I had a client who actually gave me 4 names but we ran out of time to write notes so I sent her home with the sticky notes to write on and mail back to me. She didn't follow through and at our Implementation Meeting she gave the sticky notes back to me and said she was too nervous and petrified to write the notes and tell her friends the book would be coming. I was caught completely off guard and stumbled through a response to her and left it at that. This lady was nearly in tears when I originally asked about the benefits of working together and when she initially thought of the 4 names. I know she appreciates the work we're doing but she says that she doesn't like to talk about this kind of stuff with others. She felt it is harder than bringing up religion.

Article ID: 425
Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019
BB: The fundamental problem is that your question refers to "clients" and not "Ideal Clients."

Ideal Clients LOVE you, they LOVE Values-Based Financial Planning™, and they LOVE to introduce you to others, right?

Focus on Ideal Clients and building your Ideal Business by referral from Ideal Clients.

My following comments are to help you build your Ideal Business by referral from Ideal Clients.

As a member of Committed Advisor Program you have access to many tools and resources to help you with this.
- I spoke about this on today's Committed Advisor Study Group webinar. - The archive of Committed Advisor Study Group "Cracking the Referral Code" webinars - Academy 2 Recordings, Jan and July 2011 - Rick Barrera's ‘How to Talk to a Human’ sessions at the 2011 Academy 2, January and July.

Use clarifying and expanding questions, "What do you mean by 'stuff'?" "Tell me more about that." You are not asking your client to talk her friends about money. She is making a referral and introduction to a process and a person she believes in. That's it. If she believes in the process and believes in the person (you), there is nothing to be nervous or "petrified" about. You even have a process for all this to follow. If she were truly an Ideal Client she would follow it, comfortable or not.
Also listed in
private Referral Conversation™ -> Ideal Clients Reluctant Giving Referrals
private Referral Conversation™ -> Referral Conversation™ Misc.


Others in this category
b If you had to pick two ways to get new clients what would they be and why?
b I feel like I am over analyzing the right questions to ask in a self referral conversation. The result is somewhat paralyzing. If I have some knowledge of the prospect, his occupation or family situation, what question or questions I should start with. It seems like I am trying to find out if they have other things in their life more important than money or if they are confident in their financial future or if they are comfortable that their entire financial house is in perfect order. What do I ask to lead in to a discussion of the above?
b I had a client who referred three friends to me at an Implementation Meeting. After my client contacted her friends, one did not want to receive the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book. I am not sure here whether I should enquire at our next meeting to see why they did not want to receive the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book.
b I wanted to get your feedback please on this email I received from the Chamber of Commerce, where I am a relatively new member. The Chamber sent me a letter inviting me to a Trade Show. The invitation noted that the Trade Show was a great opportunity to display products or services, discover new businesses and network with other business people. My questions to you are: 1. Would you attend this event? 2. If you did, would you attend it exclusively to complete Self-Referral Conversations™? 3. The invitation mentioned renting a booth to showcase your business – what is your take on this? I was thinking of going to the Trade Show for the purpose of conducting Self-Referral Conversations™ with business people. I am not sure, however, about the idea of having a booth at an event like this.
b I am now in the CAP program. Out of the 60 existing households I have 10 Ideal Clients. These clients have all been with me for 8+ years. For lack of a better word I've worn out my referral welcome with these folks. I'm in Rotary, Lions, Chamber of Commerce, and some other social networks. Of the many people in the Chamber I'm only familiar with a few, so I feel like I have to at least go talk with each person to get a self referral, find out a little about them and introduce myself since we have never met in person. I'm not having a lot of success with this in converting people to Ideal Clients. Most of my Ideal Clients are retired and not still working. I've finished all aspects of my Deliverables Team and trained a new internal staff since the last academy. To be bluntly honest I have time blocked time on my calendar for client acquisition, but just don't feel like I have a qualified (and I stress that word) list of candidates to call on for the process. Based on the 113 Ideal Clients I will need I'm going to have to call on almost 1,000 people to reach my goal of 113 Ideal Clients. I'm really struggling and would greatly appreciate your input on where I’m going to get all of these people? For our service to make sense they have to have a minimum of $500K, but really would be better for $1M+. I could call on people all day long with no money, lack there of, or a couple hundred thousand, but it would be a real waste of my time, yours, theirs, and my families time, because it won't create any REAL results even if they have a good experience.
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