Why partnering with specialists on cases is a win for all

In our industry, especially in MDRT, we participate in a lot of joint work with other financial advisors and specialists. This can be a winning situation for all involved. It allows us to:

• Help clients better in complex cases or areas that aren’t our strengths
• Work on bigger cases
• Expand our knowledge

If you’re not comfortable managing one area of financial planning for your client and you know someone who does well in that area, bring them in. Make sure the specialist, though, is someone you know and are comfortable working with.

Explaining specialists to clients

I explain joint work to my clients by comparing it to going to a doctor. I’m their primary care doctor, but sometimes they need a specialist. And you expect your primary care doctor to let you know when you need a specialist for the best care. You don’t, however, lose your primary care doctor. The specialist is for fixing one issue.

Frequently, I bring in a specialist on advanced cases that I know I’m not the best for, but my client asked me for the best advice. When I tell the client I know someone who’s going to help with this area, they appreciate that because they feel cared for, and they love you for that. This also allows you to work on bigger cases and produce more income.

Expanding knowledge

In addition, you can learn a lot from working with specialists. You can watch how they do things and discover why they did this or that. When you’re learning from it, joint work can be worth its weight in gold.

In one case, I worked with another financial advisor to help a good and very big client of mine sell part of his business. Because it was complicated planning, I told my client, “You’re in a season of life where you need some specialty planning done. Is it OK if I bring in an advanced financial planner?”

The other advisor and I both understood what the client needed and wanted to accomplish, so I let that advisor temporarily take the lead. I was still in the conversations and at all the meetings, but I mostly just listened. The client saw and respected that because he knew I was staying in my lane and letting the other advisor handle this specific situation. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

The main result of joint work is that the client is happy and thankful that you brought someone in to make sure the work was done correctly.

Discover techniques for uncovering your clients’ core issues in this video with Andreas Dailey.

Andreas Dailey, of Owings Mills, Maryland, USA, is a 24-year MDRT member and Court of the Table member.

Find more ideas for working with other financial advisors and professionals:

• Watch “Working with other professionals: A referral source that doesn’t stop” [MDRT members only] 
• Listen to “How to make joint work work for you”
• Read “To team or not to team?” [MDRT members only]