Let's start with some deductive reasoning:

• As a producer, writing new business is your primary goal.

• Writing new business means you must get in front of qualified candidates.

• You can't get in front of qualified candidates if you don't spend time prospecting.

• But, the more time you spend searching for prospects, the less time you have to spend with active prospects and clients.

• Bottom line, it isn't enough to just spend time prospecting, you have to be efficient with that time.

There is no more efficient way to feed your pipeline than with targeted introductions from your best clients. Period.

Yet, almost every producer I talk to admits to not proactively asking their clients for those introductions. There are only three possible reasons:

• You don't do a good enough job to have earned the privilege (rarely the case).

• Your clients don't like you enough to do you a favor (even more rare).

• You are afraid and/or don't know how (by far, the most common reason, but also easily fixed).

I’m not going to get into any detail on the first two points.

1. If you haven't done a good enough job, you have bigger issues to deal with than new referrals.