Welcome back to the 251st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Bill Cates. Bill is the founder of Referral Coach International, which helps financial advisors attract more of their ideal clients through referrals.
What’s unique about Bill, though, is that he teaches his financial advisors clients how to generate more (and better) referrals from their clients by focusing their communication and messaging in such a way that makes them more referrable in the first place, and then not following that up by asking for referrals but seeking “introductions” instead.
In this episode, we talk in depth about why Bill makes a clear distinction between a (less meaningful) referral where a client gives their advisor someone’s contact information, and an introduction, where the client actively introduces someone to their advisor, the two main reasons Bill says that clients are reluctant to give introductions and how advisors can proactively address those concerns by communicating with clients how referrals are handled internally, and how Bill suggests that advisors can plant the seed for clients to be receptive to providing introductions by periodically checking in with clients to ask for their honest feedback not just on whether they’re satisfied with the advisor’s service but whether it is meeting their expectations.
We also talk about Bill’s advice on the importance of making sure that, when asking clients for introductions, that the conversation frames the discussion in such a way that clients can visualize the specific types of people that would be a good fit, why Bill recommends that advisors put some effort into not only helping clients reach their more traditional financial planning goals but also discovering what’s on their bucket lists and helping them work towards those goals as well, and how, by marrying a target market with a specific client category, advisors can hone their messaging in such a way that they can achieve, as Bill calls it, “radical relevance”.
And be certain to listen to the end, where Bill shares why, despite his own anxiety around the sustainability of his own business early on, he decided to double down on his own niche of serving financial advisors (and how keeping a narrow focus ended out being the right decision for both him and his business), Bill’s perspectives on how financial advisors should actively own the value that they offer to their clients when helping them make good financial decisions that they wouldn’t have otherwise made without their help, and why, in a post-pandemic world, the need for financial advisors to have messaging that is as clear and relevant as possible is more important than ever.
So whether you’re interested in learning how Bill honed his business process by turning “asks” into proactive promotions, how he frames his own skillset to clients to cultivate better referrals, or how he makes clients come to him, rather than the other way around, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Bill Cates.
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