351: Want More Referrals? Try This 3-Step Conversation

If the thought of asking for referrals makes you want to crawl under your desk and disappear, I have got you today. And if you've ever wondered why Some advisors seem to attract great fit clients pretty much effortlessly while everyone else is out here awkwardly saying, Hey, don't keep me a secret.

You are going to love this conversation. Today I am joined by Robin Crane and we are diving into the psychology of referrals, what actually stops clients from introducing you to other people and how to have better conversations that feel natural, strategic, and aligned with the way that you actually want to grow your business. We're also talking about positioning ideal clients and why referrals alone are not enough if you want consistent intentional growth.

This episode is packed with practical takeaways to help you think differently about how you attract new clients, how you talk about the value that you bring, and how to build a business that grows by design, not by default. So if you are ready to stop relying on those awkward referral scripts and start creating more meaningful momentum in your marketing, let's dig into this one.

Look, I know you're here listening to this podcast because you know it's possible to have energy left over for your family and still have your dream business. You know the business that you are running instead of it running you. If you're new to the Efficient Advisor, welcome. I'm Libby Grawi and I started from scratch, built and sold by age 37, a 100% referral-only planning practice that I grew to seven figures.

As a solo advisor, all while working just three days a week and taking off 14 weeks a year, so that I could be a super present mom, friend, wife, sister, daughter, community member, all of the things. And I loved taking time off to give myself. Margin for myself and for my family. And I'm here just to walk alongside you and to show you how to do the exact same to help you take immediate action on the most important strategies for scaling.

organizing and creating less stress and overwhelm in your business. We are about to transform your practice. So move over exhaustion and get out of the way, advisor ADD. It is time to take that one right next step to build a business and a life that you love.

Oh yeah, and make sure you stick around for the end of this episode where I have all of the details about the event that Robin is hosting for you. Stick around to the end and I make sure that is all linked for you in the show notes. All right, let's dive in. Robin, you have an extra pep in your stuff today. I know you just had an event. Is it like are you in the the post event high? Is that what's happening?

Yeah, I feel like I used to go to seminars and then I'd have the seminar hangover. And now I have like I lead the seminars and I'm like, I got the the after glow and the high. Yeah. We just had our position yourself for profits virtual event and It's just so much fun. It's so amazing to watch the transformation with the advisors and to see them open up and

And they get these new strategies. It's like the whole new world. So yeah, I'm feeling really on Cloud9 about it. It's been great. It's so good. I have been on the conference circuit these last couple of months and It same thing, right? There's something's just so special about that like aha moments, the transformations, the people that line up and talk to you afterwards. I know you do a lot of speaking too. It's just

It's so good. Well I can tell. It was like either either she's pregnant or something good just went down. Definitely not pregnant. I'd have a I'd have more of a dull glow, like, oh no. Oh my gosh. Well so okay, so speaking of profits, speaking of

marketing. I know we're talking referrals today, but for people who have never heard you on the show before or don't know about Rob and Crane, why don't just share a little bit about your background and how you became sort of this expert for advisors in the marketing space.

Yeah, absolutely. So uh well I became an advisor back in I got licensed in two thousand six. So two thousand and seven was my first year. And, you know, the same stuff everybody goes through, right? You got to pound the pavement, dial for dollars, all that stuff, go to friends and family and

It was really challenging just because I mean I was a singer-songwriter before that. So here I am like, oh, trust me with all your millions, this is gonna be great. Like I know I was talking about cynical love songs last week, but no, I swear I'm really good at this. Um, but even even after I got over that little hump and worked hard and all the hours to get to the six figure marks initially.

Um, I even I remember in 2014, it was seven years in and I had gotten comfortable. You know, I'd hit that place where it's like I had an I had some AUM and I was just, you know, getting getting Kind of set with it, but I stopped putting my attention on the marketing. And I was just so busy servicing clients. And it's almost like I lift my head up and I realize like, I haven't gotten clients. Like, where's my next client gonna come from?

And I got really, really nervous and um watching my income go down and um I was very embarrassed that I was starting to go into debt and I felt like such a fraud. And I remember just thinking, like, how is this happening? I I finally felt like I was good at what I was doing. I finally felt like I was I was able to provide great value for my clients. My clients loved me. They were very happy with what they were getting, but then I wasn't getting enough referrals.

And I started to tie the two together. I was like, well, maybe I'm not as good as I thought. Maybe, you know, there's something wrong with me. They're not just referring me. And when I ask, it gets awkward and it was very inconsistent. And then sometimes I would get referrals. They were the wrong fit, but I take them on anyway because I felt like, well, my client referred me. So I have to take the wrong client on, right?

Um, and so at that point, um, I I actually thought about quitting. I thought about um, you know, getting a job. I'm like, I just want something steady because this is just too much pressure. Um, but I don't know, there was just something inside me that I just wanted to keep going. I was like, there I I know I can do this. I just didn't know how. And

I I I everyone tells you to get referrals. Like everyone tells you like that's the way to go. It's either centers of influence when you get to that level at least, right? So it's either centers of influence or referrals. Um and so I really wanted to to figure that out. And so

A lot of it I think was just testing, but the more I got passionate about what I was doing and who I was helping, I I started to shift the conversations. I started to um really talk about the the the transformations my clients were getting as opposed to just saying. I have a business that I I grow my business based on referrals. I have a referral-based business.

Do you know anyone? Don't keep me a secret. Don't keep me a secret. Yeah. If you happen to know someone who has a lot of money, like send them my way. So um so yeah, I just started to have a lot like better conversations and I realized there was actually um There is there is a model to this.

And once I created this model and had a different referral conversation, I understood the psychology of referrals. Um, then I started to get what I call in the pocket. And you know, I'd get in this group, like this micro knit. And then people just refer me, refer me, refer me. And what used to be years where sometimes I was like having, I don't know, two referrals in a year, like the year that I only made in 2014 in new business. I got one client at$500 from a financial plan.

And so it was horrible. Um, to then having years where I'd have 24, sometimes 30 referrals, and I felt like business was just easy. And so yeah. And since then, obviously, like I've morphed into helping advisors and helping them. I do a lot more online marketing. Um, a lot of very different approach than most people teach and referrals is just one of them, but it definitely helped me. And then a break broke into a lot of LinkedIn stuff and all that to get to the million dollars a year mark. But

Um, but yeah, love, love helping advisors do this type of thing. It's great. Yeah, I love that. And what I want to pause and just kind of break down for just a second is for the advisor listening that I heard what I heard you say is. A very common uh, I don't want to say pitfall trap because that's not the case, but a lot of advisors. You know, you build your business, you're so heavy on the marketing. Now you actually have clients to serve that you really kind of almost need to

pause from a growth standpoint and build out that infrastructure, those systems, those processes, the way to actually fulfill. Because for a lot of advisors, you get to that point. I see it often with people in that like four hundred to six hundred thousand dollar revenue range where like they're kind of like, Oh my gosh, if I had ten more clients come in the door right now, like everything would fall apart and break like I have no margin. I have I can't come up for air.

They use the phrase, if I just get through the next few weeks, right? Like those types of people are really in that fulfillment building stage. And then you kind of get those systems and those processes organized. And then you do, you look around and you're like, Oh crap, I need more people or I actually have capacity now, so how do I get

More people. So I just wanted to normalize. I heard you say that. And and we sometimes beat ourselves up, but it's actually a natural oven flow of business, right? Where you

focus on marketing and then you're like, oh, our processes have broken. We now have more clients. We've added team. We have to actually work on fulfillment and now pivot back to um to growth. Okay. So I heard you say in there. Can I just add I want to add something about that because Uh when I I was on a podcast with Michael Kitzes, everyone knows Michael Kitzes and

you know, I was talking about growth and how someone could grow to that, you know, next level in their financial practice. And he was talking about capacity. He's like, first you gotta be able to like think about the bus analogy. Like you can only fit so many people on the bus. And I thought that was so, so amazing too. Like I just I love that. And one of the things that I often talk about is this idea of cloning your ideal client.

And the the idea is that you pick one person, that you, if you can only get one more client, but you can actually clone them 10 times, you'd be able to meet or exceed your revenue goal. And That's in such alignment with that because when they're ready, like they've done the processes and all the stuff that you are so phenomenal at and they have like a little bit of capacity, they still don't want to get

30 or 40 of the wrong clients. It's like some some only need five in a year, but if they're the right clients, it's like it's amazing. So especially when we're talking about referrals, it's not just about getting more referrals, it's getting the right people. and getting them for the right reason, meaning that like they they're they're inspired to give you referral because of the mission behind it as opposed to because they can't wait.

to help you get that Mercedes or Right, right. Maserati. I don't know. Um so so yeah, I I I think that's so important to combine what we do best together. It's like you got the systems. Now you want to grow the business. It's so important to build your ideal business so you can have your ideal life so that you need that means you need ideal clients.

Yes. Yeah, I love that. Like on business by design, not by default. Default. So I heard you say in their psychology of referral. So I want to go down that rabbit hole if we can. So tell us a little about when you said I learned more about the actual psychology behind how people make referrals. Tell me more about that. Yeah, so the so the main thing is that people will refer you if they feel safe.

Now, it seems weird because we don't talk about safe. We think safety is like, I got, I got to go out with my taser. I got to make sure I'm gonna be safe. But like what I'm talking about from the psychological uh perspective is like I'm talking about the unconscious mind or the subconscious mind of feeling safe. So for example if If you're my advisor, I know you got a lot of referrals. I even listened to that episode when you talked about referrals like years ago.

Um, and I remember like you just had referral-based practice, like, you know, it was it was kind of easy at one point, right? Because you're getting known, but you weren't in this desperation. Now, if you are doing a great job with your clients, which I know you you did and and all the the listeners are doing an awesome job with their clients, and someone comes to them, let's say a friend of theirs and says,

Do do you know anyone who's a financial advisor? Actually, I think I need to get my stuff together. Do you who do you know? Of course they're gonna say Libby or they're gonna say John or they're gonna say you, right? Um, and that's easy because I'm safe. And if I have someone coming to me and saying, I need a financial advisor, and I refer you, I'm like the hero. Like some of my clients have a client named Sarah and she has this.

a couple who is just constantly referring, like they've like recently referred five clients and she's like, this is so amazing. And someone had come up to them like friends, and they were talking about their advisor. They were saying, Oh, my advisor. stink like sucks. I'm trying not to swear. My advisor sucks. And um like I don't feel like they do that much. And um the woman says, the wife says, oh That's because you have an advisor. You don't have a Sarah.

And it's like this identity, right? So of course, this this couple, this woman feels like the hero to now refer her friend to Sarah because she knows she's a Sarah. Like she's amazing at what she does. She's gonna provide tremendous transformational value. And so that's what has to happen is that the person feels like a hero. But what happens is what happens if.

Let's say you ask me, hey, do you know anyone or I have a business based on referrals or I grow my business based on referrals? I'm your client. Of course, I love you. I think you've provided me with value, but I don't know anyone who's come up to me recently and said, Do you know what a financial advice? And I have very high level friends like Lisa Nichols, like I mean, people who are making multiple, multiple millions of dollars.

But I'm not gonna put myself on the line. I'm not gonna be like Lisa, you should work with Libby. Lisa, you should work with Sarah. Like I'm not gonna do that because I'm risking, I'm risking like like my my my uh uh my reputation. Like what if she she doesn't want to have a pouncy advice not that you'd be pouncy, but what if she doesn't want an advisor right now? So if Lisa came up to me and said, Do you know a financial advisor? Sure, easy.

But it's that's the psychology is that they don't feel safe. However, you can actually have a conversation, the referral conversation, instead of just a referral ask, like do you happen to know anyone? You have a full and conversation that creates this safe space. that actually gets them to be mission-based, like emotionally aligned. And then you have micro commitments with easy yeses.

So that they now want to refer you. Now I'm like, oh, I'm just gonna connect you with Lisa. I don't know if it's a fit or not, but I I get what you're doing is like really changing the world, like you're making a huge difference in people's lives. Now that I'm on that, like I'm I'm in that mode of of aligned with the mission, then I'll introduce you in a and it's like micro commitment, like via email, you know, not like here's your here's our phone number. Go on right now. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, I love that. And so what I hear inside of that too is this idea that when I refer, it's a direct reflection. of me. And so I I've I've said it like this before, like kind of like we've all made that referral to somebody where you're like, Oh, you need a painter? Well, okay, I've got a really great painter, just but, you know, and you have like this like disclaimer, right? Like he's really, really great, but he like

shows up late and he's but he's super cheap and he's like super nice. Right. And like also he smokes inside of your house sometimes and like don't worry about like you just have to ask him not like Or like I had a CPA that I used to refer. So don't put this on me, right? Don't it's not yeah, I'm just telling you he's really good and he's really cheap. But like, you know, here's some things. Like we had a CPA that we used to refer.

Um, and his name was John. And I'd be like, okay, here's the deal John is an amazing CPA, but when you go in his office, You are going to question everything because It's a disaster. There's piles of paper everywhere. You're gonna be sitting there thinking, is he gonna lose all of my stuff? Like there's no way this man is organized. And I promise you he'll like and so anytime we have to give these like disclaimers, right? It's because

I'm protecting my status with you. That like if I don't give you these disclaimers and you go in and you're like, what in the actual world are all of these piles of paper for people doing their taxes here? Like has this man never heard of a scanner? Right? Like and I don't think that he had. But he was an amazing CPA. Right. And so like we have to um keep in mind like what it actually means for someone to make a referral and how that impacts them like socially.

Yeah, yeah. And and I talk about in this keynote, I talk about the beliefs that quietly block referrals. And it's what the one you're talking about is like, I don't wanna ruin my relationship, right? Um but there's also I don't wanna I don't wanna be I don't wanna seem pushy. Uh I wanna look stupid. Uh I don't want I don't want someone to be mad at me. And that's just a few, but These are like the beliefs that actually trump

the belief that, oh, she's super credible or he's super that CPA is really credible. So And you're also outgoing, you're also very confident, but take someone who, you know, even if they have five million dollars that and you're managing it and they're happy, they feel like you've transformed their lives or their their their life. And then it's like, if you just say, do you know anyone or who do you know? I can help.

Like, why would they put themselves on the line, right? Like it's just like I don't know what people's money situation is, I don't want to go there because their personality might not be as like they might not be as willing to take risks, but you're kind of like, I'm gonna I'm willing to take a risk. And tell you, hey, this person's awesome because I feel really confident in that.

But I'm also going to give the disclaimer, right? Whereas not everybody is going to do that because they just want to stay safe, safe, safe.

Yeah. Okay, so what a what does an advisor do about that, right? Like do we know yeah, what does how do we do it? I just wanted to tell you it's still a problem. It was a problem, it's still a problem. No, no. Um well the one solution is the actual referral conversation.

Yeah. Tell me more. Yeah. I think typically people say, Do you do you know someone looking for a financial advisor? And again, there's actually, I don't know if you're familiar, there's um a a pyramid. It's a Chet Holmes pyramid in um the ultimate sales machine. But he talks about how 3%, like if you just imagine a pyramid, 3% are looking to buy, like looking for an advice.

So those again are the ones that came to your client and then they refer you easily and they feel like the hero. Then there's 7% who are open to it. So they're open to hiring you, hiring you as an advisor. then those people, they're still thinking about their challenges, like the problems when it comes to their money or the the things they want. They want to retire in two years or they want to take a sabbatical in Italy or something. But they're not necessarily like like

looking, right? They're not already like meeting with advisors, which is a really sweet spot to be in. Like that's a great marketing place. Like we want to market to the people who are open to it that aren't there's no competition there. And then there's 30% who they're not thinking about it.

So again, they're not thinking about hiring an advisor, but they're thinking about again their challenges or the their daughter's going to college next year. They're thinking about those things. Um, and then there's the 30% don't think they're interested. Again, still interested in getting results with their money, getting wealth, but not interested in hiring someone. And then there's 30% who do who know they're not interested.

Hopefully those are all of your clients, all of you listening. And so they're not going anywhere. You want to make sure they know they're not interested in going anywhere else. Um so if you just say something like, do you know uh someone looking for a financial advisor, you're gonna get the 3%.

That means you're missing a lot of the pyramid. And I like the 67% sweet spot, right? All the 730 and 30. Or someone might say, well, if you if you hear anyone who needs help with an advisor, send them my way. Again, three percent.

Who do you know that might need financial help? So that's just kind of like to get them to think of someone. And that's when you only get the three percent. That's why it's inconsistent. That's why you know you have no idea when they're going to come or what quality it's going to be. Then you have a lot of people saying I have a referral-based business or I grow my business on referrals or I rely on introductions.

That sometimes actually can be credible because if you're like, I have a referral only business, I think that's a lot what you did. Like you had such credibility. That people, it was selective. So if you can position yourself as it being very selective, then it can actually raise your credibility. But if you're two years in and you have a you say I have a referral-based business, people might question it, right? So the one liner.

is the problem. We need a conversation. We need a conversation. So the conversation itself. has three components. And I say like number one is safety first. So we need to position it while they feel safe In a way that they feel safe.

The second component is I mentioned this a little bit is emotional alignment. So it's they feel like this is a mission, like they're actually they're gonna look like the hero because if they help someone else, they're not trying to help you grow your business, but if they help their friend who like maybe they didn't they're not looking for a referral but they know excuse me looking for an advisor

But they they know this person wants that, right? They know this person would benefit from it. So if you can get emotionally aligned, like they don't feel like they're putting themselves on the on the line as much. And then that last part is micro commitments, like these easy next steps. So I kind of mentioned that, but um that's the conversation itself. You know I'm gonna give you examples of those? Yeah, I would love that. Like so tactically, so as someone who for me

I had a hard time. I never asked for referrals. It gave me the ick. I tried the couple of systems that I had been taught and it was awkward as all get out. Never doing it again made me want to crawl under a table and die. So yes, I want specifically give us the language, the script, tell us how to have this conversation. Yeah, so it's like we were the same person. Yeah.

So so the safety part is you just want to get permission, like you actually want to just open it up for conversation. So that would be as simple as, you know, hey Joe, um, are you good for 10 minutes or can we have a chat next week for 10 minutes? Like it's a 10 minute conversation.

And then once you're in that conversation, you want to clear the time. It's just creating a container for it and making them feel safe in the sense that there's no pressure. You know, you're just having a conversation. Um, and and that. That sets the stage. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it actually makes people feel like, okay, comfortable. Okay. And then you took the emotional alignment is that you want to ask them, you say something like,

We'll say Joe again. So so say Joe, I've I've been working with you for the last, it could be two months, it could be five years. It doesn't really matter because even if someone just started working with you, they feel differently. They feel like they're more on track even though they just got a financial plan, even though the money hasn't changed that much.

So you really want to dive into the feeling. So you can say, you know, Joe, um I've I've really enjoyed working with you. And so tell me, what has the what has the transformation been so far or what has been most valuable so far about putting this process into place?

Like you don't have to say about working with me, you know, because you're not just fishing for compliments, but I'm really curious like what has been valuable so far about putting this process in place or or getting your your your um your finances together or any sort of result like that. And so he's just gonna say, you know, well, it's been, I feel like I have more clarity. I feel like I don't have to worry about it. I feel like someone's got my back.

You know, so now he's going to talk about what actually has been valuable. And the great thing about this is that this will help you not just get more referrals, but it'll help you understand why your clients choose you. Yeah, which helps you with marketing. I know I'm sitting here thinking, like, this is how you get your marketing language dialed in. Like these are the idioms, the phrases, the the the like basically we're stepping into our ideal client, Avatar's head.

Okay, sorry to interrupt, but I often get asked, Libby, if you were still running an advisory business today, what would some of the tools and things that you would be using if you were doing your business now?

And if we're gonna talk about efficiency, right, you wouldn't build a financial plan without a very clear visual of your client's entire financial picture. Right. I personally would use asset map to keep myself super organized and to be able to see all of my clients complex data in one easy to understand interactive snapshot. It helps you engage clients, drive better decisions.

and boost efficiency in every meeting. If you want to streamline your practice and deliver more value in less time, make sure you check out Asset Map today at acid-map.com slash libby. Asset map, reimagining financial planning. Okay, so we've all been on an AI journey together, and I know I know all of this AI and integrating it into your practice can feel super overwhelming.

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Sitting down and having someone map out all of the things that AI could be doing for you in your business. And asking like, okay, what are you thinking about? Tell me all the things. Love it. Yeah. Yeah. And so and total and you should I always say regurgitate exactly what they say. So you're you're collecting all these things anyway. So do dual purpose, a hundred percent.

Um, and then so you you start writing those down and you understand. And what's happening is that the client is starting to associate. Two the results into the value. And there's also a book called called The Gap and the Gain with uh by Dan Hardy. I'm sorry, Dan Sullivan, Benjamin Hardy. They'll they'll just be called Dan Hardy for now on. Two in the two in the one now. Denardi. We just call him Denardi.

Um, so uh the gap in the game. Most people are focused on how how much further they still need to go versus how far they've come. So it makes them start to feel like they actually got more value because they're associating to the value that they got. Yeah, I love that. Okay. And so then then you say, and do you remember, I know it was just a couple months ago or I know it was five years ago, but do you remember when you first came to me?

like what challenges you had or what concerns you had when it c when it came to growing your growing your wealth or having a strong financial future. And they'll like think back and like, you know. Yeah, I was super stressed. I I remember I was I mean I had this pit in my stomach or I just felt like, you know, I was I was so frustrated because I was making such good money and I was saving well, but

I knew I was paying too much in taxes, which was really annoying. And now whatever they say, right? And now they're going to go off. And now they associated to the past of how bad it was. And guess what's in between? Again. And so now they're remembering there's, wow, my I have this this future that I now have thanks to you or thanks to this this relationship. And it used to be really bad. And so now they're you're anchoring the mission because the mission is not for you to grow your business.

The mission is for you to help more people. And now they can start to now it starts to get to to take away this. I don't want to put myself on the line. It's more like I get to be the hero. to help someone else. Now they don't know that yet because you haven't asked them for the referral, but this is the setup so that they start to get anchored to the mission. And the mission is really to help people close that gap.

Right. Help people go from exactly where they were to where they could be if they were to work with you. Yeah. Sounds so much easier.

Yeah. And so then the last part is the easy yeses. Okay. So the easy yes is those micro commitments. And so you need to name who do you actually want? Right. And so what we do is we just say, you know, I'm I can't work with everyone, Joe, because you want to position yourself highly. And it's true. Yeah. You absolutely can.

And and I don't want to work with everyone, but I love, I love working with you. And I love that now you can compliment them and talk about the transformation that you've seen. And I'm really passionate about helping people like now you describe the person.

You know, who is it? Like, is it an executive that you want? Is it someone that, you know, that they've worked so hard their whole life and now finally they get to enjoy the last phase or the phase of their life where they they're no longer working? I don't even like to say retirement sometimes. And so you talk about who that is. And then you say, Well, would you be willing to make an introduction?

In fact, actually, I usually even brainstorm some names. Like, do you know anyone like that? And they're like, well, you know, just tell me first names, you know, and so they brainstorm a few names of who do they know? Because you got them thinking. And they're thinking about now transformation. They're not thinking about growing your business. And then you're like, well, would you be willing to introduce me via email? Like obviously I wouldn't cold call them. That would be ridiculous.

Yeah. And and then you make it really simple. Like I'll send you the template. All you do is you say, you know, Michael, meet Libby, you know, and then you you give it to them ahead of time and they'll CC you on the email. And then you just, I just want to make sure I'll send it to you today. You make a promise.

and ask for a request. I'll send you the template today so that you can really help these people. Like that's amazing that you're you're part of this. Like you kind of you get them aligned with the mission. And I promise I will take such good care of them like just having a conversation so at a minimum they can bounce some ideas off me.

You know, and so now they're they're just making the introduction and then it's your job to now follow up from that three, you know, three-way um text or or email, and then now you can have uh introduct introductory call. Okay, and I love it. So we're not squeezing this into kind of how you and I were trained back in the the early 2000s around like squeezing it into the last like five minutes of every single meeting that you're having with clients.

So we're being picky and choosy about who we're asking. You can actually put it in like a portfolio review or something. You absolutely can. Um, but I I would say give it a little more time, like give it 10 minutes so you can really not be rushed and allowed to be a conversation. But

But yeah, actually it does work if you just you can put it at the end of of a of a portfolio review. I I would like to call it different than a portfolio review, but but what whenever you're meeting with clients, but you also can just say, I I I have a um program Um, and it's like get 10 referrals in 10 days. And it's pretty simple. You got to talk to 10 people and then

Uh assume you get a minimum. I'm talking a minimum. You ask for at least three introductions, if not five, and you get a minimum at least of One and now you get ten in what in ten days because you talk to ten people. You might have to ask fifteen, but you probably this is not cold marketing. You don't have to ask twenty five, you know, you don't have to ask thirty seven people.

So this is just going to people who already love you and having conversations. So you can go go to them and do a 10 minute conversation. You can put on the back end of a conversation you're already having. You just want to make sure that you're you finesse it so components. Yeah. For the advisor listening, that's like, okay, so I have a few clients in mind. They love me. I know they'd give me some introductions.

I want to have this call with a so if I'm setting this conversation up with a client, like, hey, let's go out to coffee. I have a few things I want to ask you. Or like what are they like and they say like, well, what's this about? How are we setting up, how are we actually like setting up this conversation?

Okay. Well, I would definitely not say go to coffee just because like you don't need to take that long. You know, every coffee meeting is like it's a 10-minute meeting that takes an hour because you got to put on pants. Yeah. Right. And get ready and hair. You gotta do your hair. I mean, if you're not a dude and you're bald like my husband, you're you you can get ready faster, but still you gotta leave the house, you gotta get there early. Like I I wouldn't do that.

But yeah, I I mean you could just reach out um and I would compliment them like Libby, um, hey Libby, can we jump on a quick 10 minute call? I just love working with you. And I just wanted to ask you a few questions. Don't you have 10 minutes sometime? It doesn't have to be a big explanation. Mm-hmm. What is this about? Like I just wanted to ask you a few questions. If you have to you can say, you know. At a minimum, um, this will help you provide more value to your clients.

So you could say something like, you know, I just love working with you and I want to bring even more value to the people I serve. And I just wanted to, you know, jump in and just ask you some questions so I understood a little bit more about your perspective and your experience from working with me.

Okay. I like that. They don't they don't get super skeptical, you know, because it's like you're you're picking people who love you. I have a whole script to it, but they're picking, you know, you're picking people who I I mean I do this with my clients like sometimes it's just so easy, like, hey, jump on it like they'll jump on a call with me anytime, you know. I can be like, It's about rabbits. They're like, sure.

I I don't know what you want to talk to me about rabbits, but you want to get on a call. So obviously um you want to pick people who like you. But yeah, I don't know why rabbits. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So

I'm assuming coming into this conversation, you have to have a pretty clear idea of who your ideal client uh we call it ideal client avatar. You call it something slightly different. Yeah. So coming into that conversation, how important is it that you have got that dialed in? I would say it's gonna be better because um it's going to help you get to the person that you want. I would I would say, but don't let perfect get in the way of possible. So

And you don't have to start with your top, top, you know, high A clients. Like you can say, uh I I might be a little nervous. I mean, it's it's it's like it's different, right? So So you might want to start with people who they love you, but maybe they're not like your top asset, you know, yes. Um, but um I I think if you I would write down what do you know? What do you know that you like about the people that you work with and what do they have in common?

So it doesn't have to be this perfect avatar. It doesn't have to be this perfect, I like to say like one person that you're going to clone. But um, but you you write down what you do like, but don't write things down like they got a ton of money, you know, like don't write like they got millions because

You gotta if you write down they got they got at least two million dollars, that's fine, but you're not gonna say that to the client. So you have to figure out different ways to say it. Like, so who's the type of person that would have at least two million dollars?

And how can you how can you describe that person in a way that's not gonna make f people feel like you're pouncy and that you're just going after people's money? Right. So yeah, I mean, we used to say like we work with um C-suite executives that have really complicated compensation packs.

Right. And it wasn't always just about the compensation package. It was about their total net worth or total complexity needs that we were really, really good at. But that was the way that we kind of got ourselves aligned with the right type of client without a certain amount of money and have a certain amount of assets. Yeah, I teach all this messaging. You're talking about messaging and messaging is like

I always say it's such an unfamiliar term in the financial industry. And we go a deep dive at My Position Yourself for Profits event. Like it's like day two. We're we're we're going deep into this whole formula around how to do it. And then I show them and then they give me that, we call it a dare to suck, like dare, like do it imperfectly. Like let me see the the version that you got.

And some people are I always say, don't use buzzwords. Like think of it as taboo. Like if it was retirement on top, you're not allowed to say withdrawals. You're not allowed to say 401k. You're not allowed to say uh rollovers. Um and so It once you're so smart in the industry, you're used to saying these things and you gotta stop. And one of the one of the people the attendees um put in like something like, I typically I work with

asset holders and I was like, no, don't say that. You know, it's like, it's like, but she's she's so smart and has worked with such high net worth clients that like she was describing all these things, but the way in which

No one would really want to be described. You know, it's like, but it's a, it's, it's, is de messaging is a is a tough thing. I mean, you're really good at it. A lot of advisors have no idea. I talk about that too, like on my on my masterclass. Yeah. Okay. So obviously I you know, I'm I think it's like a foundational thing for every advisor to understand their sweet spot, where they do their best work, who they work with.

Um, obviously I'm a huge fan of referrals since that's kind of how we grew. Now, not everybody's in that place where referrals are the only source of uh new clients, right? Most people have to have some other version of marketing to get clients consistently. Like what are some of the the ways that you help advisors attract that?

Like I don't want to say like ultra high, like but like good cli how do we attract good clients pretty consistently that are beyond just kind of referrals and introductions. Yeah. And I I actually have a masterclass called How to Attract Million Dollar Plus Clients Consistently. So it's funny you said consistently. Like that's exactly.

And I say million dollar plus because uh most advisors, I mean, there's obviously a lot of advisors listening that have five million dollar clients. So that could be a five million dollar client, doesn't have to be one. Um, but I think most advisors are pretty happy, like if they can get at least above that million dollar mark.

Um, and especially if they're if on the if they're on the newer side. But this applies to either to every every advisor if they've been in the industry just for, you know, a year or they've been in the industry for 30, is like you want to have skills and tools to get ideal clients, whatever the ideal client is for you, outside of referrals. Because referrals, even if you get really good great at this conversation I just talked about.

It's still you can only get so many, right? And you can only ask your clients. A certain amount of times, like who else they know? You know, I mean, they're gonna think of you if you've done a great job and especially if you've been with them for quite some time, like maybe they've already referred you. And and so it it's really important to have systems where you can get in front of the right person who is

just like the person that you want to, as I call it, clone, like you want to clone this this ideal client, your book of business, but to be able to do it on demand, to be able to do it consistently. And I would say to be able to do it online.

I know both of us, you're really active on LinkedIn. Like I see your stuff on LinkedIn all the time. I'm I'm a big fan of LinkedIn. And you could do it. other ways, but it just takes a lot longer. Like I said, go networking. It's like supposed to be a two hour, three hour thing. You gotta put on pants, you gotta park and put on makeup and there's like it takes ten hours and then you gotta follow up with people. I mean it's a whole thing.

And and people still do that. Like, and then you don't even you go there and your ideal client's not even there. It's just people like, here, take my card. So I mean, that's an old school thing, but people still do it. Even COIs, like if you got great COIs, they're gonna refer you, like awesome. But I I want

I want advisors to have control and predict predictability over their business. And so I like I like LinkedIn a lot. So um I mean I teach this on the on the master class. Um but so can you tell us more? I mean, is that okay? Can we talk about that for a second? Okay, tell me more about

What is the master class? And I will, if it's okay with you, I will grab all of the details from you and we'll put that in the show notes and get that linked so people can expect the little bit more about like what is the master class? Like what can we expect from it? What do you cover? Um

How do you teach this? I'm like s obviously you use the word system, so like my antennas are up, but how do we build a system to attract clients, especially like using LinkedIn? Yeah, yeah. So um The the number, well, there's several things I teach in there, but the first thing is what I call the clone your dream client method.

Okay, so the idea, and I know we only have so much time, but just we talked a little bit about this idea of like who is the person you actually want to attract. So just take this from it right now and then come to the masterclass. But the idea is like, If you're gonna put attention, energy, effort, resources towards getting more ideal clients, you better make sure they're ideal. Yeah.

So so especially if you've been in the business a long time, like you can't meet with all these people who are tire kickers and they don't have like it's just it's you don't got nobody's got the time. Right. So let's just find the market match, right? Let's find the person who I like to say I call it the rule of 10, like what if you can just get one client and clone them 10 times and meet or exceed your revenue goal?

Um, so we talk about that. Um, I talk a lot about like why the traditional prospecting method is no longer working, like why it's failing you. Um because it again, if you've if you're new in the industry, it's all the old stuff that we learned, like you said, in the early two thousands, like nothing's changed. Make your list of 100. You know, it's like uh COIs like go networking, like nothing has changed. And that was, you know, almost twenty years ago. And

We weren't the first people they tested it on. You know. So it's uh it's pretty old school and it's so outdated and it's so ineffective. You can get an advisor, they're working their butt off and they're told that they can make a hundred grand their first year. And they do everything the broker dealer told them to do and they're still not making that.

Right. And you can get someone, and this was what happened to me in 2014. I had gotten to that six-figure mark. I stopped doing those things because I couldn't take like I didn't want to and I was servicing clients. And I and then I was like, there ain't no way I'm going back to that.

Like I I'm not going back to that. Like it was it was like so so much desperation. The the the positioning was bad, you know. So a lot of what I talk about is this positioning shift, like how How when you clone your your ideal client or your dream client, you position yourself as the expert and people see you, you're perceived as more credible. Um, so the the process the old methods don't work. So it's not necessarily that networking doesn't work.

It's that the positioning of how you're positioned when you're networking, right? So that's where the messaging stuff comes in that you can go networking and have better positioning if you have better messaging. Um And then um and then I go into the LinkedIn stuff. Like If if you're not using LinkedIn, I know everyone has a profile, but if you're not using LinkedIn to grow your financial practice,

you are missing a huge opportunity. There's 234 million you you people from the US, from the from the US on LinkedIn. And There's so many senior level, like there's a high, high percentage of people who are senior level, and you can identify these people. using sales navigator. And I show this on the on the actual webinar, on the master class. I actually have a whole demo at the end and I I show you how do you find these people. I show these hacks so that you can get more rollovers.

I show you how to position yourself. You need a headline, not a job title. Why LinkedIn, like the culture of LinkedIn is to go to a call as opposed to click a button to go to a webinar or go to, you know, get a freebie. So so it's so primed for advisors.

Because you want to get in front of high level senior level people, you want to get on a call or a video call, and you want to just drive them to the next step. Right. And so these are it's just ready for conversations. And people, if they try to use it. Um they usually just use an old messaging strategy to get people on a call and it doesn't work. So they think LinkedIn doesn't work.

LinkedIn works. The messaging isn't working. Okay, so you call cover all of this in in is the webinar. It's good stuff, right? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. So how long? How long is this webinar? It's ninety minutes. Ninety. Oh my gosh, is this a twelve? That's a lot. That's a lot of stuff packed into ninety minutes. I love it. And is there a cost for it? No, this is great. This is amazing. Okay. Okay. We'll make sure we link that. So super helpful. I love the just kind of this idea of.

Obviously like you know, we we we loved the episode talking about referrals and different ways to have that conversation. So I think that's really, really cool and kind of coming back to some of those fundamentals of needing to know who you are as a planner, the fundamental stuff of Who is my ideal client? Who do I want to clone? How do I say that? What are some of the ways to approach it in a way that helps me maintain my status? And how do I I love this idea of how do I

position myself. So okay, awesome. So where where can if where can advisors find you online? Obviously, we'll get the information for the webinar. We'll drop it in the the show notes. Where else can advisors find you online? I mean LinkedIn is one of them. I felt like that was an obvious answer. Yeah. Okay. Uh you can find me on LinkedIn. Uh Robin Crane dot com is my website. I mean, I I'm on the main channels, Instagram and

And Facebook. I'm I'm not like s I'm not as actually as as as good as you are with posting all all the time. Um But I do I do the masterclass quite a bit. I just I love this and I have my three-day event. Those of you who want to go deep dive, it's a it's a virtual event so people can attend anywhere. Um but I would say really the best place to start is like experience it during the masterclass. And then if you want a deeper dive, come to the event.

Um, and I I'm so passionate about I I love this event. Like you said, you you asked me at the beginning, I'm still on cloud nine, like seeing it's not just the strategies. There's there's really this foundation of of really shifting the way you think about your business. The way you think about what's possible. And I want to really change the the industry from like the scarcity of how much money do you have? Okay, this is the life you get.

to what do you really want? Let's create it. And that's the mindset of that. So yeah, it find me online, find me wherever, and let's Let's hang out. Awesome. I love it. Well, good. Well, thank you so much for just sharing all of your knowledge on how to think through kind of this psychology of referrals and um and just how to actually g you know anticipate like what actually stops clients from referring you and being able to have this kind of unique conversation around it. I love the idea.

Okay, anything else you want to share before we go? I think that's it. I'm I would just say I I I'll say this, I'll end with this, is that as you're listening, and I'm really talking to you, the listener right now, is that I ch I challenge you, I challenge you to have a conversation about referrals that is uh totally, totally mission-based. Totally mission based. Like you don't really care about whether you get the client or not. I challenge you to just start to position yourself more highly.

instead of just like every other advisor. You know, I challenge you to start thinking differently and think outside the box and because AI is coming. I talked about AI in the last time we talked like AI isn't coming, it's here. But as I think advisors don't realize how much they have to have a brand and position themselves as an expert so that they have longevity in the business. And so I just challenge you to to not just be comfortable.

And to instead to stretch outside your comfort zone so that you really have like a hundred percent the life that you want. Okay, fabulous. Well, you are amazing as always. Thank you for being back on the show. I will make sure we link all of the details in the show notes and how people can find you online. Once again, thanks, Robin. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Okay, so I know those of you are going to be asking the question in your head, okay, well, when is this free webinar? Robin shared with me after we got done recording that she is hosting this webinar on March 12th. March 19th and March 26th. Now, if you are listening to this podcast after that, she does host these periodically. So make sure you check the link in the show notes and see if she has any coming up.

sometime soon. So I know I get emails all the time from people who are like, I listened to it three months later. Robin does these periodically throughout the year. And then she has her position yourself for profits event. on April 27th through 29th. Again, you can find all of the details in the show notes.

I have had a couple of advisors in our group coaching program share that they attended this webinar and the PYFP event by Robin and said just really great things about it. But I hope this conversation gave you Just kind of that fresh perspective on referrals and positioning and really what it takes to attract the right clients in a way that feels Both, you know, authentic and sustainable.

One of my biggest takeaways from the episode is that growth, it's not just about asking more often, it's about getting crystal clear on who you serve best. communicating your value in a way that people can actually understand and creating enough trust and safety that allows introductions to happen, you know, just a little bit more naturally. And that's

a very different game than just tossing tossing out like a referral ask at the end of the meeting, like, well, who do you know? Or don't keep me a secret, you know, those types of things. So if you love this episode, make sure to check out the links in the show notes where you can connect with Robin and learn more about her work. And as always, if this episode gave you an idea, a mindset shift, or just something you want to implement in your business, I would love you to act on it this week.

Thanks so much as always for tuning in. I'll catch you back here next time and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week.