Ep 447: Getting A Healthy Flow Of New Clients From Centers Of Influence By Addressing The Referral Risk They Fear The Most with Dan Allison

Financial Advisor Success

Michael Kitces

News, Business, Entrepreneurship, Business News

4.8 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Financial advisors frequently seek out relationships with Centers Of Influence (COIs) such as accountants and attorneys, but sometimes find that it's hard to get referrals from these professionals. Advisor marketing expert Dan Allison believes this is because COIs fear putting their own reputations on the line and joins the show today to explore how financial advisors can reframe COI relationships by reducing that risk and building real trust over time.

Dan is the owner of The Exchange, a virtual content platform and community focused on helping financial advisors master client acquisition and relationship-building. Listen in as he shares how to approach the first COI meeting to set the tone for a high-value relationship, why building credibility often takes months (or even years), and how to use client feedback to reinforce the COI’s confidence in making future referrals. We also discuss creating regular touchpoints with COI partners, setting up COI mastermind groups to drive both learning and connection, and how finding partners who already serve your niche clients can lead to deeper, more consistent referral streams.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/447

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with
0:07.1	financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading
0:12.4	financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success
0:17.4	and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next
0:22.2	level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone.
0:29.0	Welcome to the 447th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is
0:35.2	Dan Allison. Dan is the owner of the exchange, a virtual content
0:39.0	platform and community focused on helping financial advisors master client acquisition and
0:43.6	relationship building. What's unique about Dan, though, is how he coaches advisors to generate
0:48.7	more leads from centers of influence, such as CPAs and attorneys, by building trusting
0:53.3	relationships to reduce the
0:54.6	professional risk that the COIs take when referring one of their clients to a financial advisor.
0:59.8	In this episode, we talk in depth about how Dan sees the first meeting with a potential COI
1:04.3	partner as an opportunity for a financial advisor to explain their value proposition and to learn
1:09.1	how the COI serves their clients in part to
1:11.4	understand whether the COI provides service at a similarly high level as the advisor.
1:16.1	Why Dan finds that, given the time needed for a financial advisor, to demonstrate their
1:20.2	competency and trustworthiness to a COI partner.
1:23.1	It can sometimes take up to a couple of years for COI relationships to lead to client
1:26.8	referrals.
1:27.8	And how Dan finds value, when referrals do come in, in having the referred prospect tell the
1:32.4	COI they work with about the value the financial advisor provided, which can dramatically reduce
	...

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