After delivering a 2-hour seminar for Security Services Network, I was approached by a gentleman who wanted to tell me about one of his successful strategies related to referrals. Larry Olson shares the following statement with his clients in his written communication, when he meets with them, and even has it framed in his office. He told me that it has generated many referrals over the years. Now… don’t just copy this word for word. Make it reflect your own personality and philosophy.

“When you earn the reputation for being dependable, reliable, and a good choice, and when you don’t disappoint folks along the way, people gravitate to you.” When he’s with his clients, his form of “value discussion” is to add the following statement, “In your experience, have we met this standard?”

COMMENT:

Hi Bill,

Great article in the recent Referral Minute newsletter [The Missing Link in Referral Success]. Very timely & very true.

I know that I have personally allowed my own scarcity mentality (which is nothing more than self-defeating beliefs ingrained over a lifetime) to act as a governor on my performance. Now, I have recognized that the issue lies within — not as a fault outside of myself & am working like the dickens to replace the old limiting (scarcity) mentality, with a more empowering & action oriented (abundance mentality).

My belief & experience is that people (in this case Advisors) who are the top producers are “driven” by internal forces — particularly desire, purpose & a positive self-Image (self-confidence & belief) to succeed & prosper & as such take more action & do it consistently, until success becomes inevitable.

You Referral System is a proven winner, however, like anything of value in life, if you don’t take it out of the box & really apply it until it becomes ingrained second nature, you won’t get the results you desire. Wishing things were better will not produce results.

Thanks for the reality check.

Cheers!

RESPONSE FROM BILL CATES:

Thanks for taking the time to write and your very candid thoughts. I, too, have had to overcome an upbringing of scarcity and limited thinking. It’s fun to keep hitting new levels, isn’t it?

Bill

COMMENT:

You’re welcome Bill.

It is definitely great fun & very rewarding to move forward to new levels of achievement.

Thanks again.

P.S. Right now I’m working with Mitch in your Referral Coaching program. The biggest challenge I have (which I’ve shared with Mick) is not in getting the names of people to be introduced to after having the VIPs conversation, but in making the actual connections in cases where client or COI’s have committed to make the first contact. Any advice on that would be helpful.

RESPONSE FROM BILL CATES:

A couple of thoughts for you…

1. Make the request for referrals a real “brainstorm” or “exploration” so it sets up the next step - introductions - nicely.

2. Never leave the meeting without knowing who’s going to do what by when. Set a time frame for what the client will do and when you’ll get back to them.

3. Inbetween the meeting and when you call them back, send them an email thanking them for the introduction (this will be a reminder in the form of a thank you).

4. In a “curious” way, ask the referral source what they think they’ll say to their friend as a way of introduction. This will help them get clear so they’ll be less likely to wimp out. Also, you can adjust what they say about you.

Hope this helps!

Bill

COMMENT:

Bill,

I think you hit the nail on the head in the most recent Referral Minute newsletter. I never thought of it quite like this, but I think you are exactly right. When you get rid of all the BS, it comes down to “how badly you want success.” I think many advisors don’t want success “bad enough”, and therefore they let fear, inactivity, and complacency take over. However the people that are properly motivated will embrace the proven actionable steps that are laid out by folks like you.

ANSWER:

Hi,

Thanks for writing back.

While a prosperity mindselt is not the only ingredient to great success, it’s pretty fundamental. I think that most people - myself included - are often blind to how scarcity thinking creeps into many aspects of our lives.

Stay in touch!

Bill