author of The Indispensable LinkedIn Sales Guide for Financial Advisors.
