Video 5: The Official Referral Conversation
The Official Referral Conversation
The Official Referral Conversation Benefits
- It’s an easy and natural way to request referrals without even asking.
- It teaches your clients how to introduce you
- It shows how much care & thought you put into handling their introductions
- It addresses the 2 biggest objections clients have to giving referrals. Confidentiality & the Unknown
- It allows you to make referrals about the client and their sphere of influence as opposed to you. This positively impacts their perception of you and your ability to increase their social capital through introductions
- It sets their R.A.S. to be looking for opportunities to introduce you at the beginning of your transaction, which increases their ability to introduce you throughout the transaction and beyond
- It helps you set a clear expectation for why making introductions is important and how they can do it effectively
- It supports your ability to make a direct request later in the transaction without coming across as inauthentic
Kickoff Meeting 5-Part Structure
- Build Trust & Reciprocity
- Set Expectations & Next Steps
- Transition & Reciprocity
- Official Referral Conversation
- CIP Invite
How to set-up the Official Referral Conversation
1. On-boarding meeting
Although you can use this powerful tool at any point in your relationship with the client, it is the most effective at toward the end of your on-boarding meeting. It is however, a great tool to use directly after a value add in the post clients experience as well, especially with any clients who didn’t hear it during the on-boarding meeting.
2. Clarification Questions
As you are wrapping up the on-boarding meeting you will need to transition smoothly into this tool so that it appears like a natural part of the meeting to your client.
The best way to do this is by asking clarification questions about what you just covered during the meeting. This will set your client at ease, show that you are interested in their experience and make sure that they are clear on the next steps and expectations. Doing this will also eliminate any possible distractions during the Official Referral Conversation.
3. VRQ’s & Permission
When you feel that the client is feeling confident with what’s next, you should use a value recognition question to leverage the law of reciprocity and allow you to get permission to move into the Official Referral Conversation in a way that the client will feel good about. When they acknowledge your value verbally, it will give you the space in their mind to then have a conversation about introductions without the client feeling like it is awkward or pressuring or inauthentic or any other negative feeling. An example of this question would be:
“What was the most valuable part of today’s meeting for you?”
It is also good practice to take that value recognition question a step further as long as the client doesn’t seem agitated or hurried in any way. For example, once they answer, you could say:
“Interesting, what about that was valuable for you? Or “Interesting, tell me more”
After they have verbally recognized what was most valuable about the meeting, you should recognize the value you provide & promise to continue providing similar value throughout the rest of the transaction and then transition into the Official Referral Conversation using the following phrase:
“Before we finish here I’d like to take 3-5 more minutes to cover one more thing that is vital to this process, would that be ok with you?”
They will always say yes as you just supported them in recognizing the value you provide and now you are asking for their permission to proceed which will drop any potential defense barrios to them listening to what’s next with an open mind.
4. Official Referral Conversation
You’ll want to move right into the conversation at this point. Do it with confidence and pay attention to their body language as you go through it. Just follow the format below and you can guarantee effectiveness.
The Official Referral Conversation Formula for Success
1. Set their R.A.S.
2. Teach them How to Introduce you with your 3-Step Intro
3. Describe briefly your Referral Intake Process to set them at ease (Red Carpet Experience)
4. Assume they are in the top 20% and will refer you in the future
5. Engage them with a feedback request
6. Inform & Enroll them into your CIP & walk them through joining (opt-in page)
8. Shift and take your foot off the gas & finish meeting