So you want to find referral partners?
When I read the latest poll on our No More Practice site, and see that 64% of you are looking for referral partners, my suspicions around the evolution of our industry are confirmed.
There will be a future where advice is cross fertilised, between property, tax, insurance, investments and estate planning. While practices may remain specialists, many of you will reach out and form networks that can fully service the client for their whole of life.
Here at No More Practice, we are going to help you find the referral partners via a number of initiatives – starting with our Live Event in August.
However in the meantime, here are some tips that will help you on the path to finding the right referral partner
1) List the gaps – what are the services your existing clients could benefit from that you currently don’t offer
2) Ask those you trust who they use – and what kind of experience they had with this professional – if common names occur, they are most likely a referral partner you want to deal with
3) Google the services in your area – see who knows how to utilise social media and how they are represented online – chances are these businesses are marketing savvy and that could help you and your relationship for cross referrals. Social media can also give you a heads up if there is any reputation risk to consider.
4) List the advantages a referral would get in working with you – because you need to be able to sell your value proposition to them very quickly after making initial contact. In fact, if you write an introduction email it might be good to list them there
5) Think about segmenting your client base – what clients could you approach to utilise these services straight away – and how do you want to let them know? Email? Phone call? Letter? Time to start planning how the referral relationship will engage.
There are many more things to consider and act upon, but these five should give you good start. I hope to see you at our Live Event, where many more approaches will be explored.
Vanessa Stoykov is the founder of No More Practice, and the founder of the parent company, evolution media group in 1999. She has over 20 years’ experience in financial services as both a journalist and business owner. She is an award winning chief executive who is passionate about creating education and communications to help the wealth industry and consumers fulfil their prosperity potential.
