When you ask for referrals, do your clients wince? Or do they happily give you a list of their friends and colleagues who are perfectly suited to your ideal client profile? When was the last time you got a referral without even asking?

Any financial professional worth their salt knows referrals are the lifeblood of a healthy practice: They save you precious time and money, ultimately benefiting your clients as much as they do you. Building a 100% referral-based business is possible when you allow your best clients to work as your marketing department; quality referrals should be a natural by-product of professional relationships built on trust and achievement. They are a measure of the quality of the relationship between you and your client.

So if your clients are reluctant to give you plenty of excellent leads, it's a good sign they either don't trust you or are dissatisfied with your work. This is a major red flag that should be heeded immediately and remedied by working on building more trust and improving your performance.

If, on the other hand, you aren't getting referrals simply because you don't make them an important focus of your business, here's how to get the ball rolling.

1. To begin the referral-gathering process, go through your files and identify your great clients. These are the people who are coachable and financially responsible, who are responsive in dealing with you because they appreciate your expertise, their time is precious and they like having business relationships.

2. Set up meetings to tell your clients about your referral plan. Explain to them that you're trying a new technique to improve the value you can give to them and your other clients. To receive referrals easily, you need to ask for them reasonably. Explain how it's in their best interest to help you out: The time you spend prospecting for new clients can't be spent on improving your financial skills, which would make you a better resource for your clients. An honest disclosure about your need for referrals is not a gimmick. Simply state your need for help by asking your client to provide you with 20 names. Your goal is to obtain the names of more prospects than you can possibly see.

3. After you have all the names the client can think of, prepare a questionnaire for each referral. Tailor your questionnaire to fit your business and to gain enough knowledge to strike up a phone conversation. Some questions you'll want to include on the questionnaire-aside from the name, spouse's name, address, and phone of the prospect-are the following: What makes you think they are serious about achieving their financial goals? What are their occupations/employers? What are their ages? Do they have children? (Get names and ages.) Do they currently consult a financial professional? Have they ever discussed their financial goals or strategies with you? What type of client do you think they'd be? Your objective is for your client to help you in the qualifying process.

4. Write a letter of introduction to each referral. Follow these guidelines to send the letter of introduction, which will create your referral's first impression about you.

• Obtain enough of your client's letterhead and envelopes and have the letter printed on your laser-quality printer. Enter the referrals into your contact-management or database software. Then merge the new referrals' names and addresses with the form letter and print out the letters and envelopes. Have your client sign the letters.
  
• Suggested content for a referral's first letter:
  

• Resist the temptation to stuff the envelope full of promotional propaganda or even to insert a simple brochure. Let the strength of the relationship do the work for you. When you send propaganda, you appear to be just another product salesperson who needs business.
  
• For future mailings to these prospects, prepare a box with eight dividers for eight weekly mailings. As a follow-up to your letter of introduction, prepare a simple, brief cover letter on your letterhead, utilizing the strength of the referral. Add one product piece. Send this to the prospect one week after your first letter. Go through the referral box every Monday morning, and mail one piece to each referral. To ensure that you don't miss an opportunity, also put a reminder in your day planner or set the date in your contact-management software to call each referral during the seventh week of mailings.