How should you thank clients for referrals?
Everybody knows you should thank clients when they refer business to you. But financial advisors can’t agree on the right way to express their thanks.
Is a verbal thank you at your next client meeting enough? How about adding a card, gift or discount on your professional services? Often your response depends on the nature of your relationship with the client and the value of their referral.
If you decide on a card, must it be handwritten? Or could you use an automated service such as SendOutCards? I know advisors on both sides of this debate.
Some advisors reward referrals with a discount on their fees. Others shrink from this approach. They feel discounts make clients question the validity of their pricing. The non-discounters may prefer to buy dinner or send a gift to the referral source.
What do YOU think? Express your opinion in the poll you’ll find in the right-hand column of this blog. I’ll share the results of the poll in my April e-newsletter. (Note: The poll is no longer active, but you can read the results on page 3 of my archived newsletter.)
Related posts
* Guest post: “The Lost Art of the Thank You Card”
* “You” can help your job hunting “thank you”
Update on June 23, 2013: The combination of urLetters and urFont might substitute for SendOutCards with something that appears handwritten. Learn more about the two apps in “App puts a techie twist on writing letters,” which appeared in The Boston Globe. I haven’t tried either app because I prefer to write longhand.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net