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January 27, 2022 at 07:31 PM
What You Need to Know
- Asking for referrals may feel awkward.
- Offering to advise people that your clients love should feel great.
- People who are getting your help may be easier to turn into clients than people who come in through referrals.
It was 2019, and David had hit a plateau in his business as a financial advisor.
He had started with what his manager called his “warm market” — his family, friends, and acquaintances — which led to his taking on a very few clients. But he was too uncomfortable to ask them for referrals, so he turned next to buying so-called “qualified leads.”
He was spending money he didn’t have for leads that turned out to be far less than qualified. But he did get an occasional client from them.
David joined an early morning networking group in 2018, and made sure to be there every week, and that got him one new client over the course of the year.
But David had a young family to support and there just wasn’t enough money coming in to pay his bills. He was running up credit cards and paying his mortgage and other bills late.
I asked David to take another look at referrals and he became very uncomfortable.
“I don’t want people to know how bad things are and asking for referrals just feels needy,” he told me.
“Then let’s stop asking for referrals as a way to beg for business,” I responded, “and start offering clients a chance to help someone they care about.”
