Referral Trigger for the week of May 13
What to DO to GET Referrals
Grow: Cultivate | Seed a Questions
Conversation lead by the Brookhaven Team (100% responses achieved)
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and | Questions are a valuable tool because they start conversations.
Share a question you ask new clients, and explain two things — [1] what you learn from their answer, and [2] where you are able to take the conversation because of their answer. We’re listening for seeds we can use to start conversations about you. |
Many individuals do not know when we are taking pictures it is in the attitude. Make sure when everyone has a picture taken you are in a good place. It is all in the what we say we are.
My first, most important, question is who is my client’s ideal customer.
What I learn from this answer is that one, 1, a lot of times people need help identifying their ideal customer. And 2. once they know thier ideal customer, we know what social media platforms we should focus on. If they are a tile floorer and their client is 50+, has grandkids and is interested in updating their home, they probably need to be on FB; but if they are a hair stylist and their ideal client is 20 and loves make-up, they would be better on Instagram.
1. What has caused to you call today?
2. Their answers start them talking to me so they can tell me their story. Depending on their word choice I can tell if it is truly “a communication problem” or something else (like lack of trust, or parenting disagreements, or financial problems, for example.) People often do not disclose the real issue until they feel comfortable with me.
what are you pain points? what did your prior accountant do that drove you to find someone else?
Generally I can look to see what was done in the prior year and figure out what was done wrong. hopefully saving that person time and money
BEING IN THE SECURITY BUSINESS HOME..I ASK WHAT WILL MAKE THEM FEEL SECURE …FROM THERE AN INSURANCE ISSSUE CAN COME UP AND LEAD ANYWHERE
As an attorney practicing in the areas of Elder and Special Needs Law, I am often working with families who are in crisis mode. When I first meet with families I love to ask, “If I had a magic wand, what would you ask me to do to resolve this situation for you?” This is a quick way for me to (1) determine the family’s ultimate goal and (2) know which issue I should address with them first.
As a provider of ATMs to businesses with cash needs, I usually ask why they want an ATM. What I learn from the response is whether it is primarily an amenity for their customers, or a desire for an additional passive revenue stream that saves on credit card fees.
If they want an amenity and would waive their revenue requirements, I can lower the transaction fee to make it more valuable to their clients.
If it is a desire for a revenue stream and/or to do more cash business, I will help them consider ways to drive more of their customers to cash such as only accepting cash for tips, not accepting debit cards for credit transactions, or setting a transaction minimum for credit. I will also help them draw more attention to the ATM with LED signs and door stickers if they so desire.
My first (and continuous) question to clients is “Why?”.
A business hires me when something has to change, and to do that effectively I must diagnose all underlying causes, not just treat the business-problem-symptoms.
Asking why forces my clients to think about how they do things and how they make decisions, and we can find strong, long lasting solutions for business growth.
With new clients, I ask them what keeps them up at night? It allows me to focus on addressing those concerns and setting up a gameplan on other planning items.
I ask potential new clients in a Discovery Session, “What made you decide to reach out to me?” Their answer helps me quickly understand their pain points with their health and wellness. In addition, I can also see what they want their future to look like after having worked with me.
I use The 5 Whys exercise to help them dive deeply into their reason to want to transform their health. Knowing a profound reason why someone wants to make a large change in their life, helps me to support them during rough times, by reminding them of it.
For example, one of my clients came to me wanting to lose weight and improve her fitness…a very typical thing. However, when we really dove down, she admitted that it wasn’t because she wanted to look good in a swim suit….it was because her daughter didn’t trust her to care for her brand new granddaughter alone when she was so heavy and unfit. Wow!! Now that’s a motivated new client!
I always ask a client how they were referred to us. If they found us through cold-call/cold-search on the web, I take time to explain our firm’s background and the makeup of our team. If they were referred to us personally, I give a brief explanation of the background and makeup because the personal referral has given that information. Each allows the client to become comfortable and beings to establish a relationship of trust.
As a banker to individuals and small business I ask when they last had a working relationship with their banker. Most clients tell me no one has helped them in years, their issues are usually directed to a call center. I follow up asking about what was the last service issue they had and how was it resolved or Not! This is point to explain my role as a community bank.
I always ask about income and assets. This is paramount in our conversation. The reason being is it allows me to both qualify the clients that i work with, and help them properly protect what they’ve worked hard to achieve. At the end of the day my goal is to properly protect clients from the unexpected. If you dont know what you’re protecting how can you be effective at doing so?
If a prospect calls me for a new home loan I ask them what they’ve budgeted for their new payment. This allows me to back into the amount that they’ll qualify for and understand whether they’re pushing the envelope or not and also helps me to talk about the qualifying process and how we determine how much a client can afford.
One key question that I ask questions is what are your goals for your online course? In other words, what will you clients be able to know, do, create, demonstrate, or manifest as a result of taking your course?
My clients’ answer to this question will a) tell me if they are ready to create a course, and b) if they are able/willing to put the needs of THEIR clients/customers first.
From here, I am able to take the conversation to a deeper level that will ultimately lead to a course blueprint and/or a newly designed course.
I like to ask potential clients what has happened. The average person has never had to reach out to a personal injury attorney before and a thorough discussion of an incident can yield a bevy of information that may be left out of an accident or incident report. Perhaps most importantly (initially), it provides valuable input as to whether or not there is a case worth pursuing.
I like to ask new clients a simple question of “How Soon Are You Looking to Buy Or Sell Your Home?” Its a great lead-in question which sparks answers I need to know and also starts up the conversation of talking about how I can help them with the process of buying or selling there home.
As a business litigation attorney, my clients have a variety of issues. My first question is often “what do you want?” Based on the situation, there may multiple solutions and learning a client’s desired outcome allows me to tell the client what strategies are available and how long their case may take.
Whenever we send an estimate, I call and ask if the customer received it. This starts a good conversation from “Thanks, just pricing” to “Yes, but have not reviewed it.” to “When can you start?”
No matter what the answer it, I get to leave them with an impression that we want their next job. I also attach our flyer of our other services.
I ask my new clients if they have a doctor they like to see. When they have a doctor they like seeing I simply check to if the doctor is in the network.
When they don’t have a doctor I ask if they would like for me to find them one. When clients are looking for a doctor I send them a PDF of options in their zip code.
I often get asked for quotes on mobile apps. And clients are almost always unprepared for the price tag. 9 times out of 10 they simply don’t know their options. They don’t realize that a web-based cloud app can behave the same as a mobile app for less than half the development cost. And a web app will have even less ongoing cost. So my first question is: “Are you absolutely sure you need an iOS and/or Android app?” Their answer tells me where they are in their research and technical knowledge. From there, I can inform them about the pros and cons of different application designs. Ultimately, we are able to provide the client with the best solution for their business.
“What is the goal for the website?” and “Who is your host?” (if they already have a site) are some of the first questions I ask.
Knowing the goal for the website is crucial to planning the website’s design and content. This opens up the discussion for what features may be needed and how the site will be set-up.
The host conversation becomes important because hosting contributes to site speed, security and reliability. If the goal of the site is to sell online it’s even more crucial to have reliable, secure and fast hosting. Hosting has to be decided first. And what kind of hosting they use depends a lot on what they want their site to do for them.