At a glance
- The report's sequence starts with value: ask clients what has been most helpful about the relationship, what problems the firm helped solve and where they felt the greatest impact.
- The broad ask — do you know anyone else who might need our help — is easy to put to a client and hard to answer on the spot, and the conversation usually fizzles, the report says.
- For the practice, the distinction the report draws is between a referral and an introduction: a name and phone number is not necessarily a relationship opportunity.
Advisors should swap broad referral questions for a value conversation that gives clients the language to describe what the firm solved, according to Wealth Solutions Report's Oct. 26 article.
The report's sequence starts with value: ask clients what has been most helpful about the relationship, what problems the firm helped solve and where they felt the greatest impact. That is not fishing for compliments, per the report; it gets clients clear on the value they perceive and hands them words they can repeat, such as "they helped me navigate the sale of my business" or "they brought clarity to a complicated family situation."
The broad ask — do you know anyone else who might need our help — is easy to put to a client and hard to answer on the spot, and the conversation usually fizzles, the report says. Concrete prompts work better: a family member in a major transition, business partners thinking about what comes next, friends facing a liquidity event.
For the practice, the distinction the report draws is between a referral and an introduction: a name and phone number is not necessarily a relationship opportunity. Firms that do best at this treat referrals as a culture rather than a campaign, beginning with experiences clients find memorable and meaningful, the report says.
Reported by the Practice management desk from Wealth Solutions Report. Published . Corrections