B (6:40)
In last week's episode, which is episode 320, so if you haven't listened to it, it'll be easier and less confusing for you if you go back and listen to that episode. So if you haven't listened to 3:20, hit pause, go back, listen to that, then come back and join me here for episode 3 21. But on 3 20, I talked about what impacts how long it takes for referral seeds to actually come to fruition mean you receive referrals. The answer was always going to be, well, it really depends how long it's going to take. It's going to depend on who you're planting referral seeds with and what you can and can't do to impact the process. So when you think about who you're planting referral seeds with, you can imagine if you're planting referral seeds with someone who's referred you before, it's probably going to work faster than when you're trying to plant referral seeds with someone who's absolutely never referred you. So that potential referral source and of course impacting the process will also be the consistency of your language, your willingness and patience to work backwards. And then of course, a few more things we talked about in that episode. But that episode was really, really Tactical into what you're doing specifically to impact referrals happening at a very tactical level, like boots on the ground, very tactical level with referrals, referral sources, if they are, if they're not, and your language, consistency, things like that. But I felt like I left something out, like something was missing. So in this episode, I want to add in what I feel like was missing with last week's episode because I want to go a step further to make sure you understand the bigger picture of referrals. So I kind of want to take you up to the 30,000 foot view. And this isn't very specific to referrals, but this is things that do impact how fast you're. You'll receive referrals. But it's kind of taking you up to that 30,000 foot view and kind of having that overview looking down on your business, more likely like, and specifically your business before we get into the nuts and bolts about actual generating referrals. But all this ultimately impacts referrals. So the first thing I want you to consider is us looking at this from a business perspective. One thing that will impact your referrals has a lot to do with the business you chose to run. And I know you're like, wait, what? But the truth is the business you decided to start or the industry, right, that you were ultimately in, that will impact referrals, it'll impact volume, it'll impact speed, and it'll impact, you know, the, the metrics that we like to track when it comes to referrals, just in terms of like, how many am I receiving from a volume perspective and then how quickly or how often am I receiving them as well. So the industry you're in will definitely impact your referrals. For example, when I'm having a conversation with, let's say, a cpa, right, we are going to have a different conversation about the volume, the number of referrals they can generate and how fast it may go, which will be vastly different from the conversation I have with an investment banker who is looking to work with clients to help them buy and sell, buy or sell businesses, right? It's just different. The volume's different, the speed is different because the industry and the business itself, itself is different. And you really can't overlook that. Like, I have conversations with people and they're like, oh, I want to get referrals like you. I just want to get so many referrals. And I'm like, well, first of all, I'm getting less referrals now than I was 10 years ago. Because how I run my business is entirely different. I don't need hundreds of referrals every year. Right. It used to be that when I looked at my business and the referrals that I was bringing in, it's because I could sell an unlimited amount of online programs, and they were 1500, 2000, 2500. And then I had a few things a little bit higher than that. So to make any money off of a $2,000 client, you need a lot of them. So obviously my need for referrals was larger. But when I shifted my model a number of years ago, and now I work with clients in a more intimate way, whether that's in my VIP one on one, right, where I go to them and work with them and their team, or I do it in my brb, building a referable business coaching program. Those price points start at 10,000 and go up. And so from that perspective, I need less. And so the volume changes. So the industry you're in, but also the types of clients you work with and how you work with your clients, like, what are your price points? How many of those clients do you need? So back in May, I released a new starter course. I affectionately refer to it as the Starter course. It's called you'd Next five Referrals. And the idea is, is that it's the things I wish business owners would put in place before they actually hired me. It just allows me to go a lot faster if these things are already in place. So as you can imagine, obviously one of the things that we talk about in the your Next five Referrals, it is an online program. But one of the things we talk about is making sure you just have a process for intake about how you are tracking the referrals that you receive and obviously your thank you card process and identifying who your referral sources are. And there's a lot more to that, but that's some, some good baseline stuff that we go through. And I like give the templates and show you how to do it and like walk you through it step by step. But there's one thing I do in there before we get part of your next five referrals, we also talk about like establishing what your referral goals would be as well. If you're looking at how many referrals you want in the next 12 months. And there's an exercise that I have those clients do, and that is called client capacity, that determines so much about your referral goal in terms of how many referrals you need and what Conversion to paying client from referred prospect you ultimately need to hit. And so I always tell folks, don't set a goal for how many referrals you want until you know how many clients you ultimately want to work with in a year. So it's not just how many clients you want to work with clients or how many clients you want to work with in a year, but it's also the types of clients you work with and how you work with those clients. So all of that affects, like, if you were looking at this from a business perspective, it's the industry you're in, right? It's the how many clients you need to work with, it's the types of clients that you work with. Right, Exactly. How do you work with those clients? Like, what does that look like? Your price points, right. Come in to play there as well. Like, what is the price points of your different service offerings? And then, of course, how often folks are actually looking to solve your problem. And so some problems only come around every five to seven years. Like if you're a real estate agent, I may be looking to only buy or sell the house that I'm in maybe every seven years. I believe that is like the reoccurring statistic for how often a repeat client comes back to a real estate agent. And so that's every seven years. Right. So that's going to impact what you're looking for in terms of referrals for deals you want to close this year. Right. So there's a lot that actually goes into this, and you really need to take some time. Like, you are a smart business owner, so you need to take some time thinking through ultimately, what does your business look like, what are you ultimately after, and understanding how that plays into your referral results, this isn't like, oh, because you're in this industry, you'll not get any referrals. That's not what I'm saying at all. But what I am saying is, because you're in this industry, maybe you only need 5 or 10 versus some of you need 50 or 75. And you got to know that because that is also going to impact how fast you're going to receive referrals is based into the effect of where are you, right. In terms of how clients work with you, the types of clients you work with, how often are they looking to solve their problems? What industry are you in? What does it look like to work with people in your industry, and what is your capacity for clients? So while there's a lot of tactical things that I know you can do to impact how fast you'll receive referrals. And again, that was more on Last week's episode. Episode 3 20. I just feel like I would be remiss if we didn't have a conversation about some other things that impact your referrals that are actually out of your control. Because it's a little bit. It has to do with. I mean, it's in your control turning. I mean, you could change your business, but you don't need to do that. You just need to understand and consider, hey, there's some things that impact referrals in my industry. How often folks are looking to solve problems and working with people like me, the types of clients that I work with, how I'm working with my clients, the price points that I work with my clients. Right. All that matters. Okay, so that's the first thing I want you to kind of keep in mind, is we need to look at this from a business perspective, your business perspective as it comes to impacting referrals. Now let's talk about the second part. And that is has to do with what you believe. The second thing I want us to look at is what you believe. And I know you're like, oh, no, here comes the word mindset, the M word.
