Referrals as a Source of New Business: A Practitioner Perspective Stuart Grierson, Visiting Research Fellow, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Ross Brennan, Professor of Industrial Marketing, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, [email protected](author for correspondence) Author biographies Dr Stuart Grierson is an experienced senior practitioner. To summarise his business experience, Stuart founded, developed and sold two highly successful professional service firms. He has also been CEO and Non-executive Chairman for two firms in the City of London. His experience embraces sourcing clients, managing fast growing businesses, staff development, succession planning together with negotiating the purchase and disposal of regulated businesses. Stuart holds the academic qualifications of Doctor of Business Administration, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration, BSc (Hons). He also holds numerous professional qualifications including: Chartered Financial Adviser; Fellow of the Chartered Securities & Investment Institute; Certified Financial Planner; Investment Management Certificate; Advanced Taxation & Trusts, and was an examiner for the Institute of Financial Planning (2012-2015). In sum, Dr Grierson offers experience as a practitioner and entrepreneur augmented by academic and professional credentials. 1
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Referrals as a Source of New Business: A Practitioner Perspective
Stuart Grierson, Visiting Research Fellow, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Ross Brennan, Professor of Industrial Marketing, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, [email protected] (author for correspondence)
Author biographies
Dr Stuart Grierson is an experienced senior practitioner. To summarise his business experience, Stuart founded, developed and sold two highly successful professional service firms. He has also been CEO and Non-executive Chairman for two firms in the City of London. His experience embraces sourcing clients, managing fast growing businesses, staff development, succession planning together with negotiating the purchase and disposal of regulated businesses. Stuart holds the academic qualifications of Doctor of Business Administration, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration, BSc (Hons). He also holds numerous professional qualifications including: Chartered Financial Adviser; Fellow of the Chartered Securities & Investment Institute; Certified Financial Planner; Investment Management Certificate; Advanced Taxation & Trusts, and was an examiner for the Institute of Financial Planning (2012-2015). In sum, Dr Grierson offers experience as a practitioner and entrepreneur augmented by academic and professional credentials.
Ross Brennan is professor of industrial marketing at the University of Hertfordshire. His principal research and teaching interests are in business-to-business marketing, social marketing, and marketing pedagogy. Ross is co-author of ‘Marketing: An Introduction’ (with Gary Armstrong, Philip Kotler & Michael Harker), and of ‘Business to Business Marketing’ (with Louise Canning & Ray McDowell). His research has been published in such journals as the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Marketing Education, the European Journal of Marketing, Marketing Theory, and Industrial Marketing Management.
Referrals as a Source of New Business: A Practitioner Perspective
Abstract
It is widely assumed among providers of professional services that conventional marketing methods are largely ineffective and that client referrals are the key to business growth. Furthermore, it is supposed that firms can take steps to generate referrals and that referrals can be actively managed. This paper presents a contrary point of view, arguing that referrals largely arise through processes that lie outside the control of the firm. The actions that firms may take to generate and manage referrals have very little effect on client referral behaviour. In addition, there is confusion and conflation in connection with the concepts of word-of-mouth, recommendation and referral. The article arg1ues that referrals are best conceptualised as a process rather than as a discrete action, and a framework for the referral process is proposed.
Key words
Referral; service business; word-of-mouth; financial advice.
1 This is a pre-print of an article to be published in the Journal of Customer Behavious, Westburn Publishing, https://www.westburn-publishers.com/journals/customer-behaviour/
This article addresses the question of how to acquire clients in professional services
using the UK independent financial advice (IFA) sector as an illustration. Clients are the
lifeblood of professional service firms and sourcing new clients who are able and willing
to pay fees is of paramount importance. Most IFA firms do not have the financial
resources or the brand recognition to embark upon the type of marketing campaigns
available to larger institutions and instead rely on word-of-mouth to obtain new
business.
Financial advice is a highly intangible service where the effectiveness of orthodox
marketing is called into question. Conventional marketing methods, successful in other
fields, are relatively ineffective when it comes to capturing clients for financial advisory
firms. Wealthy consumers are understandably cautious when selecting an advisor and
IFAs have found that they are unlikely to respond to such forms of marketing
communication as direct mail or advertising.
Fashionable methods of acquiring new clients come and go. For example, when
developing his first IFA practice, the first author (Grierson), found ‘marketing seminars’
to be a successful method of attracting new clients, perhaps in part due to the relatively
novel nature of such seminars at that time. However, by the middle 1990’s it became
evident that new entrants had also realised the potential of seminars. With widespread
use, growing investor cynicism and better-informed investors, gradually the
effectiveness of seminars declined.
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Just about every conceivable marketing strategy has been tried to acquire new IFA
clients including: advertising, local and national; mailings, mail and hand drops:
seminars; buying and renting mailing lists and leads; employing lead generation
consultants; business lunches and breakfast networking; sports sponsorship including
professional football and squash clubs; distribution of promotional items; billboards;
speaking at events for investment clubs, rotary and lions’ clubs, ladies’ circles,
corporate resettlement courses; writing articles for magazines and journals;
appearances on national radio; forging commercial links with accountancy and law
firms; and, utilising equity for influence.
Save for the questionable value of enhancing brand awareness, Grierson found that
none of the above strategies could be relied upon to generate new clients.
When conventional marketing methods fail to acquire sufficient new clients, the
professional service provider may turn to other avenues. There are plenty of consultants
only too willing to provide ‘secret’ strategies to attract new clients, for a fee. In particular,
there are systems that claim to generate client referrals. Indeed, it seemed widely
accepted that referrals were regarded as the magic ingredient for growing a client base.
However, no evidence was provided that systems to generate referrals worked, or that
anyone really understood how referrals came about. With a deep-seated scepticism for
magic referrals solutions, born out of 30 years’ experience, first author Grierson
embarked on a qualitative study of the referral process, the results of which are
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summarised below. In brief, the qualitative data gathering process comprised 61 semi-
structured interviews, of which 20 were with financial advice professionals (practitioner
interviews), 26 with clients using professional financial advice services, and 15 with
private individuals who choose to manage their own financial portfolio and not to use
professional financial advice. The interviewees were identified initially using the
professional network of the first author, and then additional interviewees were obtained
through snowballing, that is, by asking interviewees for introductions to subsequent
interviewees. Although the sampling process was non-random, successful efforts were
made to achieve a reasonably diverse group of consumers (i.e. clients of financial
advisors, and interviewees managing their own portfolios). As is to be expected, these
interviewees were drawn from relatively well-remunerated walks of life, such as
solicitors, accountants, civil servants, and successful self-employed business-people
including a landscape gardener and a restaurant owner. Interviews were transcribed
and thematic qualitative coding was carried out on the interview transcripts. Further
methodological details of the interviews can be found in Grierson & Brennan (2017) and
Grierson (2015).
The practitioner perspective
The assumption that asking for referrals is effective appears to be so widely held that it
was intriguing to explore whether or not it is valid. Almost all IFA practitioner
interviewees stated that they rarely or never asked for referrals. It was fascinating to
hear advisors say that they believe that they influence clients to refer by ‘asking
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indirectly’ when most rarely or never ask for referrals. It is therefore unsurprising to find
that advisors’ resort to other indirect tactics in order to ‘make it subliminally known that I
am interested in referrals’. Perhaps acknowledging their reluctance to ask for referrals,
many advisors said that they sought to ‘ask without asking’.
During the interviews, advisors were asked how they generated referrals. This yielded a
number of interesting replies, chief among them is the notion that advisors believe they
can influence clients to become ambassadors, who will consciously seek out new
clients, to refer. This idea was explored during interviews with clients of IFAs, since,
evidently, advisors believe that they influence existing clients to refer. However, no
evidence was found to support the notion of ‘customer-initiated referrals’, whereby
consumers are willing to become ‘unpaid’ advisor ‘advocates’ (Buttle,1998:245). Indeed,
it was found that clients were unwilling to countenance being part of any marketing
process as ‘it’s not up to me to find work for my advisors…they are paid to do a job of
work’.
It seems therefore that something resembling a paradox arises. The paradox of referrals
is that, on the one hand, it is not understood whether referrals can be solicited but, on
the other hand, certain advisors claim to be successful referral generators. However,
when interpreting the results, the number of referrals claimed often seemed inconsistent
with the size and resources available to the firm, suggesting that the number of referrals
claimed by advisors should be treated with a degree of caution. A possible explanation
for this contradiction is that overestimations may reflect a desire to be perceived as a
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recipient of referrals, which some in the advice community undoubtedly view as
signifying a badge of quality. It was also apparent in the discussions with advisors that a
referral is held in high esteem, seemingly regarding them as a form of endorsement of
their own professional capability.
None of the practitioners interviewed had a clearly defined marketing strategy. IFA firms
also view orthodox forms of marketing as ineffective and consequently, none was
implementing a formal marketing strategy. The founders of IFA firms explained that they
had experimented with forms of marketing, including digital, ‘without success’ and now
placed greater reliance on referrals from introductory sources which they find are more
‘cost effective’ and ‘successful’ (Brush et al, 2009:489). Practitioners view referrals to be
crucial and value referrals above all other sources of new client capture.
Several inconsistencies have been detected, notably that while advisors believe they
should ask for referrals the data suggests that they are reluctant to do so, and that while
clients are prepared to refer they are unwilling to introduce someone without a prior
request. A body of assumptive language and embedded beliefs has built up
concerning referrals, supported by the consultancy industry, professional bodies and
others, and characterised by an absence of empirical evidence.
In the search for a definition for referrals, an interesting sub-plot emerged. It was
found that, despite denigrating those who sell products while appreciating that
‘persuasion’ is usually associated with a sales process (Johlke, 2006:319), advisors
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feel it is necessary to persuade consumers to buy their service. This reveals a further
paradox. Like many professionals providing services (such as doctors, lawyers and
accountants), IFAs like to see themselves as disinterested experts who are largely or
wholly detached from the commercial business of acquiring clients and generating new
business. However, the fact remains that their businesses need new clients if they are
to survive and thrive (and if the advisor is to maintain a healthy income). Therefore,
advisors face the inescapable (and possibly dissonant) fact that their client interactions
inevitably involve some component of sales and marketing, much as Gummesson
(1991) emphasised the role of the part-time marketer in service businesses.
IFAs have not found an effective marketing strategy and all appear to accept that
referrals cannot be elicited or predicted. No firm had a networking or referral strategy
with many conceded that they merely ‘waited for the telephone to ring’. To some extent,
the rejection of marketing strategies and the reliance on referrals suggests that advisors
believe that consumers will wish to utilise a service just because it exists. However,
authors argue that marketing is necessary and dismiss the notion that just being
available for business will attract consumers (De Brentani & Ragot, 1996).
The interviews with practitioners did not identify any advisor currently using a referral
programme, which was a surprise given the proliferation of offerings on the internet and
their promotion by consultancy services. Scholars were found to be sceptical that
operational referral programs are effective (Zeithaml et al, 1985) and, while others
argue that retention may be enhanced through effective communication, detecting
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academic support for a connection with referrals is problematic (Sharma &
Paterson,1999). When asked directly about referral programs, advisors seemed
unimpressed. One made it clear that he had little faith in ‘lead generation schemes as
the database they use is rarely kept up to date’, while another simply said ‘a friend
bought one and it failed’. The collective view from advisors about referral programmes
among advisors can best be summarised by the following comment: ‘I made a
conscious decision not to use a referral program, I don’t think any of these firms really
care what they give you as long as they get paid for it’.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding referral generation, large numbers of practitioners,
commercial enterprises and academics appear to have implicit beliefs that referrals can
be managed. However, it is observed that this explanation is at odds with research that
considers referrals to be a largely ‘unmanageable marketing phenomenon’ (Helm,
2003:124). There is reason to doubt much of what has been written about referrals by
practitioners, consultants and other industry participants. Industry journals, magazines
and organisers of events targeted at practitioners perpetuate the notion that life
assurance companies, professional bodies and consultancy providers understand new
client capture. Consequently, advisors hear and read communications that appear
intuitively helpful seemingly without questioning the methodology underpinning the
messages. Yet, it is unlikely these organisations have any real understanding or
experience of referral generation, noting advisors seem to have discovered for
themselves that unproven strategies from the past are ineffective.
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Reflecting on the data, it was puzzling that advisors thought they influenced referrals as
they could not directly link a referral to their influence. Advisors spoke of discussions
with existing clients but could not explain how those conversations had led to a referral.
It was initially speculated that advisors did not wish to acknowledge a lack of
understanding or actual misunderstandings, about how referrals are generated and had
sought refuge in commonly held explanations.
It also seemed possible that they have unconsciously come to realise that they
cannot influence referrals but are unwilling to admit it. This reasoning was soon
discounted, however, as many of the participants were very experienced and it
seemed unlikely that they would be ill-informed. Nevertheless, this does not explain
why only one advisor was prepared to acknowledge that referrals happen naturally,
absent of practitioner influence. It is clear that a discrepancy exits between what the
advisors say and what the data indicate. One reason for this apparently contradictory
behaviour, which fits with the lack of management information about referral numbers, is
that advisors do not concern themselves with exploring the antecedents of each referral;
rather, they focus on the opportunity in front of them, as they may not have entirely
grasped the complexity of the issue.
In sum, it appears that referrals are a rarity, particularly for smaller companies, since
they have often mined their limited referral sources to the extent that the flow of referrals
is rationed. A referral is relatively uncommon and a cause for celebration. No evidence
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was found that rewards are effective since client-facing staff rarely obtain referrals
regardless of the inducement.
The Referral Enigma
It seems that virtually all new clients arrive via referrals or professional introductions.
Yet, incongruously, despite accepting that clients cannot be easily sourced, practitioners
demonstrated a high ‘internal locus of control’ (Shane et al, 2012), and expressed a
belief that their actions will influence the future. It was found that practitioners believe
they influence referrals in four main ways: excellent service; higher qualifications;
contact frequency; and, speed of response. However, interviews with clients clearly
indicate that referrals are not the outcome of agency; they are a random occurrence,
determined by happenstance and the result of an opportunist conversation between a
prospect and a client.
Despite valuing value referrals above all other sources of new client capture,
practitioners do not monitor referral numbers, dates, sources, or causation.
Consequently, they are unable to explain the relative differences in referral generation
for advisors within the same practice and appear to suffer from ‘strategic myopia’
(Mazzarol, 2005:15). It seems that practitioners are unwilling to admit that referrals are
hard to come by. During interviews advisors maintained that they did influence referral
generation, but it became clear that they were unable to provide examples to defend the
claim. It appears that advisors would like the world to believe that they obtain numerous
clients from referrals, whatever the facts.
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The consumer perspective
Contrary to the advice of consultancy providers, asking for referrals was found to be
ineffective and not welcomed by consumers. While word-of-mouth (WOM) often
instigates referral generation, the value of WOM, needs be treated with caution, since
consumers were found to have limited understanding of the service provided by
independent advisors.
Most consumers interviewed said they would only provide a referral if they had been
asked to do so by a friend or relative or colleague. The interview responses confirm that
consumers would be uncomfortable if their advisor asked them to provide a referral.
Many clients confirmed their reluctance to offer referrals, one suggesting that the
practice is ‘…not very nice… puts me off to be fair…might give them the name of
someone I don’t like [laughs]’. Another viewed the practice as potentially exposing a
weakness, raising the possibility that asking may be counterproductive, when they
made it clear ‘I would not introduce anyone they must be struggling if they have to ask
me for an introduction’. A negative reaction to being asked for referrals was widespread
amongst consumers, characterised by one who made clear his ‘dislike of unsolicited
requests’. Another noted his discomfiture at being asked for an introduction by
explaining ‘I would help but I don’t know anyone suitable and I wouldn’t want to put
someone in an embarrassing position’.
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To investigate the unpredictably of referrals, all consumers interviewed were asked to
describe the circumstances surrounding the most recent recommendation they had
made. Perhaps confirming the scarcity of referrals, in this field, while consumers
commonly spoke of providing recommendations for less complex services like
restaurants, films, hairdressers and garages, none immediately mentioned financial
advice without prompting. In turn, no interviewee chose professionalism of service or
indicated that service excellence stimulated them to refer.
Whatever advisors believe, consumers seem clear that they are not influenced to
become advisor advocates by forms of persuasion, service standards, qualifications,
likeability, response times or oral requests. They do say, however, that they have
shared information with friends, about their advisor, that they think will be found
interesting. The comments of the client interviewees show that referrals are as likely by
chance as by design. They explained that referrals are typically the result of a friend or
colleague indicating that they need assistance with money management, rather than
being instigated by the client. Clients said that they responded when they were ‘asked
for help’, when ‘he was talking about money’, or ‘complaining about death duties’ or
simply because someone had ‘asked for my advice’. The language clients used clearly
indicates that the stimulus for the initial word-of-mouth exchange is externally driven, in
that it was instigated by the requester. If this proposition is even partially correct, then
asking for referrals as advocated by many commercial companies, may be
counterproductive.
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To probe for greater insight consumers were asked to explain why they choose to refer.
To ensure consistency all participants were allotted the same time span, and all were
asked to explain what prompted them to provide a referral, and why they recommended
their advisor. It seemed that the answers could be differentiated between those relating
to the background to referral generation versus those describing the prelude to a
recommendation. The former utilises linguistic connections (Ryan & Bernard, 2003),
linking cause to effect (for example, ‘I referred because’), whereas the latter makes
unsupported statements. On closer inspection, since the data appeared to be polarised
between referrals instigated by a third party (defined as ‘external influence’) and ‘other
influences’. The responses are set out and paraphrased in Table 1. The responses
suggest that the influences upon clients to refer are thought to be largely external, that
is clients refer following discourse with a prospective client, since little evidence of
advisors influencing referrals could be found.
In light of the above, this article diverges significantly from the limited number of
previous definitions, which have tended to assume that positive WOM of itself is a
referral (Helm, 2003; Kumar et al, 2010; Ryu & Feick, 2007). The literature has a
tendency to reinforce a common misunderstanding that it is the client who instigates the
discourse and misapprehending that ultimately it is the prospect who makes the
decision whether to proceed to client status. Other academics take a different approach
by arguing that a referral is defined when clients influence and advise others to become
clients (Verhoef et al, 2002). Contrastingly, this paper argues that a referral is not
completed until advice is provided, agreed and paid for. Lastly, although Verhoef et al
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(2002) describe a referral as a transfer of advice, a completed referral, within regulated
advice, inevitably, requires several meetings, the production of a written report, and a
signed agreement before a referral can said to be satisfied. In other words, a referral
requires entering a commercial undertaking, and the delivery, acceptance and payment
for services, where progression is dependent on the actions of the recipient of positive
WOM.
Correspondingly, questions are raised over the validity of arguments that champion
the influence of WOM in decision making (Buttle, 1998). It seems possible that its
effect may be directional in nature and less influential than authors believe as
consumers are likely to defer decision making until a proposition is presented. No
evidence was found to support the idea of ‘maven’ behaviour or that receipt of this
type of WOM is likely to stimulate clients to act (Buttle, 1998:249). However, the
evidence was somewhat contradictory. As one participant said, ‘I think I would make
my mind up after meeting with the service provider although a recommendation is a
great start’. That view was supported by another consumer who suggested
that ‘the opinion of someone might lead to me meeting a service provider, but it
would be the personal experience of meeting them that would lead me to actually
use them’. Another was more fulsome and explained that:
‘A recommendation would get a service provider a hearing, but I would then
want to see how knowledgeable the provider was and whether I think that I
could work with them. Recently my husband and I met with a Financial
Advisor from a very well-known online company. The advisor did not impress,
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and seemed to have a different agenda from the one he was invited to
discuss. His listening skills were poor, and he seemed completely unaware
that I had turned off and was answering e-mails 40 minutes into the meeting’.
Reconceptualising referrals
The data collected has presented an opportunity to redefine and reconceptualise
referrals and to build a conceptual framework for the referral process. The approach
taken is to distinguish between the formation of a referral and a completed referral, and
then develop a framework of the entire process. Table 1 accordingly attributes a value
to each element of an emerging referral, utilising abridged examples from statements
made by prospects and clients, to provide an indication of the discourse during the
referral process.
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Table 1 Antecedents of an embryonic referral
Elements WOM Recommendation Introduction Embryonic Referral
Value Weakest Intermediate Strong StrongestIndicator Positive or
negativediscussion
Endorsement of the firm or advisor
Provision of contact details
Offer to contact/introduce prospect to firm
Prospects ‘I am in a muddle with…’
‘Are they any good?’ Do you find them helpful?
‘Not sure if I have enough money’
‘Can I have their details?’
Clients ‘I have someone who does that for me’
‘I find they are very helpful and they are local’. ‘They take time to explain issues’.
‘Would you like their contact details?’
‘Shall I contact them to see if they are accepting new clients?’
Source: Grierson, S., & Brennan, R. (2017). Referrals for new client acquisition in professional services. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 20(1), 28-42.
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It is emphasised that a referral is not fully complete until an agreement is reached, and
a legal contract agreed. It is also argued that the role of the advisor is passive, in the
embryonic referral process, as the referral is stimulated by external forces. The role of
the advisor only becomes active when contact is established between the prospect and
the advisor. The conclusion was reached that a referral is dynamic, but not linear, as it
requires a number of elements to be aligned at the same time.
The reality is that prospects do not blindly accept word-of-mouth and decision
making is deferred until a meeting has taken place and assessment of the service
provider has been arrived at. It was found that referrals are random, occurring when a
prospect identifies a need, seeks information and decides how to proceed with
recommendation should one be forthcoming. Related studies appear to endorse these
findings by noting that WOM is normally ‘sought’ or requested, rather than provided, and
then only really valued when a need arises (Sweeney et al,2008:355). Accordingly,
referrals may be considered uncontrollable since managing for referrals is challenging if
not impossible (Woo & Ennew, 2005; Helm, 2003). To some extent, the term ‘referral
management’ could be considered an oxymoron.
The Referral framework
The following summarises the referral process as it relates to one professional service.
To begin with a consumer (hereafter, prospect) recognises (or speculates on) a possible
need for independent financial advice. To reduce the risks associated with purchasing
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an intangible service, the prospect seeks advice from someone they know, or believe to
be a consumer of independent financial advice. Subject to receiving satisfactory and
encouraging word-of-mouth, the prospect may ask for or be provided with a
recommendation and the contact details of an individual IFA or IFA practice.
At this point in the process, an embryonic referral has formed. Continuing the referral
process the prospective client decides whether, or not, to seek a further, second,
opinion. If the prospect elects to take up the recommendation, a meeting, with the IFA is
arranged, either by the client of the IFA or the prospect. Should the prospect be
satisfied, that the relationship, terms and conditions and financial advice are acceptable,
the referral process concludes with a contractual agreement that satisfies regulatory
guidelines. Although financial advisors reported that the majority of referrals became
clients, the process is fragile since, the advisor may reject the prospect as unsuitable
and the prospective client has the option to abort the process at any time.
Figure 1 offers a detailed conceptualisation of the natural referral process drawing from
the experience of a senior practitioner and utilising evidence from interview data with
consumers of advice and practitioners.
It is recognised that marketing academics have written extensively about consumer
behaviour and decision making and may associate the referral framework, presented
here, as being similar to the ‘hierarchy of effects models’, such as the well-known
‘AIDA’. But as Barry (1987:251:252) observes those connect consumers to advertising
and the purchase a product or brand, which is an entirely different conception to that
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required to produce a referral. In contrast the referral framework presented does not
focus solely on the consumer or the purchase of a product, nor is it decisive. Rather it is
dynamic, less certain in its outcome, and requires a number of iterative decisions to be
made. It is also observed that the timing of completed referral may be deferred as the
prospect may decide not to act immediately. Perhaps this affords the possibility to
classify referrals in two ways; conclusive and inconclusive.
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Figure 2. The natural referral process (Source: original)
EmbrynicEmbryonic
refee
Request for help - client
provides positive WOM
First Stage Conversation (WOM) instigated by prospective client
Embryonic Referral - Client offers a recommendation
Is the client influenced by advisor?
Prospect has to decide to accept or
reject the recommendation
Prospect may seek another
opinion
Prospect or client makes contact with
IFA
Meeting arranged between prospect and firm/IFA
Meeting to discuss suitability for both
parties
Advisor may reject
referral
Prospect may not relate to the advisor
IFA outlines client
proposition/fees
Discussion of prospects circumstances/objectives
(Fact Finding)
Subsequent meeting arranged/ report
preparation
Further meeting (s) to discuss report
Agree action plan. Sign terms of business/Fee
agreement
Prospect may decide not to
proceed
Final Stage Prospect now a
client Referral completed
Opportunity for a referral conversation
The natural referral process
Fee agreed for a report/ Fee deferred until service delivery
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Summary
The absence of an academic journal with connections to the financial advice community
has allowed a number of assumptions to evolve and flourish unchallenged by