Ep #389: The Gratitude Effect

Stacey Brown Randall: Hey there, and welcome to the Roadmap to Referrals podcast, a show that proves you can generate referrals without asking or manipulation. I’m your host, Stacey Brown Randall.

I teach a science-backed methodology and framework that generates referrals without asking. This podcast and working with me is all about taking control of your referrals on your terms. Join me every week as we break it down.

So for this episode, I wanted to talk about a topic that you’re probably very, very familiar with, but how I’m gonna talk about it is gonna be in relation to the work that I do. So you may be thinking about this topic in a little bit of a different way.

Now, of course, if you landed on this episode, whether you’re watching this on YouTube or you’re listening to me in your earbuds while you’re listening to this on your favorite podcast listening app, you probably already know what I’m talking about because it’s in the title.

Gratitude. I want us to dive into gratitude, but the way I want to talk about gratitude for this episode specifically is what I call the gratitude effect.

Which means I want you to understand the role of gratitude in the framework and methodology, my referrals without asking methodology that I teach.

Because this gratitude effect runs through every one of my strategies, the plans that we build, the tactics that we deploy, the language that we use, it is rooted in everything that I teach my clients.

Now here’s the thing. When you think about gratitude and the power of gratitude, there’s no shortage of research on its importance, right?

There’s a lot of research on how gratitude makes us feel, right? So like practicing gratitude makes us happier. It can make us more or it can drive feelings of contentment. It can support our health, right, our immune system. There’s a lot of research out there.

But we know that there is more to it than how it makes us feel, right? I mean, on some level, even if you have like a, you don’t think that deeply about gratitude, you know that yes, practicing gratitude, practicing daily gratitude, practicing gratitude in a moment of stress is always a good thing for yourself.

Calm yourself down, right? Maybe hit a level of Zen, take off the edge some, be a little bit happier. But we also know that it’s more than just how it makes us feel.

And I love what I read in Psychology Today that said, expressing gratitude helps bind people together and enhances our social and emotional well-being.

And I think that’s at the heart of how I look at gratitude, specifically from how we build gratitude or use the gratitude effect within my methodology, the referrals without asking. methodology, right?

So this is going to, for some of you who may be hearing this for the very first time, you’re like, I feel like you’re saying the same thing, like, yay, gratitude, and you use gratitude within the work that you do.

But there’s a nuance that I really want you to pay attention to here. There’s a discernment level that I do with my clients, where we take this idea of gratitude and we drill down just a little bit further.

So with my clients, we use gratitude as the driver of how we think and act towards our referral sources.

Now, on the surface, that probably makes perfect sense to you. You’re like, yeah, you use gratitude for how you’re going to think about your referral sources, the people who refer to you, and how you’re going to act towards them, right?

But I want you to think about it a little bit differently in terms of what that looks like when we’re actually taking action.

So the big question each client of mine has to answer before they start working with me, right? So usually they’re answering this question for them because maybe they’re hearing me talk about it right now, like on a podcast, and they’re like, yes, I agree with Stacey, or maybe we’re actually on a call together and they’re deciding if they’re gonna work with me.

And I’m like, hey, this is a fundamental piece you gotta be on board with for what I’m gonna teach you to work.

And so that big question, it’s the question I want you to ask yourself as well, is do I believe that it is the right thing to do to take care of the people, the referral sources, my referral sources, who take care of my business by sending me referrals?

Let me say that again. Do I believe that it’s the right thing to do, that I should be doing it, right? It’s the right thing for me to do to take care of the people who take care of my business by referring people to me.

Now, of course, we’re talking about our referral sources, the people who refer prospects that hopefully become paying clients to you.

This fundamental question asks you to take a stand. I mean, ultimately, that’s what I want my clients to do. I want my clients to say, yes, I believe that I should be taking care of people who are taking care of my business.

Now, it may seem selfish. I think there are some people who may hear me say that and be like, oh, that sounds really selfish. Like, yeah, I got to take care of the people only because they’re taking care of me. And you’re missing the point.

If that’s what you heard, you’re missing the point. Most of us are super grateful for the people who are our clients and pay us money, refer clients to us because they make it easier for us to grow. Do business with us, support us.

Most of us wake up and we are grateful for the people who help us run our business or help us grow our business, whether that’s on the client side, the employee side, the vendor side.

That’s kind of like, unless you’re dead inside, I guess, right? But those people aren’t listening to this podcast anyway. And if they are, they should probably stop.

That’s not what I’m saying, right? The idea here is that for you not to miss the point of the question, it’s a driver of our actions. And that’s the difference.

And so let me just say this again, so I make sure everybody’s on the same page with me as I move on, right? So it’s, yes, right? Most people are like, yeah, I should take care of the people who take care of me. Great.

But does that change the action that you take? Does that change you taking something you think you should do with those great intentions and actually taking action on it? And that’s the difference. That’s the driver.

So I’m not asking my questions, do you believe that you should be grateful and thankful for the people who refer clients to you? We would all say yes, right? But my question is positioned a little bit differently.

It’s positioned as, do you think it’s the right thing to do to take care of those people who refer clients to you? Meaning take action, do things. And that’s the difference.

So I want you to hear this question as exactly as I’m stating it, right? So it’s not the, do you believe that people who refer clients to you are valuable and important and special? We would all say, yes. That’s not my question.

My question is, do you believe that then should drive you to take different actions and do different things to show that gratitude, to show that thankfulness? And when a client says yes to me on that, then we’re able to get to work.

So that question is at the foundation of the very first strategy I started teaching 12 years ago. And internally, that strategy is called growth by referrals. It’s the getting more referrals from people who already refer us.

And it is the through line, right? That question, do I believe it is the right thing to do to take care of the people who take care of my business? That drives my action, right?

Not just how I feel, but it drives the action that I actually take and not my intentions. But my actions, I actually do the things, right?

It is also, that question is also the through line through everything else that I teach, all the other strategies, all the other tactics, right?

It is through everything that I believe and everything that I teach is this idea that like, it’s not just that I should be thankful for the people. who take care of my business by referring people to me, but I should actually, that should propel me to act differently, to do different things.

So, since we are in the season of Thanksgiving, for those of you who are in the States, right? And of course, most of us will be in the season of Thanksgiving, if not for the actual holiday of Thanksgiving.

With the upcoming holiday season upon us, I want you to ask yourself this question. Do I believe that it is the right thing to do to take care of the people who take care of my business by sending me referrals or by referring people to me.

Do you? If the answer is yes, Awesome. Right. Welcome to the party. So glad you’re here.

I know saying yes to that probably felt like a non, not a big deal. Like you probably didn’t feel the earth move under your feet. Like, yeah, I believe that. Right?

But you actually just set something in motion of you having a commitment to your referrals and specifically your referral sources, the humans who refer or will refer in the future.

You’ve actually just shifted your mindset around how you see them and how you think about them. And then ultimately now how you’re going to do something about taking care of them.

And that is where I can get to work. Right? So that’s amazing.

So if your answer was yes, I actually do believe that it is the right thing to do to take care of the people who take care of my business and that should drive actions that I take, not just feelings that I have, right?

That should drive the actions that I take, then next week’s episode, you gotta come back, because next week’s episode is designed with you in mind. And I’m gonna tackle a few things, please, please, a few things I need you to do before the end of the year.

So again, if you answered yes to that question, I know the earth probably didn’t shake for you or move for you. You probably didn’t have that vortex feeling.

But what I know, because I see in every one of my clients that I work with, there is a shift that just happened in you, maybe a baby shift, but it’s something we’re going to build on and that you can nurture in yourself and grow and then start taking different action.

And that is the baseline of how we start increasing your referrals. So definitely come back next week, because we’re going to talk about what you should be doing before the end of the year.

And with next week’s episode, you got like, what, four or five weeks to get it done? So plenty of time. So make sure you come back next week.

Okay, before you go, can I ask a favor? If you’ve purchased and read my new book, The Referable Client Experience, will you go leave a written review?

Of course, my preference is a five-star review, so a five-star rating along with a written review. So, I mean, that’s what I want, but I want you to make it honest for yourself.

Our goal is to hit 25 reviews on Amazon by Thanksgiving. At the time of this recording, we’re like at 21 reviews. Hopefully by the time you’re hearing this, we’ll be way over that.

But since this episode does drop a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I just need a few more reviews to hit 25 to hit our goal of 25 reviews by Thanksgiving. That means like in our first month of the book being out, we hit 25 reviews.

And then our next goal is to hit 50 reviews before we start slowing down for the holiday break. So our goal is then to be at 50 reviews by December 19th.

Can you help us hit either goal? So regardless of when you’re hearing this episode, if you’ve read the book and you loved it, will you hop on over to Amazon and will you leave a five-star rating along with a written review?

And if you’ve already done it, Bless you and thank you so very much. I cannot begin to express the gratitude, of course, and the thankfulness that I feel for people who’ve read the book, loved it, and then taken the time to actually leave a review. So thank you.

We’re just a few reviews away from hitting our goal by Thanksgiving of 25, and then we’ll have a couple of weeks to get to 50.

So whenever you hear this, whenever you go to leave your review, whether we’re at 25, remember, we’re trying to hit 50, and after that, we’re headed for 100.

So if you can help me, I would be so very thankful and I appreciate your support.

Okay, in our wrap up, you can access the transcript for this episode, plus all the other links that we talked about in the show notes page at StaceyBrownRandall.com/389.

Thanks for making it to the end. Until next week, take control of your referrals and build a referable business. Bye for now.