Bill Cates's Blog

The latest Kitces research on advisor marketing raises an important concern for firms that rely heavily on referrals. The 2026 report describes what it calls the “referral coasting zone.” A firm reaches a point where...

The post The Referral Doom Loop: Why it Happens and How to Avoid It appeared first on Referral Coach.

What Schwab’s 2026 RIA Benchmarking Study Reveals About Relevance, Referrals, Transformation, and Creating Advocates  By Bill Cates, CSP, CPAE  [Author’s Note:  While Schwab’s RIA Benchmarking Study is based on reporting from RIAs, the concepts, strategies,...

The post Schwab’s 2026 RIA Benchmarking Study: What Drives Organic Growth. appeared first on Referral Coach.

Asking for referrals can feel awkward, especially when you don’t want to look like “That creepy referral guy!” If asking for referrals feels awkward, the problem may simply be that you’re asking at the wrong...

The post How to Ask for Referrals Effectively without Pushing or Begging appeared first on Referral Coach.

Don’t Tell Clients Your Value. Help Them Hear Themselves Say It. Here’s what’s happening when clients put the value you are providing into their own words. For years, I’ve been teaching financial professionals the importance...

The post What happens when clients say YOUR value out loud? appeared first on Referral Coach.

In this digital age of skepticism, social proof is one of the fastest ways to build trust, even before a prospect meets you. Most prospects don’t have the technical expertise to assess investment strategies, tax...

The post How Financial Advisors Can Build Trust Before the First Meeting appeared first on Referral Coach.

Information Is Everywhere. Interpretation Is Scarce. Financial Advisors Must Become Financial Interpreters For years, financial advisors viewed other advisors as their primary competition. Today, that is changing. Your next competitor may be a YouTube personality,...

The post Has AI turned you from financial advisor to financial interpreter? appeared first on Referral Coach.

Have you noticed that most clients tend to refer laterally and down on the economic ladder?   What’s up with that? Your thriving advisory practice depends not only on keeping your current clients but also on...

The post Move Up the Economic Ladder appeared first on Referral Coach.

One of the questions I hear from financial advisors all the time is, “If this person is concerned about their financial future, and if they even suspect they could benefit from professional advice, why won’t...

The post Why Prospects Don’t Respond appeared first on Referral Coach.

Do your clients and centers of influence “trust” your referral process? ⬇️ Read below or WATCH FULL video on YouTube How you receive and process the referrals and introductions you get from clients and COIs...

The post 5 Simple Steps to More Referrals appeared first on Referral Coach.

According to a recent report from Invesco Global Consulting, top-quartile advisory teams maintain an average of 4.3 formal strategic partnerships, more than twice the average of lower-performing firms. Those same top-performing advisors also generate 29%...

The post Why Some Center of Influence Relationships Produce Referrals… and Others Never Do appeared first on Referral Coach.