Helping successful financial advisors build extraordinary teams
Your practice may serve the wealthiest people in your community. Your assets under management may be an enviable number. Your brand may be associated with sophisticated planning and high-touch service. But if you’re not adding new clients every year, you have a vulnerable business.
The source of most new clients, of course, is referrals but few practices have consistent referral systems. Without referral systems advisors will still get referrals – but not necessarily the ones they want and rarely in sufficient quanity.
Lack of time is often cited as the obstacle. But I’ve found that the majority of advisors are simply referral scaredy cats. They’d rather kiss a snake than ask a client for an introduction. When these advisors are my clients, I have two ways to address the challenge. I can lay the advisor down on the practice management coach to uncover the deep-seeded cause of their call reluctance or I can simply relieve the advisor of the burden of asking for introductions…by delegating the responsibility to someone else. Yes, it can be done..with just the right person, positioned just the right way and using just the right approach.
The right person may be an associate advisor but, more often, we use the practice’s Concierge (aka Marketing Coordinator). We teach them how to identify clients “most likely to refer” and how to conduct introduction meetings.. The advisor attends the meetings, but has a passive role. It’s the Marketing Coordinator who engages the client in a warm and relaxed discussion about the client’s work, family, and community involvement and who walks them through names of people they are likely to know who are on the advisor’s target list.
There are a handful of individuals who are unquely successful in this role. Their flagship talent is a disarming charm and a genuine interest in people. When this talent is present and your relationship with the client is strong and the approach is systematized, the introductions flow. If you need help determining whether this role should be added to your “Dream Team” – give us a call – scaredy cats are welcome!
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