Please Let me Know What you Think of this Merlot.
When you recommend a restaurant to someone, or a fine bottle of wine, or a really good massage therapist, have you wondered what is motivating you to do so? How about music? What is the psychology going on behind the scenes when I tell you that you absolutely must listen to this great band that I discovered?
When we recommend any commodity or service to a friend or family member, of course we want to make them feel better or we want to help them. That said, the perception of altruism here is slightly misleading. What we really want is the emotional zap we will get in the pleasure center of our brain when our friends come back to us and say: “Wow that wine was amazing.” or “That was the best massage I have ever had in my life” or “I met with your Financial Advisor and it was the smartest thing I have ever done.”
Yes, your friend may have benefitted from your recommendation, but you feel even better. Not only do you feel better, you also feel an affirmation that you are the type of person that recognizes the finer things that life has to offer. Well, at least I do anyway. I am just being honest here.
Now, can we include the recommendation of a Financial Advisor in this discussion? Well, I guess that all depends on the Financial Advisor’s referral process (or lack thereof). Do you ask for referrals? If so, let’s call a spade a spade. You are asking for a favour from your clients. Do you feel an emotional charge or any kind of a payoff when someone asks you for a favour? I personally feel like someone is putting the bite on me, and it is not all pleasurable. Maybe that is just me. I have been there when someone is putting me on the spot for a referral, and it’s not pleasant. Even if I do refer someone, it’s just so I can get out of there, and I always end up with a case of Referrer’s Remorse afterwards.
What if you have positioned your referral process as a service to clients? What if you run your practice as though it were an exclusive club? What if, in your exclusive club, you insist on pampering only a select clientele? What if one of the services that you offer is the opportunity of meeting with your clients’ friends and family that may have need of such a service? What if you have articulated to your clients that you cannot work with everyone; however, you will always take the time to meet with those people that are important to your clients?
I can tell you uncategorically that I would recommend such a service, and so would the majority of people. Anything that good has to be shared with the people that are important to me. Why? Call me shallow, but I love it when they come back to me and say; “It’s just like you told me. That was amazing. I’ve brought you a bottle of that lovely Merlot you turned us onto last week to say thanks.”
Now, who else can I recommend to my Financial Advisor? Hmmmmm…
By Terry Gronbeck-Jones, Senior Consultant, Pareto Platform