A strategic partner is another professional, who is not a competitor, that serves your target market. While most will immediately think of accountants and attorneys, notice we didn’t say just financial professionals. Any other professional who would have discussions about finances, at some level. For example, look at attorneys, accountants, retirement community directors, luxury car dealers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, P&C agents, etc.
COIs, Strategic Partners, Strategic Alliances. No matter what you call it, advisors have strived for decades to set up referral arrangements with different professionals.
How?
Through talks with CPAs and attorneys; meeting in person with real estate agents, running CE courses for CPAs, getting together face-to-face with real estate agents or bankers; even joining networking groups. Countless brochures have been dropped off and lunches paid for, often to no avail.
So, how and why are some advisors so successful with it?
There are many ways to try and find new strategic partners. You can use campaigns, ask your clients, or even search the phone book.
Once you‘ve gathered your list, you will need to manage that list between potential partners, partners you are interviewing, and partners you are developing relationships with.
Most financial advisors meet only once or twice with their potential strategic partners before they just start sending business their way. However, without properly establishing the relationship, the ‘partnership’ quickly becomes a one-way street, and most advisors don’t get business sent back.
So, how do you solve this problem?
By going through a very specific meeting process that gives you an opportunity to assess if you even WANT to send business to a potential strategic partner, and if they really have the capacity to reciprocate and send you the kind of clients you are looking for.
Once you have met with, and evaluated, your potential strategic partners, you want to hit the ground running as quickly as possible.
You want your new strategic partners to see that this relationship will be active and profitable right away.
And you want to see the same response back to you.