Referral Coach »Meet Bill Cates
Meet Bill Cates CSP, CPAE
Bills induction into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame
(127 Members World Wide)
Bill Cates CSP, CPAE, has revolutionized the way financial professionals generate an abundance of high-quality referrals. His first two books, "Unlimited Referrals" and "Get More Referrals Now" (McGraw–Hill) has established Bill as the financial services industry’s foremost expert on building a thriving referral–based business. Bills newest book,"Don’t Keep Me a Secret", is receiving rave reviews. Bill is the president of Referral Coach International and the creator of Bill Cates’ Referral Advantage™ Program.
Bill’s Referral Advantage™ Program has been featured in such publications as Success Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Selling Power and Research Magazine. And his own business success has been featured in Money Magazine. Bill is a regular contributing editor for many financial services publications such as: Advisors Today, Horsesmouth, On Wall Street, Research, Ticker, Insurance Agent Weekly, and ProducersWeb.
Bill has trained over 50,000 financial professionals in his proven referral system. And they are using his ideas to build their practices with quality referrals.
Bill’s speeches and seminars are dynamic, fun, high energy, and high content. Bill is the kind of speaker who prefers to talk with his audience instead of talking to them. Therefore, you can expect a highly interactive session filled with practical business-building strategies.
| Bill's Client List |
Corporations
Ameriprise Financial
Bank of America
Bankers Life
Commonwealth Financial
Chevy Chase Bank
Edward Jones
First Command
Lincoln Financial
LPL
M&T Bank
Mass Mutual
Merrill Lynch
Met Life
Mutual of Omaha
New England Financial
New York Life
Northwestern Mutual
Penn Mutual
PNC Bank
Prudential
Raymond James
Schwab Investments
Smith Barney
State Farm
Thrivent Financial
UBS Financial
Associations
Million Dollar Round Table
Investment Management & Consultants Association
National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
Society of Financial Service Professionals
Maryland Bankers Association
Institute for Certified Investment Management Consultants General Agents and Managers Association
Broker-Dealers
Annuity Masters
Centaurus Financial
Commonwealth Financial
H.D. Vest
Sigma Financial
Summit Financial
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Main Platform & General Sessions
More detailed program descriptions are available upon request.
Secrets of Top Producers: How to Get to the Top and Stay There
What are the critical decisions top financial professionals have made to
get to the top? What results-producing strategies do they employ to build and maintain their successful businesses? This is a highly motivating program where Bill shares actual stories and techniques from the most successful financial pros.
Creating a Referral Explosion
This is a high-content general session filled with proven result-producing ideas. Learn the power of a true Referral Mindset and what it takes to create a steady supply of high-quality clients with referrals. Learn the reasons why people don’t ask for referrals and how to set those reasons aside. Bill will demonstrate his popular VIPS Method™ for Asking for Referrals. This is a very interactive session. Expect to see a lot of note taking.
Don’t Keep Me a Secret!
Based on Bill’s latest book of the same title, this program is a fire hose of ideas and tactics used by successful financial pros from all sectors of the financial services industry. You’ll get one great tip after another designed to help financial pros go from a scarcity of referrals to an abundance of referrals.
Building a Stronger Referral Culture(for Leaders & Managers)
The financial professionals need to generate the referrals, but the leadership helps shape and maintain that culture. Leaders and managers learn the 4 key ingredients necessary to create a thriving referral culture within your firm. They will emerge with clear strategies and tactics they
can use right away.
Seminars and Training Programs
Building a Thriving 100% Referral-Based Business
This roll-up-your sleeves session delivers the four proven strategies of
the
Bill Cates Referral Advantage™ Program. This system is being used effectively by thousands of salespeople around the world. This session will show the attendees how to work 100% by referrals through: enhancing their referability, prospecting for introductions, networking
more strategically, and targeting niche markets.
Asking for Referrals Without Begging and Without Pushing
The 2 main reasons financial professionals don’t ask for referrals more often is because they don’t want to look unsuccessful (begging) and they don’t want to hurt their client relationships (pushing). Bill will show your financial pros how to engage a client in a referral conversation that comes from a place of great confidence and never ever hurts a relationship. He’ll demonstrate how to plant referral seeds as well as his popular VIPS Method™ for Asking for Referrals. If the session is long enough, he will lead the attendees in a round of skill building.
Client Loyalty & Leverage
What does it take to create, not a satisfied client, but a loyal client? And what does it take to turn that loyal client into an advocate? This program will show attendees the three levels of client contact (transactional, value added, and business friendship) and how each level is critical to gaining loyalty and leverage. Attendees will emerge with clear action steps to insuring client loyalty as well as great introductions to new clients.
Social Prospecting
There are many prospects who would prefer to meet their new financial professional through a social introduction, before sitting down for a more formal business meeting. Many top professionals have been using Social Prospecting strategies and tactics for years to attract the highest level prospects. The session will give attendees very practical information on how to get new clients through such strategies as: referral events, community service and philanthropic endeavors; country club membership; boat ownership and golf outings; and natural market activities.
Attracting Affluent Clients Through CPAs and Other Professional Alliances
Networking is an overused term and an underused strategy. This is not your ordinary, trite program on networking. This session teaches how to build and maintain a strategic network of key Centers of Influence who refer only the best quality clients. Attendees will learn how to meet more CPAs and attorneys and how to start a flow of top-quality introductions.
Testimonials
 "The feedback for your presentation to the Financial Planning Association was exceptional. The topic of Referrals is prized topic that constantly frustrates planners and firms in our industry as the industry evolves and begins to shed the image of pushy sales people. This is why your presentation was so important to our membership"
- Bryan Beatty, CFP, Director of Business Development FPANCA
"Bill, both of your presentations to our advisors were very well received. Everyone likes your relaxed, yet dynamic speaking style. And, clearly, you have the best referral training available in the industry. Our veterans tell me they wish they had this sort of training years ago.
Thank you!
"
- Dane M. Burkholder, ChFC, CRPC, Manager
Franchise Recruiting and Engagement Mid Atlantic Market Group
Ameriprise Financial
 "Thank you very much for a fantastic presentation at the Ameriprise conference in Minneapolis last week. This was my first opportunity to hear you present in person and I am thankful that I finally had the chance to hear your material. The content you present is extremely valuable. For me, the most compelling aspect of your presentation is the fashion in which you present the material. The material is very professional and compelling, but also very down to earth and absorbable (if that is a word!). You present in a very 'real' fashion and I found your advice and insight very easy to relate to, which in turn has me extremely motivated to implement."
- Shannon M. Anderson - Financial Advisor
Ameriprise Financial - Madison, WI
 "You're a dynamic speaker with an important message. Your presentation at our conference was a rousing success. Not only did your presentation receive some of the highest scores, I had a number of people come up to me afterwards to say how much they appreciated your remarks. Thank you for helping me make this a very successful meeting!"
- Mark Rannow, Manager of Financial Consultant Program,
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
 "Bill Cates’ presentation to our Agency Force was fantastic. He was engaging, humorous, and his content really hit home for us. Even our ‘toughest veterans’ were impressed with his message and his style. The feedback has been wonderful and just a week after the program, I’m already hearing of results people are having with his techniques."
- Sandra Dorsey, Assistant Vice President & Meeting Chair,
Erie Insurance
 "The Bill Cates' Referral Training Program is the best in the business. We're using live programs and his video-based program. For the 50 advisors who went through his first session, new clients acquired through referrals are up 30% over the same period last year."
- Patrick H. O'Connell, MBA, CFP™, ChFC, Group Vice President,
Ameriprise Financial
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