Tip of the Month Newsletter June, 2006 Use the July 4 holiday to secure referrals In this issue: Use the July 4 holiday to secure referrals Use the summer to get refreshed and maintain business momentum Using summer to raise your game Special summer "Recharge" program ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS FPA National Conference SIA Small Firms Conference NAIFA article Workshops coming to you Use the July 4th Holiday to Secure Referrals This period around the Independence Day holiday provide a terrific opportunity to identify quality prospects in your clients’ networks. You can do this is a very subtle and friendly way. Once you know the important relationships in your clients’ lives, you can qualify them and secure an introduction when appropriate. The more you know about your clients’ networks, the easier it is to secure referrals. It starts with a simple question: "Who will you (did you) get to see over the holiday?" Listen, take notes, and ask a conversationally relevant follow-up question such as "How long have you known ____? What does ___ do?" You can continue the qualification questions in subsequent conversations and then seek the introduction of those that pass your qualification screen. Use the Summer to Get Refreshed AND Maintain Your Momentum Summer presents that wonderful time to ease the throttle back and spend more time with children and friends. Because of lower client service demands, it is tempting to "ease off" on your daily disciplines and slow down the momentum in your business. However, there is a big risk. Most people significantly underestimate the cost to "get things cranked up again" once summer is over. How do you enjoy the summer, get refreshed, AND maintain business disciplines and momentum? Take more days off and be sure to maintain your daily disciplines on the days you work. Keep coming in early, do your prospecting activity, make your client contact calls, and make sure you have a summer development program. Be the role model for your team of maintaining time disciplines, even when activity is slow. In this way, you won’t have to take time "getting back into the swing of things". When at play, play. When at work, work. Using the Summer to Raise Your Game While many advisors take the slower pace of client activity in summer "to chill", the achievers use this time to elevate their skills and upgrade their systems. Achievers recognize that the summer slow down in client activity presents a special window of opportunity to focus on personal and business development. This is the BEST TIME OF YEAR TO MAKE SYSTEM UPGRADES because the client service demands are lower. If you make upgrades during the summer, your business will be much stronger when activity picks up in the fall. What areas in your business do you want to strengthen this summer? Here is a partial list of areas that could impact your business. Establish and implement a proven referral system that generates consistent flows of quality referrals from clients, prospects, and centers of influence Strengthen time management habits and systems to generate more income and more personal time Strengthen bonds with your most profitable clients in order to retain, expand, and replicate the relationships Position yourself as "The Expert" in a profitable target market and build a dominant position Establish and implement consistent service standards that distinguish you and forge strong client loyalty Streamline internal operations to free up your time and develop better controls Strengthen listening effectiveness and selling style to enhance relationships with clients and prospects Summer will pass quickly. The question is "Do you want to have stronger systems in place by Labor Day?" If you want to capitalize on the summer to strengthen your business, send an email to info@referralmastery.com. We will send you a complete description of coaching options, results other have achieved, and the guide "5 Reasons NOT to Hire a Coach". You can also call 800-865-2867. You can also learn more at http://referralmastery.com/coaching_program.html. Summer - Time to Refresh, Refine, and Recharge For previous coaching clients only, we now offer a special "Refresh - Refine - Recharge" Summer Session. During this summer session, we will Re-assess your current time management and client service and referral systems Refine the systems you have in place so you achieve even better results Equip you with the newest strategies we have added to our systems Review your long-term goals and audit your short-term marketing initiatives so you get better results Send you our new productivity tool kits, newly updated referral system manuals, and new audio programs. This summer special session is a short program to make sure you are maximizing what you learned previously and provide you advanced strategies so you keep your business growing stronger. Just email me at mike@referralmastery.com or call me and I will send you the details. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPCOMING EVENTS FPA National Conference Financial Planning Association - Based on the enthusiastic response of the Nation’s Capital FPA Chapter, the program committee of the FPA National Conference asked me to present The Referral Mastery Workshop at their national conference in October in Nashville. I am honored to contribute and look forward to forging a strong bond with the FPA chapters around the country. Securities Industry Association Due to a referral from my presentation to the Florida Securities Dealers Association, the Securities Industries Association has invited me to conduct a special session at their Small Firms Conference in September in Ft. Lauderdale. I am honored to be asked to contribute and I look forward to working closely with the Securities Industry Association. Thank you to Keith Albritton of Allen and Co. NAIFA Featured Article The National Association of Investment and Financial Advisors recently featured my article, "How to Use Distinctive Evens to E-X-P-A-N-D Your Network". Let me know if you want to receive a copy of the article Referral Mastery System Workshop Near You We have recently conducted workshops for Merrill Lynch, John Hancock, FSC Securities, Financial Network Regional Directors Conference, FSN, Invest, HD Vest Chapter Directors National Conference, Sun Life Financial Distributors, and OppenheimerFunds. I appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the success of these firms and enjoyed working with the advisors attending. I am scheduled to present in upcoming weeks in Boston, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco, Nashville, Tampa, and Toledo. While some of these sessions are firm-specific, others have available seats for guests. Let me know if you want to receive an invitation to those sessions where guests are allowed. For Sales Managers: New Recruiting Workshop We recently launched our new workshop, Recruiting Mastery: How to Maximize Your Most Profitable Recruiting Sources. During this workshop, you will identify your highest potential recruiting sources, develop a strategy to intensify the relationship, and learn strategies to create a consistent flow of recruiting candidates. This is also available as an individual or small group coaching program. Call 800-865-2867 or email mike@referralmastery.com. Thank you Ron Carson We want to thank Ron Carson for sharing his insights with a special session for our coaching client graduates. . Ron’s extraordinary success is an example of dedicated application of key business principles. Managers and Meeting Planners: Charge up your meeting or conference with a high-impact, productivity-driving workshop. Call 800-865-2867 or see ReferralMastery.com for programs and resources. Next issue: Summer Campaigns that Generate Referrals Back to top FORWARD THIS TIP TO COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS Who want to be more productive and generate more referrals. For your free subscription please fill out the form on the Tip of the Month page. REPRINT PERMISSION: Feel free to reprint this tip in way as long as you give proper credit to the author: Please include all of the information that follows in your credit line. Have a joyous holiday season and prosperous new year!