Referral Psychology
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Oscar Wilde, Writer and Poet
We live in an age where our clients’ words are more powerful than any advertising campaign out there.
I am sure many of you relate to sharing your feedback about products and experiences with your friends and family.
As social creatures, humans communicate to learn and bond. People express an opinion to speak their minds. Connecting with another person by sharing discussions about work, common interests, family, personal stories and the like are normal.
That is why out of the thousands of words that come out of our mouths day in and day out, we can only expect that a few hundred of them will involve raving or ranting about something that we have recently experienced.
Because we are who we are, referrals come naturally. Come to think of it, we refer all the time! What referrals have you made this month? Did you just talk about a restaurant, a movie, a carpenter, or even a good masseuse?
You might not know it, but a few sentences you have shared about a recent experience, product, or service might have led to several product sales already. Someone somewhere is thanking you for your review.
With what has been said so far, it now follows that just as it was so natural for you to give recommendations, the same will apply to your clients. Yes, these positive reviews, recommendations, names
Referrals as a form of marketing
Word-of-mouth is the most valuable form of marketing – the one that clients trust the most and the one that is likely to drive the most sales for you.
Are you going to choose to ignore it or leave it to chance?
According to the latest Global Trust in Advertising report from
Nielsen, 92 percent of consumers say that they trust recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising! And just so you know, in 2007 this rating was only at 75 percent. That is a whopping increase over a period of five years!
If word-of-mouth marketing is so effective, why are financial advisors not focussed on it?
Many of us are too caught up in “collecting” instead of “connecting”.
Financial advisors often collect a pre-assigned list of phone numbers to call one by one, in an attempt to generate a lead and convert it into a new client.
According to the Harvard Business Review, cold calling does not
work 90 percent of the time. That itself is a scary statistic, one that no professional should be subjected to. Not only is it a waste of resources, but it is also powerful enough to create a dent in the salesperson’s self-esteem.
Meanwhile, word-of-mouth marketing is more likely to attract potential clients compared to cold-calling methods. Hence, it is important for financial advisors now to focus on connecting with their referrals as they are more receptive.
If referrals has been around for such a long time, why should it be a focus now?
With the aid of technology, your clients can now share their experiences with their friends and family through instant messaging or even social media. A post by your clients can be seen by their hundreds of followers within minutes.
The world of social media has made our world so much smaller! Just one post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, and other social media applications has the power to generate so much response!
Are you still struggling to get referrals on your own? Download this simple-to-do guide to get you started!
What every consultant needs is a systematic way to start moving towards a referral-based practice, and we have just the thing for you.
This checklist contains 16 implementable steps that you can follow and not ever have to pray for a prospect to *hopefully* give you one or two
Just click on the link below to download “The Ultimate Referral Asking Checklist” by our Principal Coach, Chris Chan.
It wouldn’t take you more than 3 minutes, and you can refer to it right after every appointment. With this, we guarantee you’ll be actively getting qualified leads from your next appointment onwards!
