When I am having a conversation with a client about them sellling their current home and moving to another part of the country, one key question is When?  They will  probably need a moving company to facilitate the long-distance move, so, about 3 - 4 months ahead of listing the home for sale, I will refer the seller to a moving company PowerCore member.   The date for that phone call/referral is on my calendar.   Having that PowerCore referral relationship is valuable to me and even more valuable for my clients.

I'm thinking of the wealth advisor on our team. I have an employee that just sold her house and she is in her 20's. She has several ideas on what to do with her money and lots of people in her ear telling her what to do. I have followed up 2x with her on being smart at this point in her life and setting herself up for the years to come and setting a good nest egg for her young family. Getting someone to talk to an advisor is hard work but when you explain that advisors are so much more than where to put your money for returns, its about tax breaks, life insurance for your kids, and a regular discipline that is part of the family foundation, it makes it easier. This referral has taken 3 months to set in motion. 

At dinner on a cold January a great family friend mentioned that he thought his accountant was getting a bit forgetful and maybe was at retirement age. He said it again on another occasion so I told him about Scott Levine. Nothing ever came of the name drop, so I didn't think to brag on Scott again until my friend got back from his forth sailing trip in the Caribbean. He started working on the steps to fulfill his lifelong goal of owning a sail boat and sailing around from island to beautiful island. 

He's a business owner himself and his taxes are paid in a way that are no longer helpful in funding his goal. This convo came up at tax time this year. Naturally, I insisted he let me introduce him to Scott. I mean, he's mentioned taxes three times now. My friend agreed to the introcuction, but Scott's a busy guy with a heavy client load so I emailed Scott to see if the introduction was a thing. It was! 

Because of the referral my friend better understands the funds that need to be socked away to fullfil his dream of being a sailing captain. 

As a CPA I get the opportunity to learn of a client's business ventures very early on.  And because of this, I get to influence the setup and structure of the business.  One of my first points is to have the client incorporate.  I explain to them that this is NOT just for tax purposes, but rather for legal liability purposes.

Most new businesses have to worry about cash so an extra expense isn't what they want to hear about.  But I explain to them that this is a way to shield all of their personal assets from a potential lawsuit.  In most cases, I will not take the client on unless they properly incorporate.

To that end, I always recomend Brandon Welch, our team's business attorney.  Brandon is very easy to work with and for certain tasks has flat fee billing.  This often helps me convince the client to follow through since they do not have to worry about any hidden costs or having a phone call incur even more fees.

In 2018, I had a phone conversation with a self-employed client while he was sitting in his CPA office.  Ultimately, that CPA's service left a lot to be desired and my client knew it, but he was afraid changing CPAs would be too much hassle.  Given this client's business, I knew that several of my team members (not just the CPA) could be of service to him.  So I scheduled a time for him to meet with three team members (including our team's CPA, Scott Levine), back to back to back, with me present.  I wanted him to meet Scott personally, to learn what an excellent, client service-focused CPA could do for him and his business.  Offering the opportunity to meet with other professionals on our team helped to "lure" him into meeting Scott.  As expected, once he met Scott, he realized how much his existing CPA relationship was lacking.  I don't remember how quickly it happened, but he did transfer his accounting relationship to Scott.  Ultimately, my focus was to get him to meet Scott while the frustration of his prior CPA relationship was fresh in his mind.

My referral opportunities generally arise after a home inspectionn because that's when Realtors and their Clients start thinking of work that will need to be done on a home. I make it known to the Agents we work with that we have connections to high quality contractors and they can reach out to me for those connections anytime. I have also had Realtors reach out to me for contractor recommendationas after taking one of my continuing education classes. I find this to be the most effect means of connecting rather than trying to make an introduction when the Agent or Client have not expressed a need for it.

I heard an opportunity to refer Nick Garrison from Good Dog Happy Owner Dog Training on our team to my Son and Daughter-in-Law recently when they were talking about wanting to get their dog to sleep in his bed instead for with them in theirs.  I gave them his card and told them to give him a call.  At the time, they were very happy for the information, but after talking again recently, I found out they hadn't called him and of course the dog is still sleeping with them.  I mentioned Nick again, mentioning he has great results using positive reinforcement methods.  We are having them over for breakfast soon, so I will continue to follow up with them as I really sense that they would like their full bed back.  I can also ask their hesitation if they don't want to pursue it right now.

A friend of mine was preparing to put their house on the market and they were having trouble with their flooring contractor. I recommended a company that was represented in my power core group. They didn't want to try a different route, they were dead set on fixing what they'd already started. I was persistent and followed up with their progress and they finally asked for my referral and in the long run they were happy they did.  

My policy varies based on the circumstances. I recently had a client who is inheriting a good-sized lump sum from her mother's estate. She could use help from both the CPA and financial advisor on our team, but she hasn't received the payout yet. I have spoken with her about her need for help but she will wait a bit. Because I think this is a legit reason for waiting, I have diaried my file to bring this up with her again in 30 and then 60 days.

My friend that lives down the street owns a massage business. She recently metioned to me she was looking to expand. I immediatly had a couple of names come to mind. I asked her if she had found a space yet. She said she was still looking so I connected her with a commercial real estate agent from Powercore.

This is still a work in process and will be conecting her to the commercial people on my team. She will be a great connection with a personal injury attorney. 

I have not been in  PowerCore but 3-4 months, so I don't have situation in mind that I identified a referral opportunity that I needed to wait on.  I do frequently refer to miscellaneous practitioners in my practice.  I have referred a number of people when they were anticipating a move to a mortgage broker (Rodney) because of my strong conviction that he will do a phenomenal job helping someone.  I hope that to be the case as I get to know more of my PowerCore team members and their businesses.  A successful referral to another practitioner has been beneficial to my business because the clients associate the good experience with me in some form.  I hope to move some clients over to one of our team members as I am not happy with the providers that are currently serving them.   This will likely happen at a time that is not as time critical and we can have a discussion of changing providers. 

As a new member of Powercore I feel like I am just getting my referral sea legs. I have had a couple of opportunities to recommend  members of powercore as a referral. 

One thing I have put into practice to help me be a valuable member of Powercore is to make notes in my phone with a reminder when I hear a collegue,client or friend express a need, if the obvious referral isn't within my team I will go to the database to research to find the right referral.  Before connecting them I will follow up with the person with the need to see if they are still looking for help and then connect them with the appropriate powercore member either through a 3 way email or a coffee. 

I work personally with my clients to recommend coverage levels and options customized for each life-stage, I enjoy getting to know my clients and their unique situation, needs and personal circumstances. I had a client who was coming up on the end of his term seriving in the military, he expressed to me that he was intersted in buying a home soon for his family. I gave my client the information for the realtor that was on my team, I expressed to my client how credible the relator has been during my time knowing her. Intially, my client did not make contact with the relator when I gave him the contact information. I did however inform the realtor of my referral and provided contact information for the client. I typically schedule to follow up with my clients to check in with them when ever there's a life changing event going on in their life. The next go round when I followed up with my client he was back home here in GA, renting an apartment. I reminded my client of our previous conevrsation, I asked him if he was still looking to purchase a home for his growing family and connected my client and realtor via group text. By following up with my client and realtor I was able to assist with my client finding a home and closing hassle-free. 

I had a client whose father had just passed away intestate. He wanted to use an estate attorney to help him with his father's stuff but was not ready right then as he wanted to bury his father first. 

I followed up two weeks later via phone

Called again and set up a meeting between the Client and Jack Moore