In an exclusive interview with Cafemutual, Stephen Wershing,
author of the popular book ‘Stop Asking for Referrals’ reveals the secrets and
myths associated with referrals.
What
was your inspiration to write a book on referrals?
After deciding to create a consulting
company to help advisors build their businesses, I started doing research into
what I could do that would be most valuable to them. I stumbled across a bunch
of research that showed that most everything we “new” about referrals was based
on faulty assumptions and that we were being told to do the wrong things. That
led me to focus the coaching on referral marketing and to create the book as
part of that.
The
conventional thinking is that advisors should actively ask for referrals to get
more clients. On the other hand, your book seems to suggest that asking
referrals can be counterproductive. What is wrong with asking referrals? How
does asking referral back fire?
Asking for referrals in the traditional
way amounts to asking our clients to both prospect and qualify for us. That’s
not what they signed up for and it’s not fair to them. Even when people hand
over some names and phone numbers, it is uncomfortable for most of them and
compromises the relationship because it is an unreasonable request.
What
according to you is an ideal way to grow business through referrals?
Be very clear on what you specialize in or
what unique experience you provide and make sure your clients understand what
specific kind of person most needs your help and that you would like to be
introduced to. If they understand what is different about you, what special
thing you have to offer, and the person you most want to meet, you have
prepared them so that they can refer productively.
How has been your personal experience while asking for referrals?
Like most other people, when I was a
full-time financial advisor and asked for referrals, it was a little awkward
for both of us and more often than not people “could not think of anyone” to
recommend.
What
are the qualities that advisors should cultivate to increase their likelihood
of getting unsolicited referrals?
Get very clear on who your ideal client
is, market specifically to them, have something that uniquely addresses their
special needs, and talk about those people and that need regularly. The more
you repeat it in different ways to your clients, the more they will recognize
opportunities for you to help people. And that’s where the “unsolicited” referrals
come from.
Why do
clients hesitate to refer an advisor?
Referring a friend to a financial advisor
has risk. What if something goes wrong in the relationship? What if the friend
is not treated well by the advisor? And people also usually don’t know what
advisors most want to know about a client – how much they have to invest, and
what other needs they have.
What
kind of conversations advisors can start with their clients which can lead to a
successful referral generation?
The most productive kinds of conversations
involve describing the unique proposition you have to offer your ideal client,
and who you are looking for specifically.
Referral
is the most effective way to get new clients. However, it can be a slow
process. How does one scale up business in a faster way?
Most advisors do not actually have anything that they do or offer that is truly unique or takes a laser like aim on a big problem a particular group of people has. The more you can focus in and develop special skills around a problem that a certain group of people really need to solve and the more you talk about that with other people the more people in that group will hear about it and the larger your population of prospect grows. The bigger your population of prospects, the more times you are likely to be contacted by them.
