Ep #253: A Peek Inside a Referable Business Part 2

Stacey Brown Randall:          I don’t know where you are in your business journey, but I think we can all agree there is something to learn from those who have been in business for 25 years or longer.

Join me for this interview with the business owner of a referable business who is celebrating their 25^th year in business.

Hey there, and welcome to Episode 253 of the Roadmap to Referrals Podcast, a show about helping you build a referable business. I’m your host, Stacey Brown Randall.

Hey, real quick, we’re still going strong this month, April, with our 30 Ways to Take Control of Your Referrals. Each day this month, I’m posting one action to take if you want to start building a referable business.

You can follow along on my LinkedIn or Instagram accounts, or if you’re a member of our free Facebook group Referrals Without Asking, you can find all of the 30 ways in there as well.

Links are available for each of my social media accounts on the show notes page for this episode, which is staceybrownrandall.com/253. That’s 253, and Stacey has an E.

Today, I am talking with Fabi Preslar. She is the owner of SPARK Publications. And SPARK Publications, specializes in custom design for magazines, catalogs, and books. And as I said, also, celebrating their 25^th year in business.

Fabi is also, a member of our coaching program, Building a Referable Business. I will post all the ways you can get in touch with Fabi on the show notes page for this episode.

But I want you to get ready and get excited as you hear the success Fabi is having just a couple of months in to her time as a member of BRB. And why now, was the right time for her to take control of her referrals in a different and much better way.

Fabi, I am so excited to spend this time with you on the podcast today. I feel like this is like a long time coming to have you here with me. I mean, we’ve known each other for a very long time, which is not, I would say actually the benefit of most of my clients having known me for decades, before actually being a client.

But it’s so fun that we know each other and I’m so excited for this conversation because I think you have some great insight to share on top of some really kick butt results to share as well.

But before we get to all the good nets, why don’t you tell us just a little bit about yourself and your company?

Fabi Preslar:       Oh, I would love to, thank you. Hi, I’m Fabi Preslar. I am founder and president of SPARK Publications. And we are a custom publisher of independently published books and magazines.

We publish nonfiction entrepreneurial books such as business books, coffee table books, collector books, cookbooks, workbooks.

And we work primarily, with the thought in mind of having a great book serve a great purpose to grow a business, a brand, or a platform. And these are for successful leaders and business owners.

And our clients are focused on well-designed high-quality books that most of the time require minimal marketing. So, we’re not a marketing heavy firm. We are a beautiful, awesome rockier book firm.

And the magazines, those are business-to-business magazines and they’re also, for large national trade associations, for associations that have memberships of anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000 is really who we’re working with.

And on the personal side, I also, hired my husband, which we’ve been married for 36 years. I hired him 12 years ago and I hired my daughter 11 years ago. And SPARK Publications as celebrating 25 years this year.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I love it. It’s the family business. Is it the family that works together, grows together, and never gets upset with each other? That’s how the saying goes?

Fabi Preslar:       I’m not familiar with that saying.

Stacey Brown Randall:          That is not how the saying goes.

Fabi Preslar:       We’re a passionate group. We might fight fast and hard, but it’s always fast and everything is said and none of that lingering stuff.

Stacey Brown Randall:          That’s awesome. I love it. I mean, you have such a fabulous business, a family business, so to speak, now. And you have been in business, like you said for 25 years.

And so, I think that’s such a huge accomplishment. I mean, for the second business of mine, we just hit 10 years, so I can only imagine what’s going to look like to hit another 15.

Of course, that’s not as long as I’ve been a business owner, as you know, I had that fun business failure I had to deal with a number of years ago. So, I mean-

Fabi Preslar:       I had one too. So, I’ve been in business 31 years. Yes.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I think all fabulous entrepreneurs have something like that. I’d like to call it in my back pocket because it’s just the memory and the reminder of where we don’t want to go again.

Fabi Preslar:       Or the dent in your forehead either way.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Oh, that’s a good one. That’s even better. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, so, let’s start the fact that you’ve been in business for 25 years. You have seen recessions, economic downturns, pandemics — like maybe not a pandemic multiple times, but you’ve seen it all in the 25 years that you’ve had your business. So, I think your perspective on this question is going to be really valuable for our listeners.

There’s this myth that business owners, like once we become a business owner, we got to know everything. We got to be able to figure everything out. We got to know how to do everything.

But we also, know like just common sense tells us that’s actually not possible. It’s a myth, we believe it, a lot of entrepreneurs buy into it. But we actually know in the back of our head it’s really not possible too.

So, what advice do you have from your glorious 25 years in business? What advice would you have for business owners who are in a place right now, where they are trying to figure it all out by themselves?

Fabi Preslar:       Okay. Well, I think first of all, really try to decide if you’re wanting to stay or to be a solo lifestyle business or if you’re actually wanting to grow it into a business that’s going to have employees and contractors and all that. Because there’s different ways to handle it with that way.

And if you are seeking to grow the business … and when I say grow, I mean, I’ve kept my business small purposefully. I mean, we’ve always been under eight employees and we’re at seven now, with four contractors.

And honestly, I can’t do anything that any of these folks do. Don’t ask me if the server crashes to go and get the backup copies and put them in there. Don’t ask me how to do all this organizational structure that some of these do on these large national association magazines.

I think what I finally got to, because I did, when I was solo, I tried to do it all myself and that didn’t work out very well because I wasn’t good at half of it or I would miss things that needed to be done.

But ultimately, know what the deliverables are for each phase or each position. And then know who’s supposed to do it and how it’s supposed to look like when it’s delivered, when it’s finalized. And trust who you’ve put in those positions to do those things.

And still build that organizational chart even if there’s only you or one other person and you’re outsourcing some certain things, build that org chart and then just know who’s supposed to be doing what.

I mean, honestly, I’ve asked myself times why I’m even in this business because I really can’t do most of the things that my entire team is doing. We would be in trouble if I were having to do some of these things. So, you have to get to that stage. I mean, you cannot do it all.

My superpowers come in the consulting and then the talking with our clients and bringing them in and nobody else in my team can do that either.

So, it’s just knowing what your strengths are and what you really love doing and make sure that you know what everybody else is doing. I mean, you can’t not have a focus on all those things but you just also, can’t be the one doing it.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah, I mean, and I think that comes in, I look at it from that perspective of there’s the delivering of the things that the business needs to deliver for the reason why we have revenue, the reason why we have clients and there’s all those pieces that come into place.

And then there’s like the other side of it where it’s the actual running of the business. And I think about it because as a solopreneur myself, there is absolutely no way I can run the business that I have today without an army behind me.

They may not be on a part-time or a full-time W-2, but they are part of the team and without them it would be a disaster.

Like if I had to actually keep up with my own QuickBooks, my CPA I’m sure would be like, “I’m not taking you on as a client because that’s a mess.” Like I need my bookkeeper, I need the people that help me do the things that we do.

I think it’s really important that we recognize that whereas we have to make all the decisions and the buck stop has to stop somewhere and somebody has to make the decision if it’s needed to be made at the top level. But that doesn’t mean you got to do it all and you can have a team-

Fabi Preslar:       No, absolutely not. Just on the finances, like you were saying, I have a payroll company, I have an accounting firm, I have a CPA for my taxes, and then I have a CFO to help me keep all of that.

And so, it’s just like you get your reports, know how to read the reports, but do I know how to do any of that stuff? Well, I had my accounting firm call me and ask me to please not go back into QuickBooks because it takes too much time to fix the stuff I do.

So, but it’s like that across the board. But you have to be able to grow into that position to where every single one of your team says, “Please don’t touch my stuff.” If my stuff is to get you to make the money, so.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Well, and I also, look at it from that perspective too. It’s kind of like sometimes I feel like as business owners, when it’s time for us to get help with something, we want to like impress people by how good we are at the one thing we know we need help with.

And for me, it took a while for me to get to the place it’s like, you know what? My zone of genius is helping business owners get referrals. Like that is my zone of genius and they come to me for that need.

That doesn’t mean I have to have multiple other areas within a zone of genius. I can get help in all the other areas. And it’s like reminding yourself of that.

People come to you and buy you, so to speak, based on the thing that only your company can produce and the way they want it done. But that doesn’t mean they’re also looking at you to be an expert and the 52 other ways that we need to know or have someone do the things it takes to run a business.

Fabi Preslar:       Exactly. Point up to the experts in your firm or the … yeah, absolutely.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah, absolutely. Okay, awesome. Alright. So, you decided last year, kind of towards the end of the year, fourth quarter, to dive in differently to generating referrals for the company.

So, what prompted that? Like what kind of was the spark, so to speak, for that to happen?

Fabi Preslar:       All of our clients come in through samples of seeing our great work or through referrals. And I was horrible at following up. I was horrible at knowing by the next year, who had referred. And it was just time for me to take all that to the next level.

I’ve been poking at you for over the couple years and I wanted somebody to do this in-house and realized that my team was not the right people at all to be doing this because they are experts in doing design and layout and illustrations and editing and none of it had to do with the people coming in.

And so, I thought, you know what? I saw that you had posted online because I am a Stacey stalker on social media. And-

Stacey Brown Randall:          I love that, by the way.

Fabi Preslar:       I had seen part of the kicked-up program and then the retreat that you had coming up and I just said, “You know what? It’s now or never.”

And never was not an option because I really needed to get a hold of this because it was a really important part of my business that no one was managing. I wasn’t managing it and I gave it to no one to manage. So, it just wasn’t happening.

So, you have great people that are going, “Hey, go to SPARK Publications, go to Fabi, they’re going to do great work for you.” And then I said, “Thanks.” And then I was actually handing out like checks for a while saying thank you for referring or different things like that.

So, the reason why I chose to do it is because I was ready to take business development through referrals to a different level. And there was nobody else that I want to do that with but you, because I know that you have a great success rate. I didn’t know what that meant, and we’ll talk about that in just a few minutes.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yes, definitely. Well, I think you highlight a really important thing that I think probably there is at least one, but there’s probably more listeners that heard what you just said in terms of business is good.

I mean, I’m sure business hasn’t been stellar and stoic every single year. I know it hasn’t been for me in 10 years. But like business is good and sometimes it’s good enough and sometimes what’s working is working just enough to where we don’t have to focus on doing something differently.

But you were prompted, there was just something that you said, “Hey, you know what? Things are good enough, but they could be better. And I could feel a little less frazzled and a little less disorganized and have more success if I just decided to put in conscious thought and effort.”

And you know being a member of the coaching program, BRB, Building a Referral Business, it’s work. Like I don’t ever sugarcoat that. Like if you want referrals, you have to be willing to work for them.

But it’s better work than like making 40 cold calls every day or having to spend every single night networking, eating a rubber chicken dinner. But it’s still work.

And so, there’s somebody listening that I know is just at that point where you were and they’re hearing it from your perspective of, “I’m there, it’s just time that I get help. And it’s okay that I’m going to get help and I’m willing to put the work in.”

I talk to a lot of people about joining BRB and I’m like, it’s work. And if you want success that you hear my clients talk about, remember I’m giving them the roadmap, and I’m guiding them, and I’m available to them, and I’m answering questions, but they are doing the work.

And there’s just a lot of business owners I talk to, they’re like, “Hmm, I just don’t know if I’m ready to do the work.” And that’s okay. But you got to acknowledge that. And I think you acknowledged it on the other side was like, “Hey, it’s time. I’m ready to do the work.”

Fabi Preslar:       It’s time and it is work, but so is going to so many networking events and I just stopped doing that. So, I just stopped doing all the things that weren’t working. And not that networking doesn’t work, it’s just you have to be very strategic about it.

And I’ve also, been in Charlotte long enough to where I’ve kind of gone through these networks.

As far as the work part, yes it is, you give us the roadmap, but you’re also, like this awesome GPS.

So, if you got into your car and you weren’t sure where you were going, you could take all these side roads and go all these different ways and spend a lot more time. But with the BRB GPS modules, that you have, it actually saves time, it’s gotten me focused. It’s actually so much more strategic and has a process that’s easy to follow.

Now, I’m going to be real honest that it is easy to follow, but I also, needed more help with it. And so, having a virtual assistant, having an assistant that can do the stuff that takes a lot of time has saved me a lot of time.

So, the time I do put into it is the strategic part and then the handwriting. I do the notes, I do all that myself. So, I don’t send that out to anybody.

But I now, have my VA and you keeping me accountable and gosh, I hate disappointing you guys. So, when there are times that I really just don’t want to do something, it’s like, “Well, I’m going to have to spend time explaining why I didn’t do it.”

Stacey Brown Randall:          “So, I might as well just do it.”

Fabi Preslar:       Might as well just do it. But I do love the strategy, the formula, all of the things that you have put in in place that help make it a lot easier and not have me have to go make something up.

So, my thing to business owners is this, it’s like you’re going to do it your own way anyway. So, with all the things you have going on, why not have someone finally tell you how to do it in a way that makes it easy so that you can just strategically do it yourself, so.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I love that. I think that’s such … I’ve never been called an awesome GPS. I love that. People are going to start seeing that now, in the marketing.

Fabi Preslar:       Okay. Glad I could help.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Fabulous. Thank you, dear. No, but I think that you’re right. I mean, I think at the end of the day, this goes back to what we were first talking about. Is that if you’ve decided you want referrals in your business, you’ve got options of how you’re going to learn about doing them.

But I think what some people don’t understand is that there’s actually this whole ecosystem of how we can generate referrals in our business and we don’t put all the parts of the ecosystem in place in the first three months or even the first six months.

We put the most important strategies in place to get the best results early on and then we refine everything else within our ecosystem.

So, okay, let’s get to talking about the results because this is obviously, most people listening are like, “Can we just know how it’s going for her?” Like she’s telling us all this great stuff. But how do-

Fabi Preslar:       I’m a newbie, I’m just getting started.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I know, but you’re having great success and so, let me set the stage. So, when you joined towards the end of last year, and you were coming in-

Fabi Preslar:       October, near the end.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah, the fourth, it was near the end. Yeah. So, fourth quarter, you’ve come into the program, you kind of drank from the fire hose in the very beginning. We do our best with our onboarding and our 90-day sprints and things like that. But you are starting to think and learn new language and new ways of doing things.

A lot of stuff aligned with who you are. And it does with just about everybody who joins BRB. They’re like, “Oh, I feel good about doing this stuff.” But it’s still new, it’s still strategies, it’s still processes.

And so, that was kind of like getting everything in place for you. So, if we look at your results then, and we’re just going to focus on first quarter of this year. So, 2023, just from the referrals generation piece.

Tell everybody what was the goal you set of the number of new referrals. So, the number of new referrals that you wanted for this whole year of 2023. What was your goal for this year?

Stacey Brown Randall:          Hey, pardon the interruption. I know, I know, we were just getting to the good part where she was about to tell you all of the amazing success she’s having in the first quarter, the first three months of this year. We’ll get back to it, but real quick, pardon the interruption.

Don’t you think it’s time you joined Fabi inside Building a Referable Business, our coaching program? Yes. Okay, then go to staceybrownrandall.com/referable to learn about everything you receive inside BRB and to submit your application.

Fabi talks about how she loves the intentionality of the group size. So, keep in mind, not everyone who applies will be accepted, but you’ve got to apply first before you know. So, go to staceybrownrandall.com/referable and submit your application.

Okay, let’s get back to her awesome, awesome results.

Now, let’s tell everybody, how many referrals have you received in the first quarter of this year, the first three months of 2023?

Fabi Preslar:                15.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Woo, we should have a party. You are five away from a year long goal and you did it in three months.

Fabi Preslar:                Yes.

Stacey Brown Randall:                   I mean, that’s incredible. And you deserve-

Fabi Preslar:                It’s kind of magical.

Stacey Brown Randall:          It is, it is. And you deserve every bit of that success and every bit of that result.

And what I really love too is, I find when I watch — so, as everyone comes into BRB, most people who know, they know we keep BRB small because I want to know your business.

Like when I’m having a conversation with you, I don’t want to be like, “Wait, is Fabi a financial advisor or is she like …” I want to know exactly what your business is. And I want to remember the conversations that we’ve had from our onboardings, to our one-on-one milestones, to the question and answers you ask in the group sessions.

Like I want to make sure there’s a continuation. Which, so just from a brain power perspective, the group has to stay small for that reason.

Fabi Preslar:                Which is very valuable, extremely valuable.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Thank you. Thank you. And so, because everybody I talk to is like, “How are you going to scale that?” I’m like, “That is not the point of this. Like I don’t want to scale it, I want to know my people.”

But you know how business people think, they’re like, “Oh, scale, scale, scale. Grow, grow, grow. Like hustle, hustle, hustle.” I’m like, “None of that, please.”

And so, but I remember when you started you were like, “I’m going to need a whole bunch of people to start referring me.” And I was like, “Okay.” Like I knew you’d been in business for almost 25 years and I was like, “Okay.”

And then you started doing the work, like the pre-work and you’re realizing, “Wait a minute, there are people referring me.” But you did identify that you wanted more people referring you as well because people don’t stay referral sources forever. They just don’t. Right?

Fabi Preslar:                Right.

Stacey Brown Randall:          And so, I think that’s a fair assessment of a description of one of the harder strategies I teach, but it’s super valuable, is how you take a person who’s never referred you and you take them through the process to get them to start referring you for the first time ever.

And then we have strategies to cultivate them to get more referrals from them. I always say it’s a business’s low hanging fruit to see who’s referred you in the past. Okay, let’s take better and different care of them and get more referrals from them.

That’s easy. It’s harder to say, “Okay, you’ve never referred me and now, I’m going to take you to this process where I’m not going to ask you to refer me. I’m not going to hint and be awkward and uncomfortable about referring me. I’m actually going to do things backwards.”

And that’s actually what ultimately, is going to make it work and turn new people into referral sources.

So, how many new people do you now, have referring you that just a handful of months ago weren’t referring you?

Fabi Preslar:       Of the ones that I have met with and kept warm, then I got four referrals from those directly. And those are kind of really cool because these are people I’d never had conversations with.

And using your processes to the letter and doing what I was supposed to do because I decided I wasn’t going to make this up. Decided that Stacey is the guru on this, I’m going to follow her process.

And so, yes, actually in the last two months, four of those people I were keeping warm turned into a referral partner.

Did I think that was going to happen? I was hoping that would happen by the end of the year. But to have four within the first quarter, it just goes to show that you might know your stuff.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Just a little bit.

Fabi Preslar:       Exactly. But for real, yeah.

Stacey Brown Randall:          10 years maybe I’ll kind of know what I’m doing. Yeah. And so, and here’s the thing, like I love sharing the results that people have and I love hearing obviously, the results that people have.

But everybody will have different results. The reality of it is you started with a history behind your business. Different from somebody who may come into BRB who only has like two years or a year of business behind them.

We all start in a different place. We all are looking for something different. We all set our own goals and we try really hard. We’re not playing the comparison society. We’re not trying to do things like everybody else and try to be like them because that’s not possible.

I mean, it would be like, I think about-

Fabi Preslar:       Can I say something about that though?

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah.

Fabi Preslar:       That at the retreat, that’s what made all of this super real because I was like super newbie there. And I’m like sitting next to this other business owner who has a service-based business and I’m seeing her referral sheets and I was like, “Holy cow.”

But it was inspirational because I got to see that it was actually happening. Because you always know, “Well, okay, well maybe Stacey’s just a really good salesperson.” Well, you are, but based on how you’re helping other business owners succeed.

But at the retreat, I got to see that firsthand and I got to listen to the conversations and people that were in your program for a couple years and of course people go, “Well, don’t you just learn the stuff and get out?”

Well, you can. But with the level of support that you give and the accountability from the live sessions, the Q&A sessions and then the retreat, it was just like, “Wow, this is for real.” And it lit a fire underneath me.

So, you set it all up so that you’re the GPS but then you have all these other travelers that are doing it and being successful and we learned so much from them.

I mean, each of those sessions … I don’t get to attend them all because they’re weekly and they can’t seem to do anything weekly. But I do pop in a couple times a month.

Stacey Brown Randall:          You’re not supposed to. So, like you should never feel … no one’s supposed to be at all of them. They’re every week, you come when you need them.

Fabi Preslar:       Yeah. And those are super valuable because you get to hear the way that people are using the processes and the techniques and then there’s always like cool new creative things. So, that’s been really cool.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah. So, let me just take a half a second and just for people who are listening, they’re like, “Okay, Fabi’s mentioned this retreat thing.” It’s actually a bonus that comes along with your membership in BRB.

It’s a free retreat that we put on for BRB members in December, you come and you hang out with me. Last year, we did it in Charlotte, we’ll probably do it in Charlotte again even though I am investigating another location that seems super fun and cool.

But we do for two days and we dig in and we get you completely ready for the next year. So, even though you were in BRB like two months before the retreat happened in early December, we were focused on how do we get Fabi ready from where she is for 2024.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that you still have milestone calls and weekly Q&As and you can email me when you have questions as you move forward. But I have found that that two day in-person retreat … and not everybody can attend. And that’s fine. It is a bonus. It is free. It is just included. You come-

Fabi Preslar:                Super valuable.

Stacey Brown Randall:          … we take care of everything. Yeah. Like the BRB members, you got to get yourself there, you got to put yourself up in hotel. But it’s my time to just pour into you guys for those that can make it for that.

And I remember talking to like a business coach and I was like devising what BRB looked like. And they’re like, “You should charge for that.”

And I’m like, “I could, but I’m not going to. I want as many people who have invested in the BRB coaching program to feel like they get all the support. And then they get to come hang out with me on top of that for this retreat.”

Because it did exactly what I wanted it to do for you. It got you in a room with other people who were having success and you’re like, “Oh, I can do this too.” And you’re like, “If they can do this …” And more than likely you’re probably sitting pretty close, I can assume to maybe like Kathryn and you’re looking at all her BRB numbers.

Fabi Preslar:       I did. I was like, “Holy cow, she’s a rockstar. So, just wait, I’m going to show her this year.”

Stacey Brown Randall:          That’s right. Well, show her up. But Kathryn’s been doing this for eight years. Like she’s like the client that I will never ever let leave. Or maybe it’s seven years, whatever it is, it’s a lot.

And so, you see that and you’re like, “Oh.” And then you meet these other humans and you’re like, “These are great people doing …” I mean, we talk. And the Q&A is on Zoom every week, but it’s not the same.

And I just think for someone who’s going to say yes to referrals from an ecosystem perspective, just as it happened with you, I want to get in there, I want to light the fire, I want to kick you in the hiney when you need it from time to time.

But I want you to want to do the work because then I want you to have the success. Which you had. I mean, from a year long, a 12-month goal, you’re five referrals away from hitting it in three months.

Fabi Preslar:       Yeah.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Like that’s incredible.

Fabi Preslar:       No pressure. No pressure.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I think you’ll get five more before the end of the year. But here’s the thing, and we talked about this before we hit record. We were talking about your results and you were like, “But I don’t want to change my goal.”

I’m like, “No, we don’t have to change the goal. Keep the goal at 20, let’s just blow it out of the water. Let’s just do way more than that if we’re doing 15 in the first quarter.”

And there’s not a guarantee, so to speak, that you’ll get 15 every quarter. Maybe you’ll get 20, maybe you’ll get 10. But you’re already there with processes, procedures, strategies, it’s working and you’re having that success. And that is what I love.

Okay. So, you have said so many fabulous things about BRB. I want to close with just one final question. I want you to talk to the people who are listening, who have either applied for BRB but haven’t pulled the trigger to join or they’ve been on the fence about applying to see if they want to join BRB.

What would you say to them if you were telling them you should join BRB?

Fabi Preslar:       I was on the fence for probably about six, seven years. And nothing was really happening. I kept thinking it’s referrals, I should know how to do this. I’m a business owner whose company is run on referrals and introductions.

But until I got the process, until I got to be in a group of other business owners who are focusing on this and learning how to not ask for referrals and get like triple the amount of referrals that I’ve gotten in the past couple years, you are welcome to stay on the fence, but it’s going to be slow. You can make up a process and that’s okay.

I have just really enjoyed and appreciating having Stacey tell me what to do and then doing it and then watching this level of success happen. So, get off the fence.

Stacey Brown Randall:          That is awesome. That’s right, everybody off the fence, make the decision. Probably the decision is to join Fabi in BRB, but whatever it is, get off the fence.

Fabi Preslar:       Yeah.

Stacey Brown Randall:          I love it, I love it. Is there anything I should have asked you that I didn’t?

Fabi Preslar:       Oh, I don’t know. Referrals are so valuable and I would love for everyone listening to let’s connect, let’s see how we can help each other out.

My referral sources are the top of my list when opportunities come up. I had a $300 ticket to an event a couple weeks ago and at the last minute I had an urgency that I had to deal with. A referral partner is actually who got that ticket.

And not that I’m constantly canceling things, but I’m constantly getting opportunities and I like to celebrate those referral partners and you can do that too.

And even connections, just making connections. I connect my referral partners also, because everyone genuinely has a good business and is looking for new connections. So, it just keeps working out really well.

Thanks for asking me to share that. I mean, that’s really important.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Yeah, I think it is important for people to recognize, like once you really start generating referrals and you know who these referral sources, these referral partners are, they are always on your mind.

Like they’re just kind of percolating there in terms of, “Hey, these are the people who make my life easier.” And it may not be part of the plan that we’ve devised for what you’re going to do for the outreach for that year.

It can just be a thing that comes up and your mind instantly goes to, “Oh wait, I could definitely hand this off. Or I could definitely gift this to one of my referral sources, my referral partners.”

And that would be an amazing … like you can’t not think about them in that way because you’re really seeing the results of that, which is amazing.

Well, Fabi, thank you-

Fabi Preslar:       Can I share that I’m an introvert and that was one of the things that I remember you saying is you’re going to have to meet with people. And I was like, “I don’t want to.” And you said, “Fabi, I’m going to remember that.”

But it’s not that I didn’t want to meet people, it’s just that I had gotten really comfortable in the ways that I had already set up. And then through this process and the things that you have coached us on, it just makes it a lot easier. And I have been having a blast, so thank you.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Well, I think that I do … I’m so glad you brought that up because I mean, I definitely have introverts who are like, “I have to talk to people all the time.” I’m like, “No, but you have to be strategic and you do have to be willing to have like relationships.”

Like you have to be willing to, like these are humans who refer you, so you have to actually cultivate that relationship with them.

So, I do think sometimes that people are like, “Wait, how much of this is going to be killing my introverted spirit?” And I’m like, “It’s not. But you may have to step out slightly into a world of, what you said, having a blast without thinking that that was possible.”

Fabi Preslar:                I did.

Stacey Brown Randall:          So, I think that’s awesome. Okay, Fabi, tell folks where they can find you if they are interested in learning more about your company.

Fabi Preslar:       Go to sparkpublications.com. If you’re interested in the books, it’s spark/books. If not, there’s a contact us page and it’ll get to me or one of my team and we’ll reach back out.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Perfect. Well, I am so excited that you are part of BRB. I’m so excited you got off the fence and you came on over here to the light side, all full of light and fun and unicorns. I’m kidding.

But I’m glad you’re over on this side. I’m glad you’ve had amazing results in your first three months and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year looks like for you.

Fabi Preslar:       Me either, I look forward to it. Thanks for being a great BRB GPS.

Stacey Brown Randall:          Well, it is my pleasure. Thank you.

Fabi Preslar:       Thank you, Stacey.

Stacey Brown Randall:          So many good things from this interview. Let’s give Fabi a round of applause on her first three months of results. 15 referrals received in three months on a goal of 20 for an entire year, and cultivating four new people who have started to refer her.

I love sharing the results that my clients are having inside BRB. Nothing gives me greater joy than to tell people that yes, you can generate referrals naturally. You just have to follow the roadmap that I’ve laid out for you. And then of course, that means you got to be willing to do the work.

And to her comment about me being the referral GPS, oh man, that meant so, so much to me. There’s just so much goodness in this interview. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Remember, you can reach out to Fabi. I’ve put all of her contact information in the show notes page, which is staceybrownrandall.com/253. That’s for Episode 253. Go there and check out all the goodness about this interview.

You can also download the transcripts if you would like to as well. And then get in touch with Fabi too.

Okay, next week is Episode 254. And guess what? We’re doing it again. We’re going to be chatting with another awesome business owner who was building a referable business.

Until then, you know what to do, my friend. Take control of your referrals and build a referable business.

Bye, for now.