How to Build Stronger Alliance Partner Referral Relationships

Well, hey everyone, Steve Salvia here from blackwing.com.au.

Today I wanted to shift our focus a bit and dive in on the most important parts of building strategic alliance or referral partnerships in your financial planning business – and that’s the actual Alliance Partner positioning meeting.

The actual meeting itself.

The part where you meet face to face, or by ZOOM or Skype – it can even be done by phone if you know how to do it…

See, there’s some big mistakes that most financial planners make when setting up these referral alliances that either make or break the quality – and the longevity – of your relationship.

You might think this positioning is straight forward, but it’s a little bit more complicated than that.

That’s where we’re heading in today’s Boost Your Business Blog.

Keep watching if you want more alliance referrals!

One of the questions (or complaints really…) that I get all the time from financial planners at all different levels is the one that goes something like…

“Steve, I’ve got several relationships with other professionals… (Accountants, Mortgage Brokers, Lawyers, General Insurance…). 

But the problem is that I barely get any referrals from them at all…

Or the one’s that I get sent thru are in an absolute mess – basket cases – and because my alliances partners have sent it thru…, I feel compelled to take it on cos I don’t wanna ruin the relationship…!

It’s like they never think of me until there’s a catastrophe to be fixed and it ends up landing on my lap…!”

Have you ever had that situation arise before…?

Yeah, me too.

That is until I completely re-engineered the way I set my referral arrangements up and it completely changed the quality – and the volume of referrals that started to come thru!

I recalibrated what to say. When to say it. Reengineered the entire conversation… and built a really tight framework around the actual mechanics of a well-crafted commitment conversation with potential Alliance Partners.

See, what I’ve noticed in talking to financial planners about the discussions they have at the start of a referral partnership…

It’s almost like financial planners go into these relationships kinda ‘cap in hand’… asking – almost begging for referrals…

To the point when the initial engagement meeting is all about how many referrals they can send and how can they be incentivized to do it.

And that way might have worked 15,10, 20 years ago…, but it’s not what a professional alliance relationship is all about for a modern financial planner.

These days, it’s more about how to give incredible value – in genuine way – and gain the Trust and the momentum of your Alliance.

And at the same time – you get a really good dividend and a reward for your effort – leverage!!

It’s about TRUST TRANSFERENCE!

What do I mean by that…? 

Well, what I mean is that somebody out there – your alliance partner – who has already spent years of their life and $$$000’s of dollars building a relationship with the exact prospects that you wanna work with.

They’ve got trust, and you don’t!

You’re a complete stranger. 

They don’t know you from a bar of soap.

So, what we want is some of that trust – to be rubbed off onto you.

We’re not talking about a referral relationship any more…

Now were talking about an ‘endorsement relationship’

It’s almost like…. Ahhhh… it’s almost like – you kneel down in front of them and they take their crown off and put their crown on you…! 

Your alliance partner endorses you to their clients because they can see value in having you in their world and there’s a benefit to their clients as well.

So literally, the name of the game is to have them introduce you as an expert to their list. 

So that their trust…. Transfers and rubs off on you.

So, you can skip all of the SLOW relationship building stuff – the Know, Like & Trust factor…

And jump straight into – thru stranger, and straight thru friend, so that you have that trust straight away.

There’s a 3-step approach that we use inside Coaching Club™ called the Serve & Strategise Meeting.

It’s a 45 – 60-minute meeting that you have with your potential Alliances to find out:

1. If they’re a fit for your business and; 
2. How much you can help them and add value. 

And in doing that you create a rock-solid bond built on Value TO each other and Trust IN each other.

It helps get you really clear on what’s driving your potential alliance partners and how you can become valuable to them.

If building stronger – more lucrative referral alliance partnerships is something that’s been playing on your mind this year, you should check out our Serve & Strategise Alliance Engagement video.

I take you thru exactly what to say, when to say it, how to uncover what’s important to your alliance partners (and that’s really what’s gonna make your relationship stand out right…), and the three simple frameworks to use when you first get together.

It’s incredibly powerful and sets things up properly right from the get-go.

To get access, just hit me up with the word…… *REFERRALS* in the message, and I’ll get someone to reach out and share the link with you. 

Anyway, this has been fun.

I could talk about referrals and strategic alliances all day. I love it and I reckon there’s a bit of an artform around building strong relationships with alliance partners that’s being a little bit lost lately… so I’d love to help you – if you’re keen – to get better relationships with your referral partners.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’m Steve Salvia. Let’s go out there and ‘smash’ your alliance partnerships.

Take good care.

Talk to you soon.