Making a recommendation to a friend or family member for a service or product can be both uneasy and rewarding. Maybe you have recommended a favorite restaurant with a “can’t miss” dish only for your friend to come back and say, “It was okay.” Oh, what a letdown!

It’s fantastic to have a trustworthy auto mechanic! You do not have to think twice about where to take your car for repairs. You know your vehicle will be serviced honestly and competently for a fair price.

When that mechanic can provide that same service to a friend, it is a great feeling. But, what if your friend does not have the same experience?

At One Degree Advisors, we strive to provide massive value and an excellent experience. But, let’s be honest, referring a financial advisor may cause some uneasiness.

Here are four considerations:

1. Why You May Want to Refer a Friend or Family Member

They need financial guidance because of:

• A specific question
• A transition in life
• A significant financial event
• Readiness for more significant forward planning

You have seen the benefits of working with us as you have advanced toward your goals and want the same for those you care about.

You believe we genuinely want to guide our clients according to their best interest, and your friend needs someone they can trust.

2. Why You May Hesitate to Refer a Friend or Family Member

• They may have a bad experience, and it will reflect on you.
• You are not sure if they are a good fit for us to help. Do they “qualify”?
• You are unsure if we have the availability to take on new clients.
• You do not know if the cost will exceed their expectations.
• They may get pushed off to a low-level associate.
• This is their life savings! This is no small deal, and that’s a lot of responsibility on you!

Those are natural concerns.

3. What to Expect

In a quest to help your friends and family succeed and minimize those concerns, let’s provide a rundown of what your friend or family member would expect if you refer them to One Degree Advisors.

We understand that your friend’s experience (even on a brief call) may reflect on you, so we want to provide them with a positive experience.

THE INTRODUCTION

Your friend is ultimately in charge of how they want to meet us. We can reach out to them, or they can reach out to us. If they want you to provide a personal introduction, that is good with us.

What we won’t do is bug them with repeated phone calls or emails. If their interest fades, we understand and will move on.

A QUICK CHAT

Before we schedule a meeting, we like to talk with prospective clients for approximately 15 minutes.

The objective is simply to listen to their primary questions, concerns, and expectations. If we may be able to help, we’ll schedule an introductory meeting.

They can go to our website and schedule a complimentary call with us by clicking Get Started.

If it is apparent that we are not a good fit to help them, we will steer them in the right direction. Often, this means pointing them to helpful resources or even addressing some of their basic questions. We understand that your friend’s experience (even on a brief call) may reflect on you, so we want to provide them with a positive experience.

THE MEETING

Whether this takes place via an in-person meeting, video call or phone call, we listen to prospective clients expand on their objectives and financials. This meeting is complimentary as we explore moving forward. If we can help, we will begin to outline a path forward. This includes our initial ideas on strategies that may be helpful and how we can provide value.

This discussion may transition into a second meeting, but either way, we outline a process and fee schedule so they know what to expect and can make an informed decision. We summarize our “top of the head” ideas as we want them to see how quality planning can provide valuable and actionable strategies relevant to them. It’s perfectly fine if they want to take time to think about moving forward.

 

THE RELATIONSHIP

If a prospective client decides to become a client, they are entrusting us with a big responsibility. We understand that. On our website, we outline our fiduciary oath, which we believe guides the relationship and builds trust.

4. Your Concerns, and How We Address Them

They may have a bad experience, and it will reflect on you.

We understand you are entrusting us, so it gives us one more incentive to provide massive value and an excellent experience.

You are not sure if they are a good fit for us to help. Do they “qualify”?

We start with a brief phone call to alleviate your concern if we are a good fit to help. Even if we cannot help, we will steer them in a beneficial direction and make their experience (even if brief) an excellent one.

You are unsure if we have the availability to take on new clients.

We are growing as a firm and manage our availability accordingly while maintaining a watchful eye on providing the best experience for you and our current clients. If the current season does not allow us to serve a new client well, we will explain that we cannot currently take them on without sacrificing our standards to current clients. We are happy to refer another wonderful advisor if they choose not to wait.  

You do not know if the cost will exceed their expectations.

This is why we outline fees transparently before they commit to working with us. Most everyone understands that we charge for our services. If they do not see that the value will exceed the fee, it is perfectly acceptable to choose a different path to financial advice.

We also have our Ignite program for growing investors – a cost-effective, professional, growth-centered path to financial success. 

They may get pushed off to a low-level associate.

We work as a team at One Degree and we believe that each client should have a primary advisor. These are not exclusive but rather the optimal combination to providing thorough, competent, and trusted service.

All of our advisors are Certified Financial Planner™ certificants, so each advisor has completed Master’s level education and a comprehensive board exam to go along with our consistent internal collaboration.

This is their life savings! This is no small deal, and that’s a lot of responsibility on you!

You got that right! We understand our role and your confidence and do not take either lightly. This is why we strive to provide massive value and an excellent experience.

It is also why we are big proponents of our clients’ engaging a strong financial team for collaboration in the areas of tax preparation and planning, estate planning and real estate matters. A strong team willing to collaborate can cooperate to provide general and specific expertise and accountability.

We appreciate your confidence in us and hope this summary helps you to better understand what happens when you refer a friend or family member to One Degree Advisors. Besides a personal phone call or email, any referrals are also welcome to arrange the initial 15-minute call directly on our website to Get Started with us.