We’ll keep this first post short, sweet, and incredibly practical. We all want that magic bullet. That thing that gets us four more work free "deals" this quarter, right? Well, it doesn’t exist. So instead of whining about marketing, let’s look to the calendar for a drop dead simple, 1.0 way to get a little bit of scratch this month.
We all know what happened last Tuesday, right? It was tax day.
Lots of people thought about their finances, lots of people talked to their local CPAs. Loads of CPAs saw lots of financial statements, heard why people were freeing up cash, maybe a few even heard the sugar-sweet phrase ‘1031,’ just days ago.
And you know what? Betcha a Starbucks they don’t all have trustworthy referral partners to work with.
Betcha that if you grabbed a list of CPAs–now that the CPAs aren’t in tax season–and reached out via ANY authentic method (post cards, friendly calls, offering lunch, whatever you’re comfortable with that gets measurable results), and authentically offered yourself as a trustworthy person to help navigate these turbulent waters…
You’d get solid referrals in days and weeks-not months.
There are dozens of "scripts" you can use, but why not do it in a sentence:
The more direct and more honest, the better. I’ve called CPAs (and financial planners) and uttered a run on sentence: "Hi, I’m Chris Johnson, with ____________. I wanted to reach out and let you know that if you had clients buying a property, I would be honored to help them, and help you make sure it was congruent with their long term goals. Do you have anyone in that category?"
Now, I’ve never once had someone jump through the phone to send me a client. But, I’ve made (too) few of these calls to CPAs. And every time I do, within a couple of hours, I meet someone I connect with, I want to help, and that sends people to me because I reached out. I’m still closing loans from CPAs I met when I was a Realtor. The very fact that you’re willing to talk to a CPA differentiates yourself from your competition…
So eye on the ball, and reach out to your local CPAs today.
Rich Rogala says:
What a great reminder. Reaching out with a phone call or a postcard is such a simple gesture, and it really can pay off with referrals.
Thanks!
April 21, 2008 — 7:43 am
Genuine Chris Johnson says:
Rich-
Your opposition won’t, and EVERY CPA wants a relator or loan guy that will be as conservative as they can be.
Plus, CPAs Financial Planners, Attorneys are powerful because they have one-to-many referal relationships.
~Chris
April 21, 2008 — 9:21 am
rentBits says:
I originally thought CPA of the title was referring to Cost Per Acquisition. I guess this work with Accountants too 🙂
April 22, 2008 — 11:05 am