Author: Bill Cates

You may be great at the work you do and you may have great relationships with most of your clients. And you may be making two critical mistakes that are keeping your clients from introducing you to others.

Mistake #1 – See how busy I am.

Mistake #2 – See how successful I am.

The Principle: When you can have fun with the referral/introductions process, everything gets easier. You feel more comfortable AND your clients feel more comfortable! More importantly – you produce significant results.

The Action: I just spoke to a group of 100 Group Benefit Advisors. After my presentation, Eric Silverman told me about a best practice that is working for his firm. This simple idea puts a smile on the face of his clients and generates referrals and introductions.

Last week, I was speaking to a group of financial professionals. Also on the program was Nick Murray – industry legend, author, and engaging speaker. Nick had some fun with all the fear people seem to have around prospecting for new business.

Then he made a statement that pretty much sums up my philosophy about prospecting. A perspective, that if everyone would adopt – not only would they not be afraid of prospecting, the whole concept of prospecting and selling would be elevated to a higher level. Would you like to know what Nick said? Keep reading…

Here’s a great piece from Julie Littlechild (President of Absolute Engagement) about why clients don’t refer you as much as you’d like. I think you might be surprised by this.

How you give referrals to trusted partners, clients, and others is important. Do it right and it triggers the law of reciprocity.

Writes Fred Diamond, co-founder of the Institute for Excellence in Sales…

“Helping trusted associates get new business feels great. When I heard from the first two of my business associates, I was pleased. It felt nice to help out friends I respect.

“But when the third one called, I thought, okay, something interesting is happening here. I did some investigating and learned why the referrals were so successful. I always thought I was a good referral agent but now I could finally see some tangible results.”

Get Your Contact Information into Your Prospects’ Smart Phone

When you’re smart phone rings and you don’t know who it is, do you answer the call? I almost never do. And when I do, I usually regret it. On October 8, I ran a guest article from Gail Goodman titled “The NEW Do Not Call List?” Essentially, the new DNC list is not being listed in someone’s smart phone.

Getting your contact information into your client’s phone is easy enough, but what about a prospect’s phone? That’s the key. Once you get your information into a prospect’s phone, they are much more likely to answer your call. Here’s how to do that…

Growth is vital to any business, but if you want exponential growth to skyrocket your revenue referrals are key. So how do you get those referrals from your clients? Is it with high net promoter scores, by simply asking or is it something else?

Our guest today has the answers. Bill Cates is the CEO and creator of Referral Coach and he’s known as the expert on referrals! On this episode we’ll talk about the myth of customer loyalty, the biggest mistakes he sees companies make when asking for referrals and his formula for generating for personal introductions.

I just read this blog post from JULIE LITTLECHILD. Definitely worth reading AND acting on what she says…

If you’re like most successful advisors, you’ve already segmented your clients based on the value they bring to the business. And, if like most of those same advisors, this took place more than a few years ago, there is a good chance that both you and your business have changed to the point of making your model meaningless or, at least, outdated. Is Your Segmentation Still Relevant?

If you want to make 2016 a great year for introductions to quality prospects, you have to be careful not to make the mistake of creating merely an Introductions Initiative to get more referrals and introductions. An initiative will only yield short-term, temporary results at best.

Well… what about an Introductions Program in 2016? Only if you want a modest increase in new clients through referrals. What’s better than that?
If you want a thriving business based on Introductions to qualified prospects – then you want to build a Culture of Introductions throughout your firm. Here’s how to do that…

Do you have a plan for following up with prospects or are you winging it? When you engage with a prospect for the first time, do you already have another 5-7 ideas for following up in mind? Or do you give up after a couple of attempts?

When you do follow up, are you just “checking in” or are you moving the prospect along toward a decision? Here are a few ideas to keep the courtship alive…