Don’t Overlook Your “Competition” as a Potential Referral Partner

When seeking good networking opportunities or referral partners, it’s easy to consider the obvious ones. For trusts and estates attorneys, you’ve already thought about networking with life insurance agents and financial advisors. If you’re a mortgage broker, you have your common real estate agent and closing attorney relationships.

Every now and then, we need to think outside the box and consider how we can work together with our “competition.” I put the word “competition” in quotes, because for many of us, there really is enough business for everyone out there. I’m a financial advisor in a small affluent town, and I know most of the other advisors in town, but I almost never run into them in a competitive situation trying to land a new client. I’m fortunate to work in an industry where the sharing of ideas and techniques is commonplace, and my best ideas for marketing, investment management and running my business are often the result of informal chats with other so-called competitors. When there are scandals or negative headlines in the financial world, it paints us all with the same broad brush. Conversely, when you meet other professionals who are honest, trustworthy and really good at what they do, it makes us all look good.

Today I had coffee with a related professional in my town (he does insurance and I do investment management). Is there some overlap in what we do? Sure there is. But as we spoke, it became clear to me that he has expertise in some areas that I am only mildly familiar with- I’d like to think I have some pretty darn good ideas myself, of course, too. Rather than focusing on our areas of overlap, we discussed ways that we can work together with clients and create the best of all scenarios- the win, win, win. You’ve all heard of the win-win situation, but my favorite is the win-win-win… he wins, I win and, most importantly, the client wins- bigtime!

While some professionals might fear that bringing in another colleague to a customer relationship indicates a lack of knowledge or experience, nothing could be further from the truth. Your clients do business with you because of your integrity and expertise in your field. Bringing in an expert when you are in over your head or sailing in uncharted waters enhances your reputation and once again proves your integrity. It’s better to tell your client today that you need some help, than for them to discover it the hard way on their own years from now.

If you have a great idea or certain niche specialties, share these with your so-called competition and you’ll uncover some wonderful new business opportunities. It’s taken you a while to develop that expertise- their time is better spent focusing on their core business, not trying to learn a new specialty. They’ll be glad to have a valuable new resource and create more win-win-win situations.