Your Questions
This is the network for you if you are a professional looking to develop great new clients, new connections and development opportunities
Active professional referral arrangements produce, pound for pound, easily the most dramatic, effective and fastest way to get new clients. Just one great new arrangement can produce a host of new clients.
This requires very little investment, and is mainly about selling skills, professionalism and commercial management.
For many professionals the highest hurdle to overcome is the first one, meeting like-minded professionals from other sectors.
This is the purpose of thePCN – to help you over that hurdle, in an instant!
By creating a website to connect firms from different sectors that have the same ethos and ambitions, to work together and mutually benefit.
Here’s your questions answered:
What do we get from this website and platform?
The idea is simple, thePCN allows you to join a group of professionals looking to make cross-referrals, or form proactive professional connections to develop a commercial relationship. Aligned to this is group purchasing, so you will get access to special deals and offers.
This means you should get new clients (from the referrals) and save money (from the deals).
What commitment do we need to make towards referrals?
When you join, you are agreeing to support a common ethos – all the members of thePCN are committed to collaborative approaches to working with each other. There is no contractual obligation, target or minimum activity level. This is based on good faith and a positive attitude towards fellow professionals referring back and forth.
Why are there only five sectors and a limited number of regions?
Although called the Professional Connections Network, the focus is on Financial and Wealth Management and related areas, so sweeping up property, landlords, commercial finance and so on.
There is a clear and proven crossover between the services of Financial Professionals, Property Professionals, and Accountants and Solicitors. Other professionals, such as dentists, doctors, vets, and architects don’t really represent the same level of synergy or referral potential, this site is totally honed on that crossover potential, hence the five sectors.
The regional exclusivity arises out of a need for this to be honed by like-minded firms and their owners who want to actively use cross-referral as a marketing approach. It is known to be the most effective approach. However, this needs to be tightly controlled to avoid clashes within local areas, between the same sector firms tripping over each other. Hence, the one (or in a limited number of very large regions, two) firm/sector exclusivity.
Why is the idea so strong?
A professional practice or firm will have a client bank, and within that, there will be clients who will need the services of other professionals.
It is clear there is commonly significant untapped potential within these client banks. If this potential can be released, through well-formed professional connection relationships and arrangements – all the parties can prosper.
The referring firm incentivises the receiving firm to reciprocate, but also the client tends to be better off as the strong relationship formed by the professionals means that the client’s affairs are likely to be better co-ordinated and managed.
How does the exclusivity work?
Once you are signed up and allocated your exclusivity, you retain this for the duration of your monthly payment to the network.
What’s the minimum period of commitment?
12 months from your joining date. So, £40 per month for 12 months.
What happens after 12 months?
You can stop paying at any time. Once your payment stops, you will lose your regional position and exclusivity, and we will be free to find an alternative firm in your sector.
How do we put referrals into the site?
In your account area there is an online submission, it takes a couple of minutes to complete and this will activate the referral to go to the relevant regional professional.
In the first instance the referral will not include any significant detail, so the client/prospect remains anonymous until the referral is accepted and then can be managed between you and your fellow professional.
What happens when a referral is submitted?
Through the internal network system we make sure this is delivered to the right professional and then you can contact them direct, to manage this further from there. The system is intuitive so once you make a referral the process is clear.
How do we see referrals made to our firm?
When a submission is made you will get an email alert, and you can log in and take from there.
How do we seek out new connections?
There are two parts to this, we will automatically introduce you to your fellow regional professionals.
However, we can also use proven methods we have been helping firms with for 15 years to make specific introductions outside of the website, if required.
The site allows you to activate either or both options.
How does the group purchasing work?
Within the site and your account area there is a section where deals are put in for you to access. All the details are within the box within the account. This will give you discounts and offers on purchases you will be commonly making.
There is also the potential for your fellow professionals to offer you (and you can do the same in the other direction) their deals, so for example related to golf, football, holiday property, music concerts, theatres, hotels and spas, just to name a few examples.
Our goal in running the network is to ensure you have a minimum of £500 per year of clear value just from this group purchasing.
Deals will sweep up many of your common expenditure items, e.g. professional indemnity, and other liability insurances, IT expenditure, entertainment, travel etc.