Ep #224: Top 3 Goals of Referrals

Stacey Brown Randall:          How many times have you been told, or have you heard, that it’s important to figure out your why? I’m hoping many times, because it’s just that important.

But determining your why isn’t just for your big life dreams and goals or life purpose, it’s for just about everything you do.

Hey there, and welcome to episode 224 of the Roadmap To Grow Your Business Podcast, a show about helping you build a referable business. I’m your host, Stacey Brown Randall.

Every December, I turn my attention to teaching my reverse goal-setting process. And this year, for the first time in a really long time, I’m teaching it live in Charlotte on December 5th. And I invite you to join me for this epic day. We will be getting ready for more than just 2023, hence the reversing part of my goal process.

So, you can have the best year ever, you just got to join us in December on December 5th in Charlotte. We’ll be hanging out in the historic South End District, just outside of Uptown, and I would love for you to join me in the Queen City. And of course, for our reverse goal-setting event, it’s called the Refocus Retreat.

And I would love for you to come and take advantage of our early bird pricing. But that early bird pricing is only available until October 7th. So, you got to make a move. Just go to staceybrownrandall.com/goals for all the details.

And also, if you’re a Growth By Referral GBR student and you’re listening right now, you can also add on an additional half day, the afternoon of December 4th, where with my BRB (Building a Referral Business) members, we will be focused on all things referrals.

And we’ll be building out your referral plan for 2023. Your special invite has arrived in your inbox, so go check it out. This is just for my GBR students. Special pricing, of course, this early bird pricing is only available until October 7th.

Let’s dive in to today’s episode. When tackling something new in your business, or finally deciding to do something about an area, well, that you’ve known has needed your attention, it’s important to set the why behind the effort.

The why’s important because when the work and the task increase and you get busy and other things get in the way just normal running of a business and having a life, that why is there because it keeps you motivated. It’s the one thing that you can recall or focus on that’ll bring you back to center.

So, in addition to establishing your why, you also need to set some expectations, some objectives, some goals, if you will; just the metrics that you’re going to be tracking for why you’ve decided to do something.

So, when we think about this in an area that we have known that’s needed our attention, we need our why; why am I going to take the time and energy and effort and put resources and capacity towards solving this? Why is that? And then what do I expect to get out of it? What’s my expectation or my objectives?

So, this time of year, social media, and just about every other business conversation is a flutter with talks about next year’s planning, goal-setting. You’re starting to see ads and conversations and get emails about buy your 2023 planner, set aside a day to plan for next year like a strategic session, attend a virtual session on goals, or attend a goals retreat in person.

So, shameless plug, like mine. My Refocus Retreat on December 5th, I just told you about at the beginning of the episode. If you’re thinking about doing something in person, attending some type of goals retreat, hey, why don’t you make it mine? Shameless plug over.

Goals are critical for the big picture of where you are going with your business and life. But they’re also just as important when you’re deciding what to fix or something new to start in your business because of a direction you’re heading or in some cases, something that you know needs to be solved.

And this brings us back to referrals. I mean, because doesn’t everything bring us back to referrals? Of course, it does. When you decide to tackle referrals, when you decide to take control of them for real, you need to set your goals, your objectives of what you’re trying to accomplish, and you need to know why it’s important for you to tackle goals.

So, when you decide, okay, this is the year, I am going to not let 2022 end without me having strategies in place to get more referrals and to take better care of my referral sources — when you make that decision, you need to know why. Because guess what? There’s work coming. So, why are you going to do it? What does that look like?

And then you need to know, okay, and if I do, if this is my why of why I want referrals, and you get to define your why — they’re all pretty similar for us all though, it’s more clients.

But once you determine your why, then you get to say, “Okay, so what are my goals here? What are my objectives? What is the thing that I ultimately want to say, hey, this was successful. What are the metrics?”

So, for today’s episode, here are the top three reasons, or goals, or objectives, as to why you need to put generating referrals naturally into practice in your business.

Now, here’s the thing; you may have another one other than these three, I’m about to give you, and that is awesome, and I want to hear all about it. I would love for you to share it with me in our free community over on Facebook, Referrals Without Asking. That is our Facebook group, Referrals Without Asking. You can find it by going to staceybrownrandall.com/community.

So, let’s dive into these top three goals or reasons or objectives, or the whys behind generating referrals naturally, and actually, deciding to take control of them.

Number one; easier growth. I can’t think of an easier way to bring in clients, to get clients to a yes than somebody who’s referred to you. And you guys have heard me talk about this for a while (okay longer than a while) — but you’ve heard me talk about this a lot that when you think about a client who is referred to you, they’re being connected to you by someone that they trust, who is ultimately your referral source, but to your prospect, it’s the person they trust that’s helping them solve their problem.

So, they’re being referred to you by someone they trust. So, there’s that connection, and they know they have a problem. When people are referred to me, it’s not like, they’re like, “What are referrals?” They’re like, “Hey, I think I need to do better with referrals.” They already have some sense of a need identified.

So, they’re connected, they have their need identified. They know that they’re the prospect. That’s why they’re even interested in having a conversation with you or being connected with you.

And on top of that, because they show trusting you because they trust the person who referred them to you, that trust is transferred to you. And then, of course, that makes everything easier. That makes them easier to close, easier to get to a yes. It makes them quicker to get to a yes.

And they have that trust in them to where they just want to understand what it looks like to work with you, then also deciding, “Hey, do I trust you? And can you solve my problem?” That’s part of the process of anyone deciding to hire anybody else, of course.

But they show up, if you think about that know, like, and trust continuum; they show up dropping. They’ve skipped past know and like, and they’ve dropped right into trust.

They do when they meet with you do have to decide, “Yep, I could work with you. I would want you to help me.” I mean, there is that like factor that still comes into play after they’ve been referred to you and they’re meeting with you. But they show up and they’re like, “I got a problem, I’ve been told you can solve it. I trust you because I trust the person who says you can solve it. Let’s do this.”

It’s just easier growth. And the more referrals you receive where you’re receiving, let’s be honest, the quality of clients that you can work with, and you have a really strong process for how you close those referred prospects into clients — when you have all those pieces into place, it makes everything easier.

So, one of the number one reasons, or the number one goal behind deciding, “Yes, I want to take control of my referrals” is for easier growth. Now, it’s not going to happen to you in the first 15 days, though, that you decide to take control of your referrals.

There’s some strategies you have to put into place, and there’s probably some relationships that you need to take a little bit better care of. There’s probably some new ones you need to create, and that’s going to take time.

But once you have a strategy and system in place, that is when you have that easier growth in your business. So, if you’ve been thinking about, hey, I need to do something with referrals, but is it worth it for me to put the work in? The answer is just with goal number one, yes, because it’ll make everything easier.

Now, not everybody who shows up to work with me is referred to me. Lots of people will hear me on somebody else’s podcast and then they’ll show up into my world. Some people find my book on Amazon or other places, and then they show up into my world. But there is a large number of people that show up into my world that are actually referred to me.

So, I’m thinking about the last handful of folks who joined my group coaching experience, Building a Referral Business. And actually, even if I included even Growth By Referrals or Referring Machines, my two self-study online programs, if I looked at the last 10 people who came in either to BRB or Referring Machines or to GBR, if I look at that, of those 10 people (and I want to make sure I have the math right in my head as I’m doing this) I am looking at five of them …

Yes, sorry, I had to do this math in my head to make sure I had this number right — five of them referred to me. And so, when you think about that, that’s 50% of the last 10 clients I’ve brought on board were referred to me.

Now, of those 10, 2 of them were in my network. Two of them had just known me forever and ever, and ever, and decided now’s the time I’m going to go work with Stacey.

And then there’s probably one or two in there that I think they came through podcast episodes, if I’m thinking about it. They heard me on somebody else’s podcast or they found my book. And one of them is a repeat client coming back around to work with me again.

So, when you think about what that looks like, all of that is easier to get someone to say yes to you when you have the majority of folks coming in the door and they’re referred to you. So, that’s goal number one. Let’s talk about goal number two.

The second reason, the second why, the second objective of deciding to generate referrals naturally in your business is sustainable strategies for long term growth. Ultimately, when you have the right sustainable referral strategies in place, it doesn’t just give you easier growth in the moment, it gives you long-term growth.

So, I did a training recently, it was my three-part framework for how I teach people how to double, triple or quadruple their referrals. And it was a private training. It was an advanced training. You had to submit an application to get into the training because it was advanced.

We weren’t talking about like, “Hey, what’s a referral?” And we weren’t talking about why do you want referrals? And where do referrals fit within your sales strategy? I talk about all that kind of stuff here and in other places for free.

But this training though, it was also free, it really was advanced because it was like, okay, you get it. You understand referrals are amazing. Now, you want to understand how I do it. What does it look like in terms of when I’m working with a client inside my group coaching experience, BRB (Building a Referral Business), you’re like, “I want to know what it looks like.”

And so, we talked a lot about the three-part framework you have to have to be successful with referrals. And then we talked about strategy stacking and what that looks like based on where you’re starting from.

And then we talked about this long-term sustainability growth that happens once you figure out the strategies you need, and you get them working in your first year, and then you just build on that and maintain that and keep that going year after year.

And I shared a story, and I’ve got multiple of them. This is just the one I shared in that training. But a client that we took from average 12 referrals a year before working with me, and then got that client to 40 in their first year. That’s that easier growth, that’s that explosion of referrals.

We went from you average 12 and in one year, I got you 40. Well, I showed you how to get yourself 40. You do the work. But I got this client to 40 and that’s amazing and that’s awesome and that’s so fabulous. But then, we showed the graph of where that growth went year after year after year, for a total of five years.

And so yes, in year one, she may have gotten 40 referrals, but by year five, she was at 82. And so, it’s looking at it from that perspective of when you find these right strategies.

And I always say that the right strategy is based on where you’re starting from. That’s why there’s 18 strategies that I teach inside Building a Referral Business about referrals. And so, where you’re starting from is most important, and that determines your very first strategy and what we call that you stack.

And so, when you’re thinking about this long-term growth, once you figure out the strategies you need to stack, once you have the number of referral sources you want, and you’re receiving the number of referrals you want in a year, some strategies you get to take off, but there are always going to be some that you keep going. And it’s those strategies that are going to be sustainable for you that are going to provide you with the long-term growth you need.

And in the other strategy you’ve learned, or you’ve done in the past, you just pull it out of your toolbox. You pull the tool out of your toolbox when the situation calls for it. And so, that’s really, really important.

So, if you’re interested in this three-part framework and this training that I did, this three-part framework of how to double, triple or quadruple your referrals in one year, and you missed the training that I did — so, if you missed the training and you’re like, “Oh, I actually want to attend that training,” you do have to submit an application for Building a Referral Business.

That’s the application we use for this training, because that training is specific to showing you how I teach it to folks inside BRB. And then I talk about what it looks like to actually work with me inside BRB.

So, you’ve got to have at least some interest in understanding what it looks like inside BRB, in addition to me, showing you how people get to their referral explosions. We will do another one. If you’re on my email list, keep your eye on your inbox. You’ll see more information coming out when we get ready to do another one.

We’re not doing one right now, it’s not like there’s one coming up in a couple of weeks or even a month or two. But when we do another training, keep your eye on your inbox if you’re on my email list. If not, send me an email and I will make sure that you get on the list to find out when our next one is.

But if you want to participate in that training, it’s awesome because it shows you more than just what’s possible in one year. It shows you how you manage that and what you have to do for that long-term growth, and that with those sustainable strategies, year after year after year.

And reason number three, goal number three, as to why you should want referrals in your business and to generate referrals naturally, and this one you may not see coming, but it’s super important. It’s the ultimate confidence booster. It’s the ultimate confidence builder.

At the end of the day, every time somebody refers someone to you, it’s like they’re saying, “She’s awesome, he’s amazing. Yep, you should definitely work with them.” It’s like this constant … I can’t describe it any more than just saying, I was trying to come up with something different.

But it really is the ultimate confidence booster. It is really the ultimate confidence builder. And yes, I know some of you have been in business 10 or 15 years and you’re like me and you’re really, really good at what you do, and your clients have great success, and that builds your confidence every day too.

But when somebody else says “You’re so worth it, I’m going to put my reputation on the line and tell somebody else to go spend money with you and go work with you,” there’s nothing like it.

There’s nothing like that moment when the email comes across with the text message rolls in, and they’re like, “Hey, I want to connect you with this person, they need to hire you.”

And then they’re connecting you right there on the spot with that prospect, that potential client. There’s nothing like hearing somebody else, hearing a client say what they loved about working with you. And then, in the same breath, connecting with somebody else who needs to work with you too.

There’s nothing like having a center of influence who’s one of your referral sources who believes in what you do, even though they’ve actually never done it themselves. Because by definition, they’re a center of influence, not a client.

And they’ve never worked with you themselves, but yet they believe in what you do and they trust you, and they put their reputation on the line for you. There’s just nothing like it.

There’s nothing like building your confidence day in and day out every time, every year, year over year, five years and 10 years, in 15 years, in 25 years in — and knowing that you’re doing it because people trust you to solve problems and they trust you enough to put their reputation on the line and send clients to you.

So, whereas I believe that easier growth (goal number one) and sustainable strategies for long-term growth (goal number two) make running a business easier, I think goal number three (building your confidence) makes running a business way more fun, just way more enjoyable.

So, I’m all for easy and enjoyable, just like the next person. And I think referrals makes that happen.

Now, that doesn’t mean when you say, “Okay, I’m going to take care of referrals,” then, all of a sudden, you’re going to get like 45 in the next three days. That’s not really how it works. There’s some work to do.

But you’ve got to figure out, if you’re going to really not let 2022 end without doing something different to take control of your referrals and to generate referrals naturally without manipulation, without compensation or incentivizing, and definitely, without asking my friends – if you’re going to do something different, you got to figure out what that is.

And you got to realize I’m going to make something happen, and I’m going to end 2022 with my referral strategies in place, or I’m going to kick off fourth quarter with my referral strategies in place, or end this year with something in place, or I’m going to make sure for 2023, I am locked and loaded and ready to go for my referrals.

So, you may have a different goal, a different why, a different reason behind wanting more referrals (I bet you do). If you do, I would love for you to share inside at our free community, our Referrals Without Asking Facebook group. You can join us today at staceybrownrandall.com/community.

Any link or resource that I mentioned for today’s episode, so if you need the link, because you’re like, “Yes, Stacey, I’m coming to see you in Charlotte in December, I can’t wait. How do I sign up for that Refocus Retreat to do your reverse goals setting process?” That link of course to the reverse goal-setting process and to the Refocus Retreat (too many Rs).

That link will be on the show notes page. It is staceybrownrandall.com/goals. But I will put that link along with, of course, our Facebook group link as well, and any other links that we’ve talked about in this episode into the show notes page, which you can find at staceybrownrandall.com/224.

And speaking of that retreat, don’t forget to sign up now for the Refocus Retreat, featuring my reverse goal-setting process. And if you want the early bird pricing, you got to make sure you get signed up.

So, if you’re a Growth By Referral student, you have early bird pricing through October 7th. If you are listening to this and you’re not a client of mine, you are not in the Growth By Referrals program, but you’re like, “Hey, I want to come learn from you Stacey to do the reverse goal-setting process at the Refocus one-day retreat,” your early bird pricing ends October 15th.

So go to staceybrownrandall.com/224 for the show notes, and all the links we talked about in today’s episode.

Coming up next week is episode 225, and I’m going to go off script, so to speak. And we’re going to talk about core values. Until then, you know what to do, take control and grow your business. Bye for now.

 

Thanks for listening to the Roadmap to Grow Your Business podcast. To
access all resources and links mentioned in today’s show, and to
connect with Stacey, head over to www.staceybrownrandall.com.