How to Pin-Point Opportunities with Potential Referral Partners

coffeemeetingtodayGetting comfortable with facilitating VALUABLE face to face meetings with potential referral partners such as, Realtors, Financial Planners, CPAs, Attorneys & Insurance Agents is the key to opening up opportunities and quickly identifying if the person with whom you are meeting, is a good target for you for cross-referral purposes or not.

It’s important to have a set of open-ended questions prepared that will allow the other person to be in the spot light and share their business growth goals, hopes, ideas and challenges with you so that you can pin-point ways in which you can help them and vice versa.

Here are two sets of questions that I hope will aid you in this extremely important endeavor, which is a key pillar to growing your business…

Questions for Financial Planners, CPAs & Insurance Agents

  1. What types of marketing methods or lead-generating type activities are you engaging in this year to grow your business?
  2. How are you hoping to separate yourself from the competition, your brand, your special services, tools or systems you offer, etc?
  3. Where do you network or what groups or memberships or associations are you a part of that helps you to meet people and add them to your database?
  4. Do you ever give presentation or, “Lunch-n-Learns” for your clients or for the general public?
  5. If you felt zero fear, what would you do in order to build-up your business?

Questions for Realtors

  1. What types of marketing methods or lead-generating type activities are you engaging in this year to grow your business?
  1. How are you hoping to separate yourself from the competition, your brand, your special services, tools or systems you offer, etc?
  2. Where do you network or what groups or memberships or associations are you a part of that helps you to meet people and add them to your database?
  3. What do you feel are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve seen Realtors make, that you want to make sure to avoid?
  4. What types of scenarios have been creating hiccups for you and your clients in terms of closing deals and working within today’s mortgage loan processing environment? (This is how we get them to open up about “complaints” “gripes” “mishaps/disappointments” with other Lenders)
  5. Is there any type of home buyer situation that has been tripping up your team, such as condos, 203K, VA buyers, buyers from overseas, down payment assistance issues, etc.?

Come prepared to your face to face meetings, ready to facilitate, ready to inquire, ready to listen!