When your clients ask you for an introduction to an auditor, trust company, ERISA attorney or TPA, who do you recommend? Who are the specific people and companies? While you may have a great relationship with these people, is there a possibility that their firms are making you look bad?
When a plan sponsor client asks for a favorable introduction, they are acknowledging that they trust you. They are telling you that they respect your opinion and value your input.
Well, what happens after you make the favorable introduction? Your client will thank you, then click on your center of influence’s website. At that point, you have put your reputation in the hands of the referral. What now? If they land on a great website, you are a hero. However, if the website has a clearly outdated layout, is plastered with cheesy images, and looks spammy… how does that reflect on you?
The Company You Keep
In an unfavorable situation, most plan sponsors experience a knee-jerk reaction. They immediately slide their mouse to the top corner and click “nope.” Then they will move on with their day.
Most plan sponsor clients aren’t going to voluntarily say, “We didn’t move forward with your introduction because their website gave us the impression that the firm was an out-of-touch, disorganized has-been.” Polite people don’t say that. They say something like, “Oh right, thanks again for the introduction, but we went in another direction. Seemed like great people, though.”
This is code for: “We found a firm better aligned with what we were looking for.” And while we all know you should not judge a book by its cover, the truth is, we all do. They took one look at your referral’s website and had a knee-jerk reaction based entirely on its look. Not skill, experience or education; nope – it’s all visual.
Taking it a step further and making it worse, what if you told your center-of-influence referral about the favorable introduction and now they keep following up, pressuring you and asking for an update. Then as you follow up with your client, you’re continuously reminding them of their bad experience – that terrible website. How does this affect your credibility and reputation? We are the company we keep.
Read more commentary by Rebecca Hourihan here.
A Word of Caution
If you are going to refer a trusted partner, take a moment and think about how they are going to make you look. Are they going to enhance your brand? Will they hurt your credibility? If your feeling is anything shy of, “This will make us look awesome,” then talk with them and share your concerns. If they truly are a great firm, they will appreciate your feedback. Remind them that when they look good, you look good.
Ultimately, everyone can win. The plan sponsor gets a great introduction to solve their problem, clicks on the referred website and feels confident to move forward; you look like a hero for bringing in an incredible firm; and your center of influence gets a solid referral. Everyone is happy.
But the referral journey starts with that first click on the center of influence’s website. Make the journey meaningful and awesome. Demonstrating that your trusted partners are of high quality will boost your clients’ respect for your opinion, evaluation of your insight, and trust in you.
Thanks for reading and Happy Marketing!
Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC, is the founder and CMO of 401(k) Marketing.
