Registered Rep Article #1

Tap into the Power of Your Personal “Why”

Your Secret Weapon to Differentiation in a Look-Alike Marketplace

By Bill Cates, CSP, CPAE

President, Referral Coach International

Author: Get More Referrals Now! (McGraw-Hill) and Beyond Referrals (McGraw-Hill)

(This blog article is excerpted from Bill Cates’ newest multi-media book, Beyond Referrals.)

Alternative Article Titles:
Telling Your Story – Selling Your Value

Connecting with Prospects and Clients through Your Story
Bringing Passion into Your Sales Process

I need to tell you about a phone call I just had with one of my clients. I conducted a webinar called How to Get Referrals without Asking. A day later I got an email from a financial professional named Carol. The email said, “I can’t believe it. I’m not usually very good at getting referrals. I used one of your strategies from the webinar and have received eight unsolicited referrals in the last two days.” Naturally I had to talk to her about it to see what she was doing so I could share it with you.

It turned out she was using the incredibly powerful strategy of talking about herPersonal Why. Let me ask you… Why are you in this business? Whydo you believe in the work you do? Let’s be honest. You probably got into this business because you could make a lot of money, maybe have flexibility with your schedule, and you liked the product and/or service you offer. But somewhere – hopefully very early in your career – you realized that you actually helped people/businesses. And maybe you had something in your past… some personal story related to what you do. Maybe a problem or disaster. Maybe something a mentor said to you. Or perhaps a great lesson you learned.

This advisor, Carol, had experienced a very unfortunate financial set back earlier in her life. Devastating, in fact. So she vowed to do her best to make sure that this sort of thing never happens to anyone else. She looks at her prospects and says, “My reason for being in this business is to make sure no one experiences what I went through. She talks about her personal why. She becomes extremely “human” to her prospects and clients. This creates a connecting to both her value proposition and to her as a person. And it’s the engagement that the prospect feels in these two areas that creates the referability and creates thedesire of the prospect to work with her. So Carol is bringing on more new clients and getting referrals without even asking; just by using the power of her Personal Why.

What is Your Personal Why?

Not sure what your why is? Ask yourself these questions and see if it comes up naturally:

Why am I in this business?
Why do I believe in the work I do?
Why am I with the company I’m with now?
Why am I excited about the company I’m with?
Why am Imore excited about this work than I’ve ever been before in my career?

Everyone’s why is different. What is your why?

Not long ago, I was speaking at a conference for financial advisors. After my main platform presentation, my client asked me to visit with her 24 top producers. She asked each of them to tell their personal whys. By the time we were finished, everyone’s eyes were a little moist. Many of the stories and examples were quite touching. A few of these advisors were in the habit of telling their “why” with prospects and clients. When we were done, they were all on board. They all saw the power and vowed to make this a standard part of their appointments with prospective clients.

Be Proactive with Your Why

Very few prospects or clients will ask you “Why do you do what you do?” So you usually have to find a natural way to bring it up in the conversation. Tack it on to something you always discuss with prospects. “So that’s a sense of our initial process with our new clients. I’d like to take a minute to tell you why I’m in this business and why I’m more excited about it now than ever before. I think it’s relevant to your decision as to who you go with.” Something like that. You get the point.

Bring This Up in the First Meeting

In most cases, I recommend you bring this up in your very first meeting with a new prospect. Because your WHY helps people feel more engaged with you, it goes a long way in influencing their decision to work with you in the first place. Not only can this create referrals without asking for them, this simple strategy will help you attract more new clients.

You Might Have More Than One Why

I’ve worked with a number of advisors who have developed more than one Why. They choose which one to share depending on who they’re with. Sometimes, they’ll tell one Why in the first meeting, then tell another one a few meetings later (saying to the client, “Here’s another reason why I do what I do…”)

I guarantee that when you get to your Personal Why – the energy in the room will change. Your prospect(s) will listen more intently. You’ll set yourself apart from the others with whom they are considering working.

Do you have what it takes to build a thriving referral-based business? Want to see how you stack up against other businesses and professionals? Take the 3-minute Referral Assessment:

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Bill Cates is the author of Get More Referrals Now!and Beyond Referrals (including the all new Beyond Referrals Multi-Media Edition). Subscribe to his free video tips: Bill works with businesses of all sizes and other professionalswho want to attract more high-level clients/customers through a steady and predictable flow of word of mouth, referrals, and personal introductions. To learn more about his live presentations, online training systems, and other tools, bot to or email your questions or interest to him directly at .