Experts say the number one marketing strategy to build your business is asking for referrals. It’s one of the most efficient and economical ways to build a service-based business. Yet, when I survey an audience of advisors, they tell me they’re only asking for referrals about a third of the time, if that much.
Here is a step-by-step explanation of how your Unmet Needs affect your score on this question:
- Asking for referrals triggers your Unmet Need for approval.
- Your Unmet Need for approval generates the negative emotions of anxiety or fear.
- These negative emotions generate the negative beliefs, “I’m not good enough,” “I don’t know enough,” or “The client might say no.”
- The anxiety and fear continue to trigger the Unmet Need for safety and approval and lock in the negative beliefs.
- You don’t ask for the referral, OR (worse) your client picks up on the Unmet Need, negative emotions and negative beliefs and that affects his or her confidence in you as an advisor.
This article was originally published in Curing The Unmet Needs Disease © Simon Reilly 2008
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