Why Do Advisors Have a Total Love/Hate Relationship With Referral Partnerships?

Is it just me or does the average advice professional have a total love/hate relationship with referral partnerships?

One Vanguard study I read whilst prepping our two-day program workshop last October shared one simple statistic that summed it all up.

65% of advisers saw business partnerships as a great way to grow an advice business .

Only 32% indicated they’d been able to make it work.

That’s a 50%+ failure rate, and I think it’s a real issue.

Jay Abraham, a man recognised as a pioneer in direct marketing the US, was once asked, “If you lost everything, and could only use one marketing strategy to get it all back, which one would you choose?”

Without missing a beat, he replied, “Partnership marketing”

Putting together a network of great business partnerships that send you strong, pre-sold, qualified leads doesn’t have to be as hard as it is, but there are three mistakes good advisers make.

  • Satisfaction does not equal referral. Just because they love what you do doesn’t mean it’ll translate into leads.
  • Hoping people will talk about you or remember to refer is not a strategy. You need to be top of mind AND give them reasons to share what you do.
  • People don’t refer to help you out. The reason is simpler. They do it to feel good about helping their clients/friends.

I grabbed an excerpt from the workshop itself if you’d like more. I did my best to cut it down, but this is pure, unfiltered content from our live workshops. There’s only so much you can cull.

If you like it, feel free to refer it on to others who have mentioned they’d like to make this strategy work better.

Related: Why Most Advisers’ Marketing Doesn’t Work