Supernova is a brand that you can market to your Centers of Influence (COIs). When they refer you to a prospect you can guarantee the level of service you will give to that referral. During this audio presentation, listen to Rob Knapp and Rob Brown expand on the steps.
Click Here to Listen to Five Steps for COI Success
Here’s a brief overview of the main points we cover in this recording:
The most exciting tool you have for client acquisition is the ability of turning Supernova into a brand that you can market to Centers of Influence (COIs). Supernova is tangible. The market goes up and down; you can’t guarantee it. But Supernova is a commitment you can keep.
For a professional COI, like a CPA, this is a great tool for them to understand and it gives you the ability to sell them on why to use you versus the other financial advisors. What you are promoting to them is a tangible level of service. You’re going to offer them multi-generational planning, full implementation of that planning process, 12 contacts a year, 4 of them are reviews and 2 reviews are in person and a rapid response team that will offer one hour response and 24 hour resolution to problems. That’s tangible and something that will happen year end and year out.
When they refer you to someone you can guarantee this is the level of service they are going to get for every single client. You should not have any clients that are not getting Supernova. That’s the whole premise – one level of service, consistently. This is where you are going to get the most exciting results in terms of marketing. The enthusiasm that your clients have for Supernova will be matched by the enthusiasm that your COIs have. It may not happen immediately, but over time as they see this happening and unfolding in front of them, their energy around referring you will get higher and higher.
You are offering is something concrete that they have never seen before. They know if they refer somebody and they do it on this basis, the client will not be disappointed, regardless of performance. That is what they are most worried about, that somehow the relationship will ‘blow up’ because they referred that client to you. You take that pretty much off the table as long as you manage the investment process in a prudent way.
Another key to building relationships with COIs is consistent contact. You do that by scheduling 12 contacts a year – all of them in-person. We call them a “20-minute Starbucks”. Once a month meet with your COI for 20 minutes. During that time you are going to talk to them about things that are important for them that you’ve thought about during the month. You are going to give them referrals and they are going to return the favor to you. That is the basic premise of the model.
Here’s our 5-step process for initiating a COI relationship:
1) ‘Fit’ meeting – This is the initial understanding or ‘fit’ meeting. You’ve typically been introduced to them through a client. They have been enthusiastically endorsed by one or a number of different clients and you ask for a favorable introduction. You set up the first meeting. If it’s a ‘fit’ you then suggest a meeting in your office.
2) Meet in your office – Their team including their assistant meets in your office and you introduce your team using the 5 Star Model. You introduce what you do in detail. You ‘look under the hood’ and show them how the whole process works from the folders to the spreadsheet. Once you’re done, you ask for the return favor of visiting with them in their office.
3) Meet in their office – Your team including your other associates meets them in their office and they put on their ‘dog and pony show’ for you. You meet their other partners and find out what they really need.
4) Establish a monthly meeting – This is an offsite meeting together with the COI. This is when you establish the monthly date; for example, the 3rd Thursday of every month at 8 a.m. You’re going to make this happen every month and try to hold it to 20 minutes. You will discuss your teams, what you are doing and the mutual benefits.
5) COI education meeting – This is the meeting where you educate the COI on how to generate referrals for you. You have been building up to this, periodically mentioning this to keep them intrigued. You teach them the question: Can you enthusiastically endorse your CPA (other professional)? You’re going to ask each of your clients that question. You will get a positive, neutral or negative response. When it’s positive, you will write down their name and that will be one of the professional s you want to meet. When it’s neutral, you ignore it. When it’s negative, that’s an opportunity to refer one of these “enthusiastically endorsed” professionals to your COIs. You would ask: Would you be open to meeting another CPA (other professional) who has been enthusiastically endorsed by our clients? Generally, they will say “yes.”
At this point, your COI might then say, “That gets me referrals but how do I get referrals for you?” You simply suggest that they do this in reverse. They ask their clients, Can you enthusiastically endorse your financial advisor? This gives them a fabulous list of people who could be referred to you.
That’s the ‘bread and butter’ of our process for generating Supernova COIs. It can work very well with many professions.