Contrary to what you may think, your most valuable business asset isn’t your expertise, your experience, or your technical knowledge. By a long shot, your most valuable asset is the strength of your relationships.
Many advisers already have professional relationships in place, some with casual referral agreements, and some more formal. However, as great as these agreements can be in establishing a structured framework for a partnership, they don’t guarantee that your relationship will flourish over time and they certainly don’t guarantee referrals.
So what kind of baseline activity should you have in place to help sow the seeds of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships?
1. Have a plan.
Start by focusing on your business mission and core competencies. Make a list of your preferred referral partners (look specifically for those whose values are aligned with your own) and define what you can do for each of them, and what you might ask for in return. A professional relationship should be mutually beneficial – it’s a two way street.
2. Real relationships are built the old-fashioned way.
Social media can be an effective vehicle, but face to face trumps LinkedIn every time. People like dealing with other people. And trust and loyalty take time, so be patient and don’t expect it to happen overnight.
On the other hand, don’t set and forget either. Take every opportunity to develop your relationships. Send a thankyou note when you receive a referral, schedule regular catch-ups, and proactively evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership and keep each other accountable. The aim is to be front of mind, versus being the business card gathering dust in the bottom drawer.
3. Give value before you expect value.
Think about how your skills and expertise can solve problems for your referral partners. Define and communicate what you can offer, and why your services are useful and necessary to your referral partner. Also be generous with your time, you’ll be repaid in spades.
4. Make referring to you easy, and refer back.
Help your partners feel comfortable raising the case for risk advice by giving them the tools to approach the subject. Create useful collateral and provide them with questions, easy-to-use flow charts and ongoing training. Great tools which can highlight your value to potential clients are claim stats flyers or relevant client testimonials. And make the process of referring easy – keep it simple with a basic introductory email.
5. Provide outstanding service.
Word of mouth is still the best marketing there is. Providing a great service and true value to the clients your partners refer will see many more come your way. And you’ll create new referral sources amongst your happy clients in the process.
Remember the age old adage, people do business with people they like? It’s never been truer. So put time into developing your professional relationships because you’re actually investing in your future success.
Craig Parker is the general manager of Affinia. He has over 20 years’ of experience in both retail and institutional banking, with a strong focus on strategic planning and continual innovation.
