The Referral Coach

Yet where Cates really excels, is in giving advisors a method for actually asking for the referral. He says that many advisors rue this aspect of their business, afraid to appear unsuccessful before the client in having to ask for referrals; nervous about hassling a client that might be important to their business; or possibly afraid of meeting rejection from someone they know. “These are all fears advisors deal with when looking for referrals,” says Cates, “but if they have a professional system for asking, they will come to look on it more in a business-like manner.”

Cates has developed what he calls the “client centered approach,” which comprises a number of neat tricks to get around these trouble spots. For instance, Cates says an advisor will always want to ask for the referral after they believe value has been given. The advisor will ask the client if they believe they have benefited from the process, and will then say, “Now what people do you know that can also benefit from what I’m doing for you?”

“It’s a very subtle point, but it’s important,” says Cates. “You want to make it so that the client feels they are helping the people they are referring rather than helping the advisor build their business. You want to make it so that they want to give you that referral, and you look as if you want to help their friends and family rather than help yourself.”

During his seminars, attendees role play with each other–one person as the advisor and one as the client–to practice the system they have just learned, including how to deal with objections to giving referrals should they arise. “The role-playing may sound a little weird at first, but think of it as practicing the fundamentals,” Cates says. “Cal Ripken has to go to spring training. So do advisors.”

Cates should know. Following a short stint under Larry’s tutelage with the home improvement company, he began selling group travel packages to travel agents for American Airlines. From there, he opened his own publishing company, where he says the trick was to convince bookstore chains to buy copies of the 50 or so titles he published.

When the publishing company was eventually bought out, he went into the sales training business, crisscrossing the country to teach salespeople of all industries how to refine their craft. “It was funny, though,” he says, “My strong suit was always in prospecting and finding clients, and I found there was a particular need in this area in the financial services industry.”

With this in mind, he wrote Unlimited Referrals, and then further decided to specialize in the financial services arena. The result, of course, is Referral Coach International, the Bootcamp, and success stories like the one told by Hillery Schanck, a Virginia-based planner with IJL Wachovia. “One of the most difficult things I encountered was the idea of asking clients for referrals. I saw it as a sign of weakness,” says Schanck. “(Cates) gives you a system of how to ask, when to ask, and those things have been helpful for me.”

Referral Coach International can be reached at 800-488-5464 or at its Web site, www.referralcoach.com.