10 Hidden Benefits That Happen When You Focus On Unsolicited Client Referrals

While there are many successful client acquisition methods out there, none have a greater positive impact than focusing on Unsolicited Client Referrals (UCRs). As we discussed in my last post, UCRs occur when a client refers a potential client to you without any prompting on your part. The only way to receive Unsolicited Client Referrals is to exceed your clients’ expectations. When you blow them away with your unparalleled level of service, they’ll recommend you to everyone that they know.

While every other method of soliciting new clients relies, to a great extent, on your skills as a Financial Advisor, this method shifts the burden off of you and onto your team. While you’re increasing your communication skills and soliciting client referrals, your team’s goal should be to create work that exceeds clients’ expectations—which, in turn, will increase UCRs. This way, both you and your team each have a role in building your Ideal Client Community. The beauty of this strategy is that it doesn’t impede any other Client Acquisition methods you’re deploying successfully—rather, it focuses your team on something your clients are already expecting. After all, your clients already think it’s your goal to exceed their expectations!

When you and your team are focused on increasing Unsolicited Client Referrals, a funny thing happens—you experience a number of additional benefits that help you become the only game in town:

10. You can honestly claim to be client-focused. Most Financial Advisors say they’re “client-focused” but fail under a thorough, honest evaluation. An advisor who makes Unsolicited Client Referrals the “Team Goal” is, by definition, client-focused, since no client provides UCRs unless they’re highly impressed on a consistent basis. By providing more than lip-service, you distinguish yourself from most other advisors.

9. You can leverage your time more efficiently. Whenever you begin a new client relationship, you likely promise to satisfy and impress your new client. To satisfy and impress a client, you must exceed their expectations. Therefore, you can kill two birds with one stone—not only do you satisfy and impress your existing clients, but your efforts also take care of those things your team is supposed to be delivering on anyway.

8. Your clients will be more satisfied. If you receive an Unsolicited Client Referral, it means a client was so impressed that they mentioned you to someone without you having to ask them for that favor. An experience with you was so impressive that this client couldn’t resist sharing the experience with someone else. That’s the textbook definition of client satisfaction.

7. The value of your business will increase. When you demonstrate a consistent or increasing rate of Unsolicited Client Referrals, your business grows in value. UCRs are far more valuable than leads from methods that require solicitation. They are a means of growing the business without the need for an individual drumming up new clients. UCRs come in on their own after you have invested the up-front effort to deliver a consistently impressive experience. UCRs represent the yield from that up-front investment of time, effort, and creativity. A potential buyer of your business will recognize that, and will be willing to pay more as a result.

6. You’ll eliminate team complacency. If the agreed-upon team goal is to increase Unsolicited Client Referrals via continual improvement, then the team’s work is never done. Team complacency is no longer an option when improvement is always possible.

5. You’ll root out team members who aren’t team players. When you focus on UCRs by exceeding client expectations, you’ll quickly weed out any professional posers on your team who have no idea how to impress a client. These Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), who claim they already know how to exceed your clients’ expectations, will be quickly exposed.

4. Your team will be more engaged. Increasing UCRs requires ongoing skill and action from your Subject Matter Experts. Setting this goal eliminates the tendency of some SMEs to think “you’re lucky to have me” or “simply having my name on your team will boost your reputation,” since this goal will require every SME’s contribution to produce the result.

3. Your leadership skills will improve. By establishing a specific Team Goal, you create clear accountability for every team member. Each SME is responsible for providing evidence that they are exceeding client expectations, and therefore contributing to the goal of increasing Unsolicited Client Referrals. Establishing clear and direct accountability is a hallmark of good leadership.

2. You can easily measure your team’s success. Most Financial Advisors have no clear method for measuring team success other than business revenue. Further, those advisors who do track referrals rarely distinguish between solicited and unsolicited client referrals. By focusing on increasing your Unsolicited Client Referrals, you can accurately measure how well you are exceeding your clients’ expectations. The more UCRs, the greater the client experience. To paraphrase Lord Kelvin, “To measure is to know – if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

1. You’ll improve your business just by setting the goal. Simply the attempt to increase Unsolicited Client Referrals results in more engaged teams, better client service, and more satisfied clients—regardless of the outcome or the achievement of UCRs. In other words, simply being serious about UCRs will improve your overall business.

Make no mistake: Client Referrals are simply the best and most direct way of measuring whether or not your clients are impressed, and whether their expectations have been exceeded. Every client referral—whether solicited or unsolicited—reflects well on your team. However, solicited referrals rely on your skills, not your team’s. Your ability to consistently and effectively conduct a referral conversation is what drives solicited client referrals. A focus on Unsolicited Client Referrals more equitably balances the responsibility for satisfying clients between you and your team. And, as we all know, clients only provide referrals when they’re impressed.

That’s why Unsolicited Client Referrals are the best tool ever conceived for developing strong, capable, effective, and semi-autonomous Financial Advisory Teams serving individuals and families. Your communication skills alone will not inspire a client to refer you. Only the entire team, working together to consistently exceed client expectations, can achieve that. That’s why making UCRs the Team Goal not only creates a better team—it also creates an army of clients to tell the world that you exist and that, in their opinion, you’re highly impressive and far better than the average Financial Advisor.

Let me know in the comments: What will you start doing to exceed your clients’ expectations in order to increase Unsolicited Client Referrals? How many UCRs are you receiving now?  What obstacles do you think are preventing you from increasing your UCRs?