A quick referral lesson for your consideration.
Referrals …  my favorite form of insurance marketing.

One of my networking partners drops me an email the other day and wants to go to lunch. He is going to introduce me to a fellow Independent Insurance broker who he thinks would be a strong Strategic Partner for my firm and I. Odd thing is, I know this firm, and they are good … AND a competitor of sorts. I eagerly agreed to a meet over at one of my fav’s – Yard House in Irvine Spectrum. Crunchy AHI Salad mmmmmm.

Cutting to the chase – the lunch meeting went well [ imho ] and we’re poised to circle back next week and brainstorm on how we will "pro-actively" NOT passively incorporate each others businesses into our insurance marketing plans for the remainder of the year.

I bring this lunch meeting up for two reasons. Sometimes we get so focused on asking [ or is it BEGGING / IMPOSING ON ] our clients for referrals that we develop Tunnel Vision.  Here’s what I mean by this.

Does this resemble how some of your Asking for Referral experiences go?

To Self: How did that Referral Gurus world famous referral asking script go again?

Was it….

..Joe, I get compensated in two ways … blah blah blah …

..Bob, I have a list here of some firms in your industry I’ve been trying to meet can you look here and see if you know any of them …? Blah …

??????????????

Dang – thats so uncomfortable – thats not me … oh forget about it ….

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Frankly, Im of the mindset that ASKING clients for referrals directly – face to face is not the most effective way to obtain quality introductions. Blasphemy you must be thinking … I understand – but hear me out.

Is putting your relationship with your current client into an unbalanced status really the most effective insurance marketing S-Y-S-T-E-M you can come up with for referrals? Unbalanced you say – whatever do I mean? Its now unbalanced. You originally proposed a solution to the clients needs. They reviewed and decided to hire you based upon that solution. They paid you for that solution, you delivered. They are happy. Relationship is IN BALANCE.

Now, you come along and put it OUT OF BALANCE. You are now asking them to do more than they originally bargained for. You are now asking them to effectively put their reputation on the line. Yet, there is little to No Value you can provide to them in return that would put the relationship Back Into Balance if they complied with your request. That is why you get uncomfortable and they get even more uncomfortable [ more times than not ].

Point of these last 3 paragraphs – there is other, more productive approaches to systematically generate high quality referrals. Get out of the box a little bit and think strategically – not just Old School Mantra …

The is another insurance marketing lesson to be learned from this lunch meeting and why it was a significant example. I no longer just look for 1:1 referrals from people. I spend time articulating to my Strategic Referral relationships the type of business people that are great strategic alliances for me and my business. They not only know the types of clients I like to insure but they also know [ because I automatically keep them aprised with a system ] who would make a good Referral Partner.  Someone who is not just a referral – but a continuous Referral Source. 

Don’t just hunt for referrals to sell an insurance policy to. Strategically hunt for other hunters as well. You need to develop a LARGE network of business people who KNOW you, LIKE you, and KNOW WHAT YOU DO. The key to this, is maintaining those relationships effectively over time. I say the only way to "effectively: manage all those relationships is with a S-Y-S-T-E-M.

I had the pleasure to meet one of the most connected businessmen on the planet at one of his talks.  Dr. Ivan Misner – Founder/CEO of Internationally famous BNI / Business Network International. He told us all in his talk, the S-Y-S-T-E-M he uses to manage his enormously vast network.  It’s also in his book "Truth or Delusion" on page 148.  Some of the most prominent authorities on Referral Marketing like Tom Hopkins, Bob Berg, and Bill Cates among others also use this system.  

CLICK HERE to see the system they use.

To your success,

Steve