Finding the difference
What was different about the ones that worked?
“We studied the successful relationships and we studied the failed relationships,” says Jonathan A. Mintz, an estate planning attorney who directed education and legal services for WealthCounsel before becoming Executive Director for The Advisors Forum.
The finding, two common themes: First, all professionals who generate consistent business from other professionals have a system to consistently market to these other professionals, creating quality face-to-face and top-of-mind awareness contact up to several times each month. More often than not, this contact involves training, and critically, whatever it is, the contact is relevant to the other professional.
This last element leads to the second finding: those professionals who generate business from other professionals consistently demonstrate their willingness and ability to provide real value (i.e., revenue), in a client-centered way, to the other professionals – whether in the form of new clients or additional planning for current and prospective clients.
These professionals have discovered that this broader perspective not only allows them to generate significant value for other professionals, but it also allows them to provide more comprehensive client services, which in turn generates more revenue for themselves. Unfortunately, however, in our experience few professionals understand a viewpoint broader than their own (which is prevalent within not only each discipline but the corresponding professional organizations), and thus many potential relationships fail for a lack of understanding in this area.