Ep #231: Do These 3 Things for Your Referral Sources

Stacey Brown Randall:          End of year is no time to slack off and ignore your business’s most valuable asset. Here are three things to do now for your referral sources.

Hey there, and welcome to episode 231 of the Roadmap to Grow Your Business Podcast; a show about helping you build a referable business. I’m your host, Stacey Brown Randall.

We’re going to keep this episode a little on the short side. You know why? Because when you’re done listening, you’re going to have work to do. That’s right. I’m assigning you some homework.

I’m going back to my adjunct professor days, and I’m going to give you some assignments that I need you to complete. It’s actually going to be three of them because today, we are talking about the three things you need to do for your referral sources before the end of the year.

Actually, these are the things you should probably be considering doing throughout the year, but let’s be honest, some of us have the best of intentions, and we do not execute, and this is no time for that my friend.

This is not the time to be slacking off and ignoring our business’s most valuable asset as we are racing towards the end of the year trying to get everything done. I get it. We have now entered the time zone of what I like to call crunch time.

It is the time when we are trying to wrap up things for work, and in our personal lives like starting and finishing that holiday shopping. We are trying to have a strong finish to the year, a strong finish to fourth quarter.

The holidays are quickly approaching, particularly for those of you in America who are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving, that is right around the corner. And then the celebrations of Hanukkah and Christmas and the other celebrations that happen that time of year, plus then we’ll all be celebrating the New Year.

This is what we like to call crunch time, because not only are you trying to get stuff done on the personal side, you’re also trying to wrap up the year and finish strong on the business side.

And it is also a time where our busy-ness is sometimes allowed to get in the way of the things that we should truly be focused on. And I just want to be a nice little reminder right here before you get to Thanksgiving, hopefully, you’re listening to this when this episode is released, and not months later, which it’s okay if you are. But I want to make sure you know some things you need to be thinking about.

You need to figure out how you’re going to get them done because you’ve got some homework to do when we’re done. So, here are the three things I need you to do for your referral sources before the end of the year.

Number one; acknowledge them. Do you know the number one way to acknowledge your referral sources? You ready for it?

Well, it starts with knowing who the heck they are. Do you know who are your referral sources? Do you know who they are? Do you know who sent you a referral this year?

I mean, I know my clients and any of my programs are like, “Yes, Stacey, because you are crazy person making us track this stuff, and then checking on us every single quarter.”

That’s right. My Building a Referable Business group coaching members, they know we do quarterly updates, and I want to see them, and I talk about them, and they’re important.

But do you even know who your referral sources are? You can’t acknowledge them if you don’t know who they are.

And here’s the thing I think people overlook. Just you knowing who they are allows you to acknowledge them when you see them out and about. Because once you take the time to actually look over the list of people who are referring clients to you, or have referred clients to you, there’s an opportunity to be like, “Oh my goodness, I can acknowledge that person because I know that that person is actually a referral source.”

You cannot acknowledge what you do not know exists. So, you got to look; you got to look into your business. You got to figure out who are the people actually referring prospects to you. You have to know this stuff. These are humans. These are first and last name humans.

So, it’s important that you understand and acknowledge for yourself so that you can actually acknowledge them, or who are your referral sources. That is number one.

For some of you, you’re going to be like, “Check because Stacey hollers at me all the time about that, and I’ve got it done.” And for others of you are like, “Okay, I’m going to do it because Stacey said I needed to do it before the end of the year.”

And others of you are thinking, “I might get to it, but it won’t be because Stacey forced me into it.” Its fine. I don’t care what it takes to get you to do it, but you cannot acknowledge what you do not know exists.

So, please take some time, right now, and acknowledge who are your referral sources by first identifying who they are. You can do this. I have full faith in you, and we have a whole section on our website under our freebie page that helps you do this.

If you’ve never done it before, just go to staceybrownrandall.com/freebies, and go straight to that section that says, Identify your referral sources. Download that spreadsheet, and it’ll walk you through how to identify your referral sources if you’ve never done it. Because please remember, you cannot acknowledge what you do not know exist.

The second thing I want you to do for your referral sources before the end of the year — you ready for this one? Drum roll. This is super exciting. I bet you didn’t see this one coming; say thank you.

I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds elementary, it sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many times somebody refers, and people don’t do anything. They think it, and I’ve talked about this before, and let me just say this again; your intentions are kind of pointless and worthless if they’re not acted on when it comes to our referral sources.

Sorry, I don’t mean to sound harsh. I want to sound joyful and happy because it’s the holidays, but the truth is, thinking about thanking your referral sources is absolutely not the same thing as thanking your referral sources. Can I get an amen?

All I’m asking you to consider is when people take the time to put their reputation on the line, and refer clients to you, that you are taking care of them by saying thank you at a minimum.

Now, you know, if you’re with me, if you’re in one of my programs we’re doing more than that, and that’s how we get consistent referrals. That’s how we double, triple, quadruple referrals in a year.

But I need you to say thanks to them, okay? I need you to say thank you to them. And you’re smart enough to figure this out of how you decide that you’re going to say thank you to these folks.

I pray that you’re smarter than just thinking you’re going to email them, though. Let’s go a little further than that.

So, number one, acknowledge them. Number two, say thanks.

Now, let’s talk about the third thing you need to do for your referral sources before the end of the year.

Pardon the interruption. If you want to start 2023 referral-strong, then you need to use the rest of this year getting ready for it. If you wait until January or February, you’ll miss out on a few critical months to make referral traction.

So, if you’ve considered joining one of my online programs like Growth by Referrals or joining my group coaching experience, Building a Referable Business, then now is the time to join and get started. Give yourself space to build so that you are ready to execute when the New Year rolls around.

Just go to staceybrownrandall.com to sign up or apply. You can sign up right away and join one of the online programs, the self-study online programs like Growth by Referrals or Referring Machines, and you can also apply for our group coaching experience, Building a Referable Business.

But if you’d rather work with me for one day, and get everything built and in place for a referral-strong 2023, then reach out to me directly via email or direct message me on LinkedIn or Instagram, and request information for my VIP Referrals In a Day option.

Okay, let’s get back to it. Here’s the third recommendation for what to do for your referral sources before the end of the year.

Number three is; end the year with something M&M. Did you just wonder what M&M is? Or did you just shout it out in your car? Or as you’re blowing the leaves off your yard, or while you’re on your run? Did you just run by somebody and shout out what M&M means? Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?

If you’re a longtime listener of this podcast or a client of mine, you better know what it means. M&M is memorable and meaningful. If it’s the first time you’ve heard that, think memorable and meaningful, it’s the version that Stacey calls M&M, like the candy that won’t melt in your hand, only in your mouth.

End the year with something memorable and meaningful. Now, my students know my clients, who are in my programs, whether they’re working with me one on one, in my group coaching experience, or of course, they’re in one of my online programs like Growth by Referrals — you know that the thing we end the year with is a very specific card with very specific language, but you got to do something my friends.

And absolutely, let me say this; does not need to be an expensive gift. Let me say that again for the people in the back; ending the year with something memorable and meaningful for the people who have referred people to you does absolutely does not need to be an expensive or even a cheap gift.

It doesn’t even need to be a gift. That’s not what I mean when I say memorable and meaningful. Yes, can gifts be a part of your referral plan? Of course. Do I have lots of clients that that’s not how they want to do it, they don’t have the budget for it, or there’s regulations involved so that they can’t do it?

So, do they have an entire referral plan that’s built around not including gifts? Guess what? Yes. But you got to do something that’s memorable and meaningful that will capture the attention of your referral sources at the end of this year as you move into next year.

Again, if you’re a client of mine, you know we talk about this; it’s a very specific card that I want you to have in the mail before the end of the year. And for those of you who missed that deadline, there’s another version. You can sit down in January, but I want you hitting it at the beginning of the year.

I mean, excuse me, at the end of the year. Repeat that. Let me repeat that again. I need you sending this very simple card at the end of the year for my clients who are listening right now. But it doesn’t have to be a gift, doesn’t have to be a card.

You get to spend a little bit of time knowing who your referral sources are, and coming up with what it’s going to be for you that fits you, that fits your referral sources, that fits your budget, that fits your timeline, that fits everything that’s custom to you, but it’s just got to be something that’s memorable and meaningful.

And if you need a little help coming up with what that is, that is awesome. That’s why I’m here to help you. And you can certainly consider joining one of my programs, whether that’s our group coaching program or an online program — well, of course, my VIP Referrals In a Day option, but you got to end the year with something memorable and meaningful.

Let me give you these three things again, these are the three things I want you to do for your referral sources before the end of the year, because now, is not the time to say you’re too busy to take care of your business’s most important asset.

Number one, acknowledge them. Number two, say thanks. Number three, end the year with something memorable and meaningful, and do not read that as an expensive gift.

We will link to everything that was discussed on the episode today, including the transcripts. You can always download the transcripts if you’d rather sometimes read the transcripts versus listening to me in your ear, you can always download the transcripts on the show notes page, plus all the resources and links that we mentioned.

Show notes page for this episode is staceybrownrandall.com/231, and this is your final chance to register for our refocus retreat being held in December. Our girl’s got to know how much champagne to chill and how many charcuterie boards to buy. So, I need to know if you’re coming.

So, this is your final chance, final call. It’s the last call to join me for the Re:Focus Retreat held in Charlotte, in December. You can find all the details plus a full agenda of how you’ll be spending that refocused day with me at staceybrownrandall.com/goals.

Coming up next week is episode 232, and as we enter into the holiday season, we’re going to talk about a topic I love — and no, this actually isn’t about referrals, which is the main topic that I love. This is another thing I love, and we’re going to talk about ways to say no as a business owner, and I mean 30 of them. Yep, 30 ways to say no.

Until then, take control, my friend, 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.