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The Practice Doctor is IN
The Center-of-Influence Meeting It’s a new year and many of the advisors I consult with have resolved to “get better at referrals.” A worthy resolution, indeed! Of course, the rub is in exactly how you are going to approach this task. First off, let’s establish where I, as a practice consultant, stand on the issue. The days of the “tacky” referrals are over. A “tacky” referral system is one where you tack on a referral track to the end of each and every interview you have with a prospect or client. It’s the way I was brought into the business 25 years ago: as new reps the sales manager beat into us “always ask.” It was annoying then and it’s even more annoying now, both to the advisor and his client/prospect. In your practice, every business system you have implemented should be set up with an eye towards making you “refer-able.” Good referrals are earned. Crummy referrals are a dime a dozen. So, are you “refer-able?” A thorough Practice Checkup will determine that. For more on this opportunity, visit our web site www.practicetools.net. Through our practice assessments, though, I have identified the five key leverage points for gathering quality names. These are the best practices in the area of client acquisition and are consistent with many of the referral processes on the market and supported by firms nationally:
This month’s column will deal with the first one; next month we’ll tackle the rest. By far the number one referral resource is a dedicated Center-of-Influence (COI) meeting with the sole purpose of exploring names and contacts. If you’ve read my earlier column, you know how important I feel COIs are. My definition of a COI is unrestricted to particular professions. Some will define COIs as attorneys, CPAs and bankers. While these are certainly part of the mix, many advisors find it difficult to find reciprocity with these other professionals. Consequently, in my book a COI is “anyone with influence in a network that you are interested in penetrating. They are willing to help you with introductions and insight into the network.” A good example is Paul, an advisor in a community of about 100,000. His primary COI is Bob, a retired engineer he knows through his local church. Bob has been–and still is--involved in all sorts of activities in the community including serving on boards, being politically active, helping with charities, and being active in church offices. He also maintains contacts from his past career as a manager with IBM. In other words, Bob pretty much knows everyone in town and is a COI whose network is the entire community. Paul and Bob sit down every six months or so at the local diner (Bob likes their pies) to review Paul’s marketing strategies. During one of our sessions, Paul and I dug a little further, and outlined the four key elements of this COI meeting:
Let’s take a deeper look at each one. 1. Ensures the COI knows what you do and is able to verbalize it to others when you’re not around. Your COI should have an awareness of the depth and breadth of your products and services so he or she can effectively articulate the value you can provide to a client. The best practice in this self-introduction is to have an Iconic presentation: one with a memorable, visual element. With a visual icon to work with, your value proposition can be easily transferred to the COI (and top clients). I’ve come across many such icons: buckets, circles, houses, lines and pyramids to name a few. The idea is to embrace an icon that best represents your practice. It should reflect your products and services, your process in working with a client and your passion for the business. 2. Ensures the COI knows that you seek relationships, not just transactions. This is much more difficult than it might sound. Through most of the last century, “referrals” meant finding someone to sell something to. This mentality can be quite deep with most people. Your ability to penetrate this shield is paramount. The COI might like you, appreciate your process and passion but still hold back on quality names because he feels he’s “sicking an insurance guy” on them. You need to establish your credibility so a COI won’t feel that by introducing you to a prospect, his or her relationship with that prospect will be harmed. For example: “I’m looking to meet quality people and build a relationship with them; when the time comes for them to make a financial decision, I hope to be the one they turn to. Does that sound like a good way of doing business?” 3. Provides a “market focus list” for the COI to react to. Utilize a “market focus list” containing a bulleted list of the types of people you are interested in meeting…and why. The following is a sample of a market focus list from Gerry, an advisor in northern Iowa:
Presenting the COI with this list should be followed by a reason you are interested in that market and an example of how you’ve helped someone. For architects, Gerry’s language is, “Architects are interesting to work with. I interned in an architecture firm for a couple of summers in college and found their ability to take a concept, design a plan and build an actual structure from those plans to be fascinating. I’ve gone back to that firm and learned about their benefits package and was able to offer some enhancements, so I’m getting to know that market pretty well. Who do you know that is a good quality person involved in the architectural world?” 4. If appropriate, provides specific names to the COI. If your COI is an architect, for example, you might present her with a list of architecture firms in the area. At that point, ask if she might provide some insight or contact information for anyone on the list. This would warm up an otherwise cold approach: “I’m considering contacting all of these firms for a benefits review. Who on this list are you familiar with? Can you introduce me to anyone in these firms?” So there you have the four elements of a Center-of-Influence meeting. Supplementary language and materials are available, so send me a note and I’ll follow up. Meanwhile, the doctor is out! Al Depman , CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH, a.k.a. “The Practice Doctor”, is mitchanthony.com’s Business Practice Consultant. He is the creator of “The Practice Management Assessment” tool and materials and has authored numerous articles in professional publications on practice management. Al combined his Liberal Arts studies with 10 years of management experience with McDonald’s Corporation to enter the financial services world 22 years ago. Since then, Al has evolved from an MDRT-level sales rep into a full-time consultant specializing in helping others engineer their business practices to the next level. Contact him at al@mitchanthony.com . © 2007 Al Depman |
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Al Depman, CLU ChFC CMFC BH |
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