The ONE Thing you Must Do to Get Referrals
The ONE Thing You Must Do to Get Referrals
Okay, you’ve heard me talk about this before. But I just have to beat the drum some more. The single most important thing you can be doing to get more referrals is to be holding value discussions with your clients. You have to check in with your clients to make sure they see the value of the work you do – to make sure you are referable. What happens when you do make it a habit of discussion your value is you:
1) clean up unexpressed problems
2) create good, clean communication
3) increase client loyalty and trust
4) get the client in close touch with our value
5) increase client loyalty and trust.
Saul Cohen (Strategies for Wealth, NYC), attended our Referral Boot Camp this past April. Part of an email he sent to me said this, “I have been trying my best to incorporate the Value discussions, and an introduction mindset. As a result since we did the program I have repaired relationships with neglected clients, set up client appreciation events and am forever planting seeds in all my conversations. In the month since the boot camp, I’ve gotten more referrals than in many years previous.”
Here’s a recent example of another Boot Camp graduate who used the Value-Discussion technique and got a great referral right on the spot.
Says Karin Tyson (The AFP Group, Houston, TX) “I wanted to let you know how one simple technique we learned at your boot camp helped us land a referral to a $3mm prospect – without even asking for it.
“We were working with a client who has about $7mm of investments with us as well as $2mm of insurance. Though I wasn’t in the meeting, I insisted that my partner, Gil, add the words ‘value discussion and confidentiality’ to the agenda. Gil did this and, without even asking for referrals, the client gave us a referral to an individual with $3mm of investable assets.
“This is proof of the importance of the value discussion and that your system really works as you said it would. Thanks a million.”
Tips for Value Discussions
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Make the value discussion part of your meeting. Use an agenda to make sure you get to it and don’t make it an afterthought.
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Let your clients know before the appointment (via email or when you set the appointment) that you’ll be checking in with them to make sure your relationship is on course.
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This is a value discussion or check-in, not a value telling. We don’t tell the client the value we’ve brought to them, we let them put it into their own words.
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This is not a setup for referrals. This is a conversation that exists in its own right. It’s just good client service.
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Start with the “improvement” side of the conversation. “Is there any place I’ve dropped the ball?” “Is there anything we could do better or differently.”
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Then move to the positive side. “Tell me what value you feel you’ve received from our process.” “How has our relationship over these past 3 years been important and valuable to you?”