Professional connections with accountants and solicitors

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

An adviser decides to build professional referrals, takes two accountants to lunch, and receives nothing. The conclusion drawn is that accountants do not refer, and the effort is abandoned after a quarter.

Accountants and solicitors refer constantly, to people they trust, after observing them for a considerable period. The relationship is professional rather than social, and what earns it is demonstrated competence and the confidence that a referral will not create a problem. Lunches are not the mechanism. They are pleasant, they are not evidence of anything, and they persuade nobody.

1. Professional connections with accountants and solicitors rest on their risk

Understand what they are protecting.

A professional referring a client is lending their own credibility, and a poor experience damages their relationship rather than yours. Everything they do before referring is an assessment of that risk. The delay an adviser experiences as indifference is usually due diligence.

2. Give before you ask

The sequence that works.

Refer work to them, provide information they can use with their own clients, or help with a technical question. A relationship that begins with a request for referrals is a relationship that begins by asking somebody to take a risk for a stranger.

3. Be genuinely useful to their clients

The demonstration that matters.

Handle any introduction quickly, communicate well, stay within scope and report back. One introduction handled impeccably does more than a year of relationship building. It is the only evidence they can actually observe.

4. Understand their commercial position

They have concerns you may not have considered.

Some worry about losing a client relationship, some about regulatory exposure, some about being seen to recommend a product. Addressing these directly, rather than assuming enthusiasm, is what moves the conversation forward.

5. Make it easy to explain you

Reduce the effort of referring.

A clear description of exactly who you help and with what, in a form they can pass on. A professional cannot refer effectively if they are unsure where your expertise begins and ends.

6. Confirm the regulatory position on any arrangement

Not optional and frequently complex.

Referral fees, reciprocal arrangements, disclosure to clients and the permissions each party holds are all governed by rules, and by professional codes on their side as well. Establish this before agreeing anything.

7. Report back on every introduction

The habit that produces the second referral.

Tell them the introduction was made, what happened and how the client is, within the limits of confidentiality. Professionals who never hear the outcome of a referral stop making them.

8. Build depth in a few relationships

Rather than breadth across many.

Two or three genuine relationships produce far more than twenty superficial ones, and they require the time that would otherwise be spread thinly. Choosing carefully and investing properly is the approach that works. Two accountants who refer regularly will out-produce twenty who know your name.

9. Accept the timescale

Where most attempts fail.

These relationships take a year or more to produce anything, and an adviser expecting results in a quarter will abandon them just before they begin working. Plan the effort against that reality.

Look for the natural events that create work for both of you: a business sale, a retirement, a bereavement, a property transaction. Being the person a professional thinks of at those moments is the actual objective, and it comes from having demonstrated relevant expertise beforehand rather than from having asked.

Conclusion

Build these relationships around the risk the other professional is taking.

Give before asking by referring work and providing genuinely useful information, handle every introduction impeccably because one case decides the relationship, understand their commercial and regulatory concerns, make your expertise easy to describe, confirm the rules on any referral arrangement before agreeing it, report back on every introduction, invest in a few relationships rather than many, and plan for a timescale measured in years rather than quarters.