Q: How can I increase the number of quality referrals?
A: Acquiring referrals is important, but gaining a warm introduction, or a bridge, is even better. That's because it enables you to actually reach the referral. To get advice on how to get these introductions, I consulted with Richard Weylman, founder of The Weylman Center, an online university for financial professionals in the affluent market.
He explained that three referrals typically result in one sale. So, the more referrals and introductions you get, the more income you will earn.
Here is the step-by-step process he uses to gain warm introductions to the right prospects.
1. Create a list of prospects in your chosen vertical markets.
2. Find out about these people. Start with the local association/club/organization membership list. Research every name using Internet sources such as hoovers.com, google.com, zapdata.com, dunandbradstreet.com, infousa.com and usadata.com.
3. Divide the list into 15 name groupings by chapter/club or local geographic area. Why 15? Any more is too many. Usually the client wants you to leave the list if it's that long. I want them to do it while I'm sitting there, not leave it behind. And if I take in only five or 10, there's always a sense of needing more.
