The Specificity Test for Getting Better Introductions

Intro Welcome to the seven Figure Advisor Podcast,

Speaker 3 the show for financial advisors ready to scale their business to seven figures and beyond. Each week you'll get proven growth strategies, leadership insights, and best practices. From someone that's helped countless advisors break past the million dollar milestone.

Intro Here's your host, Nick Davies.

Nick Most advisors or advisor firms don't have a referral problem, they have a clarity and a process problem. as always, we come back to building the right system that supports the outcomes we want to get to, not just you on your best day nailing a favorable introduction ask with your most important client and evaluating value.

Nick We all know how that feels when you flow through that. But I'm sure you've had instances where you're like, "Okay, this is a call. I really want to make it part of my conversation today to ask for introductions, because I know that there's so much value here. I feel really [00:01:00] good in this conversation with this client."

Nick But it's not in the system, and it requires you to step up, think differently that way. And so actually we want to lean back and think about more of the system or the process that supports your favorable introduction, and what does it look like, right? And we've got to go through and think about, okay, how do I set this up?

Nick Like anything, right? How do I make this sustainable in my business? How do I understand, like, what's my belief around favorable introductions? Is there something that kind of prevents me fundamentally about, "Oh, I don't know if I'm adding enough value"? What I see often with advisors is that you, you've been doing what you've been doing for such a long time and you add so much value doing it, you kind of forget how much value you add.

Nick You know? So there's so many people out there that need your help and you can add tons of value to, but if you can't get to them, you know, it's like having a super powerful engine that's not connected to a transmission. So you've got to have a process for setting it up and making it feel like, and attached to your system so it's integrated into your day-to-day, and also so someone else in your team can run it as well.

Nick So make it easier [00:02:00] to deliver, consistent to deliver, and then that way you can make the tweaks and make it feel like really you because there's no one good overall way to do this. It's what sits best for you and in your, your firm overall. So you might even have a version that is right for you.

Nick Often I see this for advisors that the guys that are or the ladies that are running the firm, they have a version of it and what the firm ver- version of it is slightly different. And then as the other advisors come in and sh- do that process, they put their own special spin on it which feels best to them as well, and that's the way they can, we can add the most value.

Nick But it has to start with what you believe about it, right? You have... And also like where does the system live overall in, in terms of how is it integrated? So if someone's setting up your meetings, for instance. Let's say, you know, you're, you've got... You're doing all your advisory reviews and you've got, you've set them out for a certain time of the year and you have someone in your team set up all those meetings for you, doing the prep beforehand, sending out the, the prep for the clients before, making sure that you're ready to go.

Nick As part of that conversation, this system should live in there. So part of the agenda should be this favorable introduction [00:03:00] language to make sure that we're adding more and more value for these clients as we're going through. Asking them, letting them know that they are, "Hey, did you know that you're in my top 10% of clients?"

Nick And not just because the assets that you hold with me, but that makes a difference because this is a business. But also how I add value the most is to people like you, X, Y, Z reasons. And that way you can start that conversation, have clients understand like, wow, like it really does make a difference. And what it does is double downs- doubles down on that relationship, allows you to add even more value and ask them feedback.

Nick What's been great? What do you like about what we do? You know, that new thing that we introduced that we thought was fantastic a year ago, they might say, "Well, you know what? That was okay. I could take it or leave it, but I'd like to do these other couple of things as well." And then that naturally leads to making your practice better, which we're always looking to do, so you've already won.

Nick But then you can also move to, okay, well, I'm looking to continue to build more and more, right? And I realize as I go through how much value that I am adding and at this point of where our, our firm is that it's really clear to [00:04:00] us that we add so much value. And, and given that like you're so important to us and your feedback is really important, I wonder who else that you might know could be in that place.

Nick And so thinking about it in that way really allows you to add as much value as you possibly can and, ask permission through that as well. So think about what the system could be and integrate that. the s- the specifics of the system, I've got a framework that everyone can use and think about here, right?

Nick Is coming from that place of core beliefs. Where does that system live? It should be live somewhat with someone in the team as well. And think about the goal overall is not about to get f- referrals. It's understanding like I'm more positioned to help and making sure that people can understand. And then the structure itself of what it might actually look like as well and, it's really important to think about the frame as we go through that and make that direct ask to that particular client.

Nick And then some rules around what it looks like as well. and some making sure that we anchor back in why you believe it's important. Because if you think about it, if you don't really believe in the value that you're adding as an advisor, that's [00:05:00] gonna screw up your certainty, right? And it's worth coming back to.

Nick Just that exercise alone is really super power- powerful. Allows you to add more percentage points to the value that you're adding to your clients and, and your prospects. And there's plenty example ways that we can go ahead and put that together in terms of that language as well. But the point is having the system in play.

Nick Is it part, of your, of your meeting prep? Is it part of your agenda? Does it live in the system? If not, it's not gonna be consistent, and if it's not consistent, you're not gonna get the consistent results obviously, and it's not gonna get continually better. And so don't think about am I good or are we not good, or what does it look like, or it's just something on the side.

Nick Think about the integration in the system. Think about who in the team is doing this. Who, who right now is in charge of making this work? And maybe it is you as the lead person, but how might you hand some of it off? How might you re- be able to replicate that so it comes to you? Because think about it.

Nick Think about your book of business. Think about your most important clients. Think about the value that you know that you add on a daily basis. If you're not sharing that with your most important clients, [00:06:00] there's gonna be tons of people out there, that you're missing that you can't add that value to, that really do want you and need you.

Nick They don't know it yet as the right fit. There's lots of great financial advisors out there as well, but everyone's got their own specific fit, and you're most likely gonna be able to get more of that by, by talking and sharing with your most important clients. And if you don't, there's a lot of people missing out, including you, including your family, including your legacy.

Nick So go out there, make an impact in people's lives. Keep doing it the right way. Keep holding the standard.

Speaker 4 Thanks for listening to today's episode. Hit the Follow button to be notified of new episodes and visit seven dash figure advisor.com for more resources and to connect directly with Nick. See you next time.