Insights
Referral guides for professional firms - spotting the moment, referring clients compliantly, and earning a share.
Why referrals deserved better
Accountants make thousands of informal referrals every week — and almost none of them are tracked, evidenced or rewarded. Here's …
How to check a financial adviser on the FCA Register
Every legitimate adviser appears on the FCA Register. Every clone scam depends on you not looking. Here's the checking routine.
Why practices lose referrals they never knew they had
Most professional practices lose more referrals than they receive — and never find out. Here is where introductions quietly die, …
The business owner with no succession plan
Business owners pour years into building something valuable, then leave its future entirely unplanned. For any professional worki…
Referring your contractor and freelancer clients
Independent workers rely on you for far more than compliance. Knowing which of them to refer, and for what, is where you add the …
The dying-intestate risk any professional can flag
Dying intestate is not a rare misfortune; it is the default for anyone without a valid will. Understanding the basic risk lets an…
When an accountant should refer a client for probate help
When a client dies, or a client loses a family member, the administrative burden that follows often surfaces first through you. T…
The competitive edge of a good referral answer
Clients rarely choose between firms on core competence alone, because they cannot easily judge it. They judge on the moments they…
What a client really thinks when you can't help them
When you tell a client something is outside your remit, you experience it as a small, honest moment. The client often experiences…
What an introducer actually is (and what they must never do)
An introducer connects a client to a firm that can help; an adviser tells the client what to do. Understanding exactly where that…
The client whose assets outgrew their old will
As clients accumulate wealth, the will they wrote years ago can become dangerously inadequate. Noticing when someone's assets hav…
Professional referral networks: lessons from the ones that failed
Referral networks fail in predictable ways. The autopsy is worth reading before joining, or building, another one.
Second marriages and blended families: the estate referral
Second marriages and blended families create some of the trickiest estate situations there are, and clients rarely appreciate the…
Turning the Year-End Meeting Into a Referral Conversation
The year-end meeting is the single richest opportunity an accountant has to spot where a client needs specialist help. Used well,…
Turning I don't do that into value for your firm
Every firm says 'I don't do that' several times a week and thinks nothing of it. Those three words mark the boundary of your serv…
What is an introducer? The rules for referring clients, explained
The referral world has its own jargon and its own rulebook. A field guide for professionals who'd like to be paid without becomin…
Trusts in a client's affairs: when to bring in a specialist
A trust can protect a vulnerable beneficiary, structure a family's wealth, or hold a business interest — but only if it is set up…
The will your accountancy clients never wrote — and your cue to refer
You know more about your clients' finances than almost anyone. That knowledge puts you at the exact moment a will conversation sh…
Tracking a Referral From Introduction to Completion
Many accountants make an introduction and then lose sight of it entirely. Tracking the journey, at arm's length, is what makes th…
The stale will after a life event: your cue to refer
Many clients believe that once they have made a will, the job is done for life. In truth, a single life event can leave that docu…
The tax year end checklist that isn't about tax
Allowances expire on 5 April. So do openings. A listening guide for the busiest advisory window of the year.
The Trusted-Adviser Advantage: Why Referring Deepens Client Loyalty
Accountants sometimes fear that referring a client out weakens the relationship. The evidence of how trust works suggests exactly…
The informal-referral problem: why the name on a card fails everyone
Almost every firm already refers, in the loosest possible way: a name passed across a desk, a number on a compliments slip. It fe…
“Do you know a good financial adviser?” — the compliant answer
You can refer. You can't advise. The gap between those two sentences is where most of the confusion lives.