Getting A Healthy Flow Of New Clients From Centers Of Influence By Addressing The Referral Risk They Fear The Most: #FASuccess Ep 447 With Dan Allison

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 447th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Dan Allison. Dan is the owner of The Exchange, a virtual content platform and community focused on helping financial advisors master client acquisition and relationship building.

What’s unique about Dan, though, is how he coaches advisors to generate more leads from Centers Of Influence (COIs) such as CPAs and attorneys by building trusting relationships to reduce the professional risk that the COIs take when referring one of their clients to a financial advisor.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Dan sees the first meeting with a potential COI partner as an opportunity for a financial advisor to explain their value proposition and to learn how the COI serves their clients (in part to understand whether the COI provides service at a similarly high level as the advisor), why Dan finds that (given the time needed for a financial advisor to demonstrate their competency and trustworthiness to a COI partner) it can sometimes take up to a couple years for COI relationships to lead to client referrals, and how Dan finds value (when referrals do come in) in having the referred prospect tell the COI they work with the value the financial advisor provided (which can dramatically reduce the level of risk in the COI’s mind of referring additional clients).

We also talk about how Dan views COI relationships as an opportunity for mutual education (giving financial advisors the opportunity to show their expertise while also gaining valuable insights from the COI that they can apply with their current clients), how Dan sees value in setting up a regular cadence of touchpoints to stay top-of-mind with potential COI partners (which could entail in-person meetings and regular emails to share content of interest for a specific COI), and how Dan has seen advisors succeed by setting up “COI Mastermind Groups” that include professionals in a variety of fields and offer the opportunity to both gain knowledge from the other participants (for example by discussing common client planning issues) and build stronger relationships with potential referral partners.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Dan shares why the best COI relationships are often with those who specifically work with an advisor’s ideal target client (for example, an advisor working with business owners might seek out M&A experts as potential COI partners), why Dan believes asking for referrals doesn’t have to be “salesy” (as many clients and COI partners might be eager to refer but don’t know how to), and how Dan came to discover the value of charging what he’s worth (even if it meant that some people said no along the way).

So, whether you’re interested in learning about building stronger relationships with COIs, creating a cadence of touchpoints with COI partners, or how to skillfully ask for referrals, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Dan Allison.