Referrals are very important for Financial Planners as they help generate leads, bring in more clients, and increase revenue without having to do cold-calling. It also helps them build rapport with their customers and cost them almost nothing. However, asking for referrals is not as easy as people make it out to be.
Challenges of asking for referrals as a Financial Planner
A referral is when one of your clients recommends your services to someone else, be it their friends, family, or followers on social media. Having a referral programme means you are actively asking for referrals and tracking these recommendations. But although asking for referrals does benefit you in the long run, it also comes with a set of challenges.
1) Overcoming self-centredness
Of course, getting referrals is very beneficial for us as Financial Planners. But if your goal is to only benefit yourself, then you are doing it wrong. Self-centredness is a big problem when it comes to making referrals because your mindset should be to help people find the right solution while helping yourself find the right people. When people see the effort you put into helping them, they will be more than happy to help you too.
2) It’s a continuous process
Getting referrals is a timely and continuous process. Just because you engage with one client does not mean that you will be referred to other people by them. The idea behind making referrals is to constantly engage with your network. And this may appear as a challenge to most Financial Planners. Your job is not done after one person. From that one person, you must learn to create engagements after engagements to ensure that potential referrers remember you.
3) Need to establish a two-way relationship
Just like how you would want to be referred to the right person or potential client, your clients would also like to be referred to the right Financial Planner. Trust is not built overnight so it is important to engage and communicate regularly with your clients. When you extend a sincere and professional service to your clients, they will want to see you succeed as well!
4) You need to be confident in your own value and services
One of the biggest challenges Financial Planners face when asking for referrals is that they are not exactly confident in themselves and their solutions. Many beginner Financial Planners face this problem when prospecting and asking for referrals. It could be because they are inexperienced in the subject matter or that they are not proud of the solutions that they have.
But as a Financial Planner, before you can engage with other people, you must first be confident in your own advice, knowledge, and wisdom. Only when your clients see how confident you are in yourself and your services will they be confident in you, and in turn, refer you to other people.
5) Not knowing when and how to ask for referrals
When is the best time to ask for referrals? This is a question that is always in the mind of Financial Planners. Knowing when and how to ask for referrals requires years of experience and skills because there is no exact answer to this.
But the best way to ask for referrals is to remind your clients that your services are built on high-quality referrals like they are. And if you are struggling to find the perfect time to ask for referrals, it is better to wait until they have completed their business with you. Keep in mind to never ask for a referral after a negative experience with a client.
How can MyInsurFolio help with referrals?
MyInsurFolio is a convenient and secure cloud-based platform that serves as an insurance central depository. This platform helps users easily visualise and access their insurance portfolios. Through MyInsurFolio, Financial Planners can obtain quality referrals, generate consistent leads every month, and expect better success rates.
If you are tired of having to go through cold calls, roadshows and have had enough of rejections, the use of MyInsurFolio can guarantee you quality referrals with tangible results.
Interested in getting started with MyInsurFolio? Our team at EVOL can help you with this! Just get in touch with us and one of our Financial Planners will reach out to you.