Most Popular ArticlesReferral Relationships
May 19, 2009
4. Send Greeting Cards
Send greeting cards throughout the year to your COIs to keep your name top-of-mind. The holidays are always a great time to send cards, but also consider a birthday or other special event card. It will show your COIs that you pay attention to details and take great care with your relationships. They will make the obvious connection that this is how clients they refer to you would be treated as well. You can use a service like SendOutCards.com that will remind you of events and send the cards for you using your personal handwriting font.
5. Send Newsletters
Chances are you are already sending a newsletter to your clients. Why not include your COIs on the distribution list? It doesn’t require any extra work and it is one more opportunity to keep your name in front of those professionals. Plus, it gives them an understanding of your investment and planning philosophy.
If you implement these five suggestions, you will touch your COIs 12 times in a year, not including any additional phone calls or emails you may exchange in between marketing activities. To see what an action plan would look like, I have included a sample calendar below.
COI Cultivation Calendar |
||
Month 1 |
Month 2 |
Month 3 |
Send Newsletter |
Quarterly Networking Event |
Schedule Lunch |
Month 4 |
Month 5 |
Month 6 |
Send Newsletter |
Quarterly Networking Event |
Greeting Card |
Month 7 |
Month 8 |
Month 9 |
Send Newsletter |
Quarterly Networking Event |
Schedule Lunch |
Month 10 |
Month 11 |
Month 12 |
Send Newsletter |
Quarterly Networking Event |
Greeting Card |
Integrating a professional referral program into your marketing plan requires relatively little effort and opens up a new channel for clients. The keys to success are using your CRM system to ensure no one falls through the cracks and creating an action plan to regularly reach your COIs. Properly nurturing your COI relationships will successfully create another source of clients, to supplement referrals and your other marketing efforts.
Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing advice and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit www.WealthManagementMarketing.net.
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