We would all love it if we could get all of our clients through referrals. They are so much easier to make into a client, aren’t they? Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to create a highly successful practice based solely on referrals.
But… what if you could get leads to act as if they had been referred? That’s just as good because the reason referrals work out so well is they trust you based on the referrer’s opinion of you. (i.e. “You should work with this guy! He has always found ways to get us tax savings even our accountant didn’t know about. You can trust this guy. We’ve worked with him for ten years.”) — It’s called transference of trust.
There are other ways to create transference of trust that you can easily utilize to make sure all of your leads feel like referrals. Please understand that every positive contact you have with people builds the sense of trust they have with you. Think about how that works in your everyday life… you trust things and people that you’ve interacted with a long time.
So, if you have been in business for a year or more, you should have a warm list of prospects. If you haven’t already, you need to start contacting them with:
- Newsletters
- Postcards
- Invitations to seminars or client get-togethers
- Articles of interest
- Research
- White Papers
Every time you contact them, that sense of trust grows creating a relationship closer and closer to that of a referral. When the finally do come into the office… they will actually be easier to sell than a referral. I’ve seen it dozens of times with my own practice and hundreds of times through my coaching clients practices.
