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This is part eight of a ten part series on marketing an RIA. Read A Marketing Guide for RIAs for a full overview. To view the installments in this series, select “RIA Marketing Guide” in the left margin.
A client referral strategy is an essential part of any marketing plan because it is an effective and inexpensive way to acquire new clients. Some advisors are comfortable directly asking clients for referrals, while others or not. If you fall into the second camp, here are four steps you can follow to generate referrals without having to directly ask.
Step 1: Create a follow-up system
Your clients are more likely to refer people to you if they have confidence in your referral process. Therefore, it is critical to have a defined process that is consistently executed for each prospect. There is no standard process that you must follow, but you should have one process for following up with the referring client and one for following up with the prospect. Identify how you are going to follow up with each party by checking the appropriate boxes below.
Following up with the referring client:
- Send a thank you note to the client for each referral
- Send a thank you gift to the client when the prospect becomes a client
- Acknowledge the client for referring at the annual client appreciation event
- Update client on status of the prospect
Following up with prospects:
- Send introduction letter or email
- Make introduction call using a standard script
- Send a welcome kit with information about the firm
- Have a backup plan if a referral that is not a good fit (e.g. refer to another advisor)
