Questions That Generate Referrals from Clients

This is an excerpt from “Referrals — Ideas from a Million Dollar Producer,” a Tuesday focus session presentation at MDRT 2012 in Anaheim.

By Vicki Writer

Intergenerational advice strategies are talked about quite a lot in our industry, and it certainly needs to be.

I am working with a number of advisors and helping them position this family tree concept during the fact-finding process/discovery. I am trying to encourage them to build some questions into their fact-find that I want to share with you right now.

From an estate planning perspective, I need to understand your family tree. (Use a whiteboard or something to create a visual.

-- Mr. and Mrs. Client, tell me about your parents. Are they married? Divorced? Working? Carrying any debt? Are they financially secure?

-- What about your son and daughter? Are they married? Divorced? Working? Carrying any debt? Are they financially secure?

And if they’re old enough, ask about their kids:

-- Mr. and Mrs. Client, Based on what you have told me, your mom/dad/son/daughter is in need of some financial advice. Would you be willing to introduce me or, at least, pass on their details so I can make contact myself?

As soon as you start to paint a picture about the financial consequences of something unforseen happening within that family unit, you open up the door to getting some significant referrals. This strategy can get you between five and seven referrals with just that one question.

Beneficiary briefing meeting

The other strategy I would recommend and that I speak with advisors about is what is called a beneficiary briefing meeting. This strategy can be used in isolation or use it to complement the family tree strategy we just discussed.

I am always shocked to hear that when an advisor makes a call to a client to book a review meeting, he finds out that the client was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma six months prior or that he has suffered a heart attack.

Most of our clients really don’t understand what it is that they have purchased from you, and the beneficiary briefing meeting is where you go out and meet with all of the beneficiaries — all of the people who are going to benefit from all of the hard work you have put in place.

You sit down with the partner of the life insured and their children, if they are old enough. Position yourself as being the conduit, the facilitator, and explain to them in very layman’s terms the features and benefits and all of the claimable events.

In fact, some advisors now are developing their own claims cards. It has a 24/7 contact number, and they are positioning themselves as being one of the first people to be called in the event that something unforseen happens.

They are really trying to position themselves within that entire family unit and build a relationship with all family members who may generate referrals and introductions to other members of that family at some stage in the future. This is a very good strategy.

I speak to many advisors who operate in the retiree market and who don’t think they have an opportunity to sell risk. I think they have an enormous opportunity to sell risk. The reason I say that is because there is not one person I know who would see his or her child suffer financial ruin in the event something unforeseen occurred.

If you can, start to explain the financial impact and the consequences, the financial ruin of something unforeseen happening to someone in that family unit — the children. Get an introduction to those children or the parents or the grandparents who pay for a policy on behalf of those children. It’s a lot cheaper than actually destroying your complete retirement strategy, which is what most people would actually do.

I think there is a question there as well:

-- Mr. and Mrs. Client,

If your son or daughter was injured or had to take time off work for a long period of time due to illness, would you need to take time off work and would it impact you financially?

I heard some questions just the other day that really frightened me. Questions that I had not previously thought about. Everyone gets really excited when they are asked to become a godparent. I started to think about the financial impact of being a godparent when those parents are no longer around. We all jump at the chance. It’s a lovely feeling to be asked, but what about the financial impact to you and your family?

Are you the guarantor for any of your children’s loans? If one of your children or their spouse suffered a critical illness, how much would you be willing to part with to bail them out? Are you a nominated guardian, or do you have an implied responsibility for the upbringing of your grandchildren or someone else’s children?

Have your children sought or received adequate advice around protecting their human capital? If one of your children fell into financial difficulty yesterday, where would they go to for help?

These are all very good questions and a great opportunity for you to get in to speak with some of the other family members.

Vicki Writer, DFP (Diploma in Financial Services), is the NSW state manager for AIA Australia and a 20-year professional career in financial services, specializing in risk insurance. The excerpted remarks above are from “Referrals — Ideas from a Million Dollar Producer,” her focus session presentation at MDRT 2012 in Anaheim.  A certified trainer and master practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming, Writer is also director of her own motivation and training company, Dare To Achieve, and founder of vickiwriterbuildsmybusiness.com, a website that assists advisors and other industry professionals in sales and business growth.