Looking for business development partner? Discover the untapped universe of Centers of Influence.
Centers of Influence (COIs) play a pivotal role in expanding business opportunities and establishing valuable connections. By understanding the characteristics of COIs and creating strategic relationships, professionals can harness the power of referrals and strengthen their business network.
Here's how.
COIs (Centers of Influence) are professionals who serve as trusted advisors and have the power to sway your ideal client into considering hiring you. These COIs act as influencers in their clients' lives and possess certain characteristics:
When COIs recommend something to their clients, their clients are inclined to trust and act upon their advice. COIs are most commonly found among professionals who complement your work can come from diverse backgrounds, including physicians, executive search professionals, financial advisors, realtors, and other specialists. So, you never know where a potential COI may originate from.
To summarize: COIs are trusted individuals sending ongoing and quality referrals to your business.
Professionals who excel at receiving qualified referrals from COIs recognize a crucial fact: The key to success lies in establishing deep, strategic, and enduring business relationships with a specific group of COIs who have the potential to refer clients that align with their firm's expertise.
The primary objective of any individual / business' COI strategy should be to cultivate a small number of professional relationships with the right COIs, ideally up to six. To do this, collaborate with COIs who you can leverage complementary skills to benefit mutual clients. The aim is to demonstrate to COIs how referring business to you is advantageous for both themselves and their clients. Working with other professionals to develop better solutions for their clients and businesses proves to be a more effective approach than simply asking them to send you their best clients.
A good starting point for creating strategic relationships with COIs is pulling from previous deals and current customer base. Utilize the people who know what it's like to work with you.
In order to be successful, you will want to implement a well-structured strategy and documented plan to guide COI efforts. Key elements of a successful Center of Influence process include:
The goal is to establish business relationships with the appropriate COIs, those who are a perfect fit for your business. To achieve this, you must be specific and discerning in targeting COIs who align well with your business and client base, and focus solely on pursuing those COIs. This targeted approach allows you to invest your valuable time in developing deep relationships, overcoming referral obstacles, and building trust through meaningful interactions.
When creating an ideal COI profile, consider three key criteria:
It is a noisy marketplace we live and work in, and giving a generic COI pitch guarantees you'll be lost in the shuffle.
Successful professionals are able to articulate the value they bring to others in a way that enables prospect COIs to actually experience the value they bring to their clients. They maintain consistency, purposefulness, and professionalism, ultimately achieving outstanding outcomes.
Ways to do this include:
After establishing working relationships with COIs, you must work hard to deepen and grow those relationships so they sustain productivity over the long run. Additionally, maintaining interest in the crucial beginning stages will prove challenging, as it will likely take time to receive referrals from new COI partners. With that said, part of your Center of Influence process should include planned steps to ensure COI relationships depend and continue to generate significant benefits.
Ways to cultivate your COI relationship include:
Center of Influence referrals are a major business growth opportunity. To ignore their potential is to lose out on new leads, new connections, and new revenue sources. Flagship is a community bank always looking to add to that community. We have experience working with COIs and being ones ourselves. If you are looking to learn more about what it would look like to have Flagship a part your Center of Influence, contact one our team members today.