Stephen Wershing - Stop Asking for Referrals: A Revolutionary New Strategy for Building a Financial Service Business That Sells Itself

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To my wife, Gaelen McCormick, who gave me the space
to dedicate time to writing, provides me constant
encouragement and inspiration, and is always ready
to cater to my bassist desires .

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

In the financial planning/investment advisory profession, marketing is the black hole. Planners who embrace the fiduciary standardmy clients interests always come firsttend to underemphasize marketing because it takes away from their client activities. If they do market, they discover that theyve been given a lot of outmoded tools from the so-called expertsseminar marketing, cold calls, e-mail blasts, direct mail, asking clients to give you referrals if you did a good job for them, and so on. You could realistically conclude that the marketing activities most prevalent in our business are ineffective at best and at worst may represent a violation of the fiduciary ethos.

And yet what small business can succeed if it does no marketing?

Over the past 20 years, as a commentator and writer in the financial planning/registered investment advisor (RIA) world, Ive looked at virtually all the marketing programs that advisors are exposed to. I attend 10 or 12 conferences a year and routinely go to the marketing breakout sessions. Usually I find a nugget or two that I can report back to my readers, including tips on how to use social media more effectively, or branding ideas, or suggestions on how to construct a good brochure that describes your practice. But mostly Ive been disappointed.

As a connoisseur of great resources for advisors, I can (and routinely do) recommend a number of really good practice-management books and consultants, terrific tools and outsource services to save time and effort, and any number of astute resources on investments, portfolio management, and economic trends. But I havent found a marketing resource that I could recommend wholeheartedly to advisors who want to build their practices.

Until now.

In Stop Asking for Referrals , Steve Wershing accomplishes several things at once. First, he helps you to deprogram yourself from the outmoded marketing ideas that you knew, instinctively, were ineffective and uncomfortable for clients. Instead, he focuses his full attention on referral marketing, which we all know is where virtually all new clients come from. You get systematic advice on how and why to define a target market niche (which I think is also excellent practice-management advice), how to communicate your services effectively, different ways to burn that message into the minds of your clients (for the first time, I understand the origins of the term brand ), and how to harness the natural, normal social interactions of your clients to serve your marketing effortsall without intruding on their lives or making them feel uncomfortable.

In fact (youll have to read the book to believe this), when you help your clients market your services, youre also enhancing their status with their social peers. This is a win-win situation that will feel comfortable to even the strictest, most fiduciary-oriented advisor.

Youll also learn how to get your clients to help you define your business, create your service package, and bring in businessand once again, they feel like you benefited them. Youll read about the powerful idea of social currency, the positive side of a bad referral, which people around you are most likely to do favors for you, and how to structure joint projects with centers of influenceand perhaps most important, the book will resolve the conflicts and hesitancies you have about marketing your practice.

I happen to believe that your services provide significanteven life-changingbenefits to the people with whom you work and that the world is better served when you begin to attract more clients. When advisors ask me how they should market their practices, Im going to recommend this book. I hope youll accept my recommendation as well.

Bob Veres
Inside Information

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book and the fascinating journey that led to it are the products of the guidance, support, and encouragement of people I am fortunate to have helping me professionally and am grateful to have as friends.

Bruce Peters has been a friend and mentor for over 20 years. As a coach, he has helped me recognize what about me needed improvement. As a business associate, he helped me get started as a consultant, teaching me many of the finer points of organizing and facilitating client advisory boards. As a friend, he has always been available as a sounding board and a shoulder to cry on.