Centers Of Influence – A Declining Model?
Most advisors have relied on Centers of Influence (COI’s) to build their businesses.
Through relationships with lawyers, accountants, and other financial professionals, it’s been relatively easy to get referrals.
At least until now.
Are you seeing a drying up of consistent referrals from COI’s?
Is it more and more difficult to get new COI’s to trust you and start sending you referrals?
If “yes” to both questions above, you’re not alone.
For years, FMOs, and other “mother ship” industry leaders have been preaching the COI model as the best way to build an advisory business.
That was true, but only until recently, as that channel to high-net-worth clients, has now been commoditized.
When a channel becomes commoditized (everyone is told to use it), it stops working for those who weren’t early adopters.
In theory, finding a COI, approaching them with the message that you can add value to their clients in ways they can’t, sounds like a “no brainer” proposition.
And it is, theoretically.
At this stage of the evolution of the COI model, the majority of COIs have already been approached by many advisors with the exact same proposition.
They’ve heard the pitch before, and they probably already have a relationship with another advisor.
Someone else got there before you.
Are they going to switch from their current referral partner advisor to you?
Maybe, but unlikely, unless you’re willing to court them for many months, maybe even years.
If you believe (as many prominent voices may tell you) that this is the path of least resistance new client acquisition model to grow your business, then ask them how many referrals they have received from their COIs, consistently, every month for the last 12 months.
They’ll probably put it back on you to say: “If you work harder with more outreach, eventually you’ll get there.”
That’s the old “you’re the problem” switch, shifting the truth away from reality.
Here’s what you need to know, the COI model is a “middle man” model, you have no direct access to your ideal clients, unless the COI feels like giving you one of theirs.
To make your business resilient enough to withstand the even bigger seismic shifts coming, you can no longer rely on someone else’s influence for access to new clients.
You must become your own center of influence.
You must become a trusted authority to your ideal client market, so they sit up and pay attention to you.
And if you’ve been relying on COI’s to get where you are, my suggestion to you is to wean yourself off that dependency as soon as possible.
Learn to engineer your own new client acquisition system built on your own authority, not someone else’s.
Your authority and influence, when packaged correctly, can never be commoditized.
To get some help on how to get create your own unique trusted authority influence and positioning, order the complimentary book below along with your consultation.
If you're an ambitious advisor, with a defiant streak (following the crowd isn't your thing), who is overly reliant on referrals, with limited time and resources, but willing to grow and challenge your own thinking -- and you'd be happy with 1 – 2 new high-net-worth clients per month...
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Meet The Author
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is one the most sought-after sales conversion experts for Financial Advisors.
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