Blog Post #22- ACCOUNTANT PRIMARY REFERRAL TARGETS

ACCOUNTANT PRIMARY REFERRAL TARGETS

Alright, so let’s review the Accountant now.

MM:  Well, the Accountant as we all know has an incredible opportunity.  Just like the Financial Advisor, they have the opportunity to refer almost every professional just from the organic nature of their business.  They are viewed as an advisor.   

JB:  Yeah.  It’s like the Financial Advisor.  It’s the same sort of thing. People look to them for advice. 

MM:  Here’s the big thing.  A critical thing for the Accountant is that everyone needs to speak with their Accountant every single year. 

JB:  Yeah, absolutely.  It’s a huge benefit.  The Annual Review is built in every year. 

MM:  It’s the one professional that interaction is required.  Transactional and relations aspects are combined where there is 100% trust in following recommendations, and everyone needs to do their taxes every year.  All of the other professionals, it’s typically on a voluntary basis which creates procrastination on the client’s part. 

So the Accountant really has a unique opportunity. 

JB:  Yeah, procrastination is one of the biggest enemies to a financial plan.  The earlier the better.  It gives more time for a financial plan, cheaper life insurance, and all that kind of stuff.

MM:  Exactly.  That’s why the Accountant’s participation is so critical.  People come to the Accountant, like I said, like the Financial Advisor and the Estate Planning Attorney, looking for advice on what financial moves to make.  So, the sooner the recommendation is made, the better it is for the client.  The big issue I have found is Accountants sometimes don’t look for the opportunity to refer.  I think it’s because they are doing so many tax returns that they are just getting through it and they are not really focusing on which partners to refer.  

JB:  Yeah, I agree Mark.  With just a couple introductory emails, the Accountant can get the ball rolling with someone who may normally procrastinate.  I also agree that the best thing about the Accountant is a built-in, required Annual Review because everyone has to do their taxes on a yearly basis. 

Less than 10% of people preview their financial plan on a yearly basis simply because they don’t have to do it. 

So, who are the Accountant’s primary referral points in the Core7 standards since like the Financial Advisor, they have so many opportunities?  

MM:  The primary referral targets for the Accountant are the Financial Advisor and the Real Estate Agent. And very similar to the Financial Advisor, the trick is that the Accountant has to stay focused on their primary referral targets because they really do have so many opportunities.

JB:  Alright, let’s start with the Financial Advisor.   

MM:  Great. When it comes to the accountant referring the Financial Advisor, there is a ton of opportunities just from a simple tax return.

JB:  Sure, there are tons, but give us a few examples.

MM:  That’s very true.  The Accountant has the authority to ask questions very bluntly.  For example,

• ‘Have you considered that you may be too heavily invested in no-taxable funds?’
• ‘Do you have enough life insurance if something were to happen to you?’
• ‘Do you have enough disability insurance if you are ever unable to work?’
• ‘Have you thought about college planning for your children?’

This all leads into, “How is your relationship with your Financial Advisor who specializes in this area?”

JB:  Absolutely Mark.  There are so many questions from a single 1040 that create opportunities for this kind of referral.

How would an Accountant introduce a Financial Advisor to a high Net Worth individual?

MM:  That’s a great question. It’s important for an Accountant where it is common to be working with someone who has significant assets.  Using the Umbrella Policy to introduce the Financial Advisor is a good segue.  The Accountant would say, “You have significant assets.  How is your relationship with your Financial Advisor who specializes in working with clients who have a Net Worth over 5 million dollars?” depending upon what their Net Worth is.

JB:  It’s good stuff Mark.  Tell us about some of the other opportunities.

MM:  When it comes to the Accountant, there are just so many opportunities to refer a Financial Advisor.

Another great opportunity is for the self-employed business owner.  Sometimes the Accountant is the only advisor they have so a great question is, “Tell me about your team.  Who other than me is helping you manage the important decisions regarding your business?” 

Then, “How is your relationship with your Financial Advisor who can help us with that?”

There is just so much opportunity. 

JB:  Yeah, I’m with you on that.  It’s a great opportunity because the Accountant’s referrals are taken so seriously. 

MM:  Absolutely.  The Accountant is viewed by the client as an expert and a respected advisor.  It should be very easy to ask the Referral Generator Question to each and every client they speak with. 

JB:  Yeah, I think you are right.  It would be easy to ask that question for anyone in Core7, but even easier for the Accountant. 

So all of these questions could be used as segues for all of the Core7 partners when they discuss this information. 

MM:  Yes, that’s true. As we mentioned earlier, the partners who understand everyone else’s role in the Core7 system, they find and create the most opportunities and the end result is more referrals.  The fact is that the partners that give the most referrals also receive the most referrals.   

JB:  Yeah, and you know there are unlimited opportunities to refer the Financial Advisor who is basically the quarterback of somebody’s life plan. 

So who are the other primary targets for the Accountant?

MM:  Like many of the other professionals, the Realtor is the other primary referral target for the Accountant.  This is very simple. 

As we discussed earlier, if the client owns property, just like the Financial Advisor, it’s easy for an Accountant to ask how their relationship is with their Realtor who specializes in Equity Assessments, and then discuss an introduction to the Core7 Realtor partner for an Equity Assessment so an accurate Net Worth calculation can be done. 

Very simple and easily done.   

JB:  Yep.  Now I think the Accountant has an awesome opportunity if the client doesn’t own a property by discussing the tax benefits of home ownership.  What if the client doesn’t own property?

MM:  That’s a great point to bring up Justin.  I actually think the Accountant may be the most important professional to address this because they are the only Financial Professional that is going to be talking to a new client who doesn’t own a home.

As we have mentioned earlier, they probably haven’t spoken with a Financial Advisor because the purchase of the home is usually their number one, first financial investment. 

JB:  Yep. 

MM:  So for example, if a client doesn’t own a property, this is a great opportunity for the Accountant to discuss the benefit of homeownership and also where the client wants to live.  This tees up the Referral Generator.  Let’s say the client says they would love to live in Boston.  It’s a perfect segue to just say, “Great. How is your relationship with your Real Estate Agent who specializes in properties in Boston?”

ACCOUNTANT SECONDARY REFERRAL TARGETS

JB:  Okay. Let’s talk about the secondary targets for the Accountant. 

MM:  The secondary referral targets for the Accountant are the Property & Casualty Insurance Agent, the Estate Planning Attorney and the Mortgage Originator. 

And very similarly to the Financial Advisor, the Accountant should make introductions to these professionals at the proper time as they naturally happen.

As I said earlier, the Accountant and the Financial Advisor have so much opportunity that they have to be more disciplined and stay more focused on their primary referral targets. 

JB:  Give some examples of the secondary targets so we can all be clear on that.

MM:  Sure.  A great example is the Mortgage Originator when rates are lower.  Again, I stress that the goal here is to free up cash flow for dollar cost averaging.  These are the opportunities where people can increase their retirement savings and really make a difference. 

JB:  I’d like to point out that one of the advantages of the Core7 meeting is that all the partners in Core7 are kept up to date on things like where rates are, good investments to make, etc.  They just share information either in the group meetings or the one-on-one meetings. 

MM:  Absolutely.  The consistent meetings will keep you up to speed with the mortgage industry as well as some of the other industry norms.  These are the types of things that are specifically discussed in the One-On-One Partnership meetings. 

JB:  Just by getting together systematically can make all the difference. Give us a quick overview of the format you follow for the One-On-One meetings or the Partnership Planning Sessions.

MM:  The One-On-One meetings are very simple. I’ll give a very high level explanation.  Basically, how are we doing, how are we doing on the key cross-selling points, and what can we do to be better?  Those three questions.  That’s it.  It’s just to really discuss and hone the process and get some real honest, candid feedback. 

 JB:  Now let’s go over the Mastermind questions that are asked of the Accountant.

ACCOUNTANT ACCOUNTABILTY QUESTIONS

MM:  The questions that need to be asked at each meeting

1. How many clients did you speak with last month?
2. How did your clients respond to the Referral Generator question to refer the Financial Advisor?
3. How did the Equity Assessment cross-sell of your Realtor go?
4. (If it is tax time) How many tax returns did you do and have you been cross-selling by email and when you speak with your clients?

 JB:  It’s hard to hide from these questions.  It’s difficult to say no to these referrals.