Massive growth with targeted referrals and introductions

We went from asking for referrals in a way that was random and without a process to a strategy that was more specific and straightforward. This helped bring massive growth in my business — up to 500%.

Specific referrals

Like many financial advisors, we had previously asked for referrals using the standard, “Who do you know?” Then we changed to being more focused. Now when we talk to clients, we say the following: “Tell me about your family. Tell me about your brothers and sisters. What do they do for a living? Tell me about your parents. Tell me about your children. Tell me about whom you work with.” This allows us to specifically identify someone with whom we would like to ask for as a referral.

Email introductions

Once we have identified that person, we ask for an email introduction. We may say something to our client such as, “Ian, it’s really interesting that you spoke about your brother. I might be able to help him now that you mentioned that he’s about to go bankrupt,” or whatever it is.

At that point, we ask for an email introduction. Very rarely do they say no. We would ask the client, Ian in this example, to email us and his brother. Let’s say the brother’s name is Colin. Ian might send an email that says the following: “Colin, I was with David the other day, and we spoke about you. I think you should have a chat with him.”

Initial brief meeting

I’ve now got an email lead to Colin and an introduction from Ian. We will then contact Colin via email and ask for a chemistry meeting, which is much easier now because you can do that via Zoom or Teams. A chemistry meeting is a 15-minute meeting to see whether you really want to work with them. Pretty much everybody says yes to that.

In doing that chemistry meeting, what works more than anything else are very simple questions such as the following:

• Would you like a second opinion on your pension?
• Would you like a second opinion on your investments?
• Would you like a second opinion on your life insurance?
• Would you like a second opinion on your taxes?

I’ve yet to have anybody say no to those questions.

We’ll go for the first full meeting or the second-opinion service. The vast majority go for a second-opinion service.

Then, after that, we have several relevant prerecorded videos that we send about financial planning topics of interest. If, for example, we are speaking about pensions, we send them the prerecorded pension video. That starts the process to make the sale.

This was excerpted from the 2022 MDRT Top of the Table Annual Meeting presentation “Three steps for achieving massive growth.” (Top of the Table member exclusive) David Batchelor is a 26-year MDRT member and Top of the Table member from Thame, England, UK.

For more ideas to increase your number of referrals:

• Listen to “Turning referrals into reciprocal introductions”
• Watch “Why the way you ask for referrals may not be working” (MDRT member exclusive)
• Watch “Discover the power of introductions instead of referrals” (MDRT member exclusive)