Because client referrals aren't my strong suit, I had to do some searching to find agents who are excellent at gathering referrals from clients. My resources were unanimous on those factors.
First, you must be very close to the referring clients. That's right, you must be friends. In order for a nominating person to refer another friend, he or she must trust you.
Trust is valuable and is earned. If they don't know you, will they be reluctant to nominate you? Certainly. Friends are social. Of course there will be a significant investment of time to develop relationships that can be termed as "friends."
If you are not a "friendly" person, it will be difficult to get referrals. Clients who purchase because they like and trust you, will refer you. If they buy just because it was a smart purchase and they don't know you that well, it will be difficult to get referrals from them. Don't assume that because they bought, they will refer.
Second, they must have a fairly large and accessible social life. Their referrals must like and trust your nominator. The referrals should also respect the nominator. It also helps when you are working with groups of people who work or associate with other people who can afford to protect their money.
Third, be careful to watch out for poor selections by the nominator. Because people have a tendency to refer people that look up to them, the quality of referrals could diminish after two or three generations.
For example, A refers B and B is a little lower on the socio-economic chain than A. Then B refers C and it happens again. Eventually your prospect can't afford to buy or has very little need.
Don't you hate it when you're told that you should be getting more referrals? You've tried and been turned down and forgotten. They can be awkward and you feel that you've been imposing.
I've experienced all of those emotions and more. I'm just not very good at getting referrals. Why won't they tell me about their friends and relatives and co-workers? Why won't they give me their phone numbers, addresses, e-mail? Why won't they call their friends and tell them great things about me and how they bought life insurance from me, and it's the greatest decision they ever made?
Probably because they don't want to go to the trouble.
I mentioned a tip back in my January column from Zig Ziglar's brother Judge about a referral method at delivery of a policy that bears repeating here. Judge taught me to take out a 3x5 card and say: "If your best friend were standing here right now, would you introduce us? Great, what is his first name? What is his last name? What's his wife's name? What are his children's names? What is his cell number?"
If he can answer all of these questions, then the referral is truly his best friend. Then I ask him who his second-best friend is. After five cards, I have at least one sale.
My referral powerhouse friends are very successful. If you are inclined to be very social and are willing to invest the time, you will also be successful.
Kim L. Magdalein is a producer and owner of www.PresentYourPractice.com. He entered the industry in 1985, and went into private practice in 2001 serving the Jacksonville, Fla., retirement community. He has personally presented hundreds of seminars and created a thriving practice. He created Present Your Practice in 2004 to serve producers with seminar productions and methods for optimizing seminar attendance with qualified prospects. He can be reached at (800)909-9894.
