Episode 75

full
Published on:

12th Jul 2022

Get More Referrals- NOW!

The Rule of 3 – for every customer you make, turn them into 3 customers.


Transcript
Kimberly Beer:

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Jaz:

Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a

Jaz:

gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you'll learn how

Jaz:

to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques, and tools

Jaz:

that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you

Jaz:

wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts, Kim Beer, and

Jaz:

Cara Taylor Swift.

Kimberly Beer:

Hey there business animals. It's Kim with

Kimberly Beer:

Be More Business

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Cara with Fast Horse Photography. Hey,

Cara Taylor Swift:

Kim, how are you today?

Kimberly Beer:

I'm doing great Cara. You know, what I'm really

Kimberly Beer:

thinking about today is I'm thinking about I want more

Kimberly Beer:

customers?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Well, that seems like a normal thing as a

Cara Taylor Swift:

business owner to be thinking about?

Kimberly Beer:

Well, you know, the economy is is kind of weird

Kimberly Beer:

right now. And it's very concerning. It is weird. Yeah.

Kimberly Beer:

And, and concerning all the way around. And you know, with all

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of the craziness going on in the world, people get distracted.

Kimberly Beer:

And I'm over here going that I want more customers in my

Kimberly Beer:

business. And I wonder if there's other people out there

Kimberly Beer:

that are thinking that same thing?

Cara Taylor Swift:

I would think so especially right now, with

Cara Taylor Swift:

all the uncertainty that there's probably not a ton people out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there that are like, I've just got too many customers, if

Cara Taylor Swift:

you're one of those people, that's awesome. And I hope that

Cara Taylor Swift:

continues for you. And you find a way to manage all of those

Cara Taylor Swift:

customers. But for those people that are out there, and they're

Cara Taylor Swift:

trying to figure out how to bring in more people. We want to

Cara Taylor Swift:

talk about that today, right?

Kimberly Beer:

Well, yeah, that's why I'm thinking this is

Kimberly Beer:

a very timely topic in my life, because I like to live in my

Kimberly Beer:

business by the rule of three, which says, for every customer

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that I make, I want to make three customers. So I want to

Kimberly Beer:

turn them into two more customers. So I have a total of

Kimberly Beer:

three new customers on my books. And I'd actually actually like

Kimberly Beer:

to turn them into more. And sometimes that does happen. But

Kimberly Beer:

for every new customer that I make, I definitely want to have

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three on the books by the time things are done. So that's what

Kimberly Beer:

our topic is about today is how to get those three customers for

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every one that you have. And I do that by getting referrals. I

Kimberly Beer:

think referrals are an incredibly impactful part of

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your business. And we've talked on this show a lot about some

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different things. We've talked about customer loyalty, we've

Kimberly Beer:

talked about testimonials, we've talked about getting reviews,

Kimberly Beer:

we've talked about social proof, all of those things are under

Kimberly Beer:

that larger category of social proof. But we've never really

Kimberly Beer:

deep dived into referrals and how to create more referrals for

Kimberly Beer:

your business so that you can magically turn one customer into

Kimberly Beer:

three customers on your books.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I love that I think about how as small

Cara Taylor Swift:

business owners and animal based industries, a lot of times we

Cara Taylor Swift:

get really lucky and we land that first customer because

Cara Taylor Swift:

we're putting ourselves out there or we know somebody and

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's it's through a referral process, or it's just because we

Cara Taylor Swift:

get lucky. But how do you take those early customers and

Cara Taylor Swift:

convert them into many, many, many more clients. And I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's probably a big challenge for people because it does

Cara Taylor Swift:

involve, you know, an Ask involves putting yourself out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there a little bit, it involves making a referral. So that's the

Cara Taylor Swift:

first one of our big three actually is to ask. And, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, as Kim says, it's that simple is to ask, the second of

Cara Taylor Swift:

the big three that we'll cover is to make it easy. And the

Cara Taylor Swift:

third is offer a reward. So what does all of that mean? Kim, do

Cara Taylor Swift:

you want to jump into the Ask piece of that?

Kimberly Beer:

I do, because I think this is the part where

Kimberly Beer:

most business owners sort of fail at getting referrals, they

Kimberly Beer:

have a customer come into their business, they work with that

Kimberly Beer:

customer and then the customer leaves. And that's that now the

Kimberly Beer:

customer may come back and the business may reach out and

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encourage that return customer to come back, which is just

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fantastic. You decidedly want to do that because return customers

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spend like 70% more on your business than a new customer

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will. So it's really important to have the customer loyalty and

Kimberly Beer:

have them come back in. But what's true about humans that I

Kimberly Beer:

know is birds of a feather flock together well, I just made

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humans birds but birds of a feather do flock together.

Kimberly Beer:

That's a horrible cliche that's been overused a billion times.

Kimberly Beer:

But it's really effective in this instance, because human

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beings very rarely have an interest in a vacuum. In other

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words, if they're interested in something they know other people

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that have that same interest. So and particularly in an animal

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based business, all animal lovers have a kindred spirit

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with each other, and they know each other and they meet each

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other and they recognize each other out into the world. And

Kimberly Beer:

then it gets even more specific, right? There's like dog people

Kimberly Beer:

and Cat people and horse people and chicken people. So there's a

Kimberly Beer:

movie by that name, by the way, which I highly recommend chicken

Kimberly Beer:

people go watch it, it's worth it, chicken people is worth it.

Kimberly Beer:

Okay, so you have that. And then it gets even more specific.

Kimberly Beer:

There's people who love Jack Russell terriers, or Labradors

Kimberly Beer:

or Maine Coon cats, or quarter horses, or whatever it happens

Kimberly Beer:

to be, or Polish chickens. So you know, that's me, I love the

Kimberly Beer:

polish.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I was gonna say, speaking from experience,

Cara Taylor Swift:

they're

Kimberly Beer:

speaking from experience, God, God love those

Kimberly Beer:

little chickens with their little radical hairdos, I just

Kimberly Beer:

adore it. But anyway, everybody kind of has this sort of kindred

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spirit and thread that flows between them. So the customer

Kimberly Beer:

that you just served, they probably know way more than two

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more people they can bring into your business probably know a

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lot more their network is big, too. And if you do not ask for

Kimberly Beer:

the referral, it's not because they don't want to give you one

Kimberly Beer:

or they don't want your business to be successful. It's because

Kimberly Beer:

they don't think about it, we're not always in a state of mind to

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think about everyone else, right? A lot of our culture

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centers on, you know, understanding ourselves and what

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we need. And we may give a referral if asked out in the

Kimberly Beer:

world, but when a business owners asks you to, you know,

Kimberly Beer:

hey, do you know other people that are like you that

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appreciate the same things you appreciate or have the same

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problem that you have been, we're asking those people to

Kimberly Beer:

help their friends. And that puts them in a really good

Kimberly Beer:

position, it brings business into your business. So asking,

Kimberly Beer:

it really is that simple, just ask.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And there definitely are times when your

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients are going to go out into the world and sing your praises,

Cara Taylor Swift:

and they're gonna tell all their friends, that definitely

Cara Taylor Swift:

happens. But it's so much more rare, because like Kim said,

Cara Taylor Swift:

when folks are busy, they're in their lives, they're doing their

Cara Taylor Swift:

own thing. And it's not that they don't have good intentions,

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's just that they don't think about it. So as a business

Cara Taylor Swift:

owner, you have to take that extra step and make the

Cara Taylor Swift:

connection for them so that they then are triggered or inspired

Cara Taylor Swift:

to make the connection. So one of the things you can do is you

Cara Taylor Swift:

can actually ask them to give you contact information for

Cara Taylor Swift:

potential new clients, but I actually prefer to have them

Cara Taylor Swift:

directly connect me to someone. So like, make an introduction,

Cara Taylor Swift:

for example, to someone who might be interested in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

services that I provide. For me, this has looked like an email

Cara Taylor Swift:

referral, I've definitely had clients shoot an email to a

Cara Taylor Swift:

friend and then copy me on it and make the connection that

Cara Taylor Swift:

way. I've had them set up a brief group chat and connect me

Cara Taylor Swift:

that way, introducing me to their friend, or I've had them

Cara Taylor Swift:

do social media tags and shares to new potential clients or

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients. So keep in mind, there are options there. And you

Cara Taylor Swift:

should choose something that you and your client both feel

Cara Taylor Swift:

comfortable with. The other thing that I would add is, it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

really a common, I think, practice for a lot of animal

Cara Taylor Swift:

based business owners to wait until the end of the client

Cara Taylor Swift:

experience to ask for that referral. So maybe you send the

Cara Taylor Swift:

invoice or your final thank you note, and then you ask for the

Cara Taylor Swift:

referral. I would challenge folks to not do that. Because

Cara Taylor Swift:

when you're sending an invoice, whether you like it or not,

Cara Taylor Swift:

there's kind of a well, you're dealing with money. It's like a

Cara Taylor Swift:

weird thing. That's probably the hardest part in your sales

Cara Taylor Swift:

transaction in your process with your client is that asking for

Cara Taylor Swift:

money piece. So what I would say is don't ask for the referral at

Cara Taylor Swift:

that point, if you can keep from it. Instead, ask for the

Cara Taylor Swift:

referral. When you're in, you know, like, look for

Cara Taylor Swift:

opportunities in your client process where your client is the

Cara Taylor Swift:

happiest, where you're making them really happy, where they're

Cara Taylor Swift:

feeling really positive about their experience with you. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

think about where that might be in your process. And that's the

Cara Taylor Swift:

perfect time to ask for your referral. And you know, Kim and

Cara Taylor Swift:

I were talking about this, and she said that she recommends

Cara Taylor Swift:

doing this in person, if possible. Kim, did you want to

Cara Taylor Swift:

speak to that real quick? Because I would have a tendency

Cara Taylor Swift:

to shoot a text or an email or something like that. But you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

so right.

Kimberly Beer:

Yeah. So this is the thing that electronic

Kimberly Beer:

communication has done to us as a culture. It has allowed us to

Kimberly Beer:

hide behind our screens, and it's much more comfortable to do

Kimberly Beer:

it that way. And part of that's like you got to get into

Kimberly Beer:

introvert extrovert trauma. I mean, there's a boatload of

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psychological impactful reasons why we do that. But the bottom

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line is, is it's not as effective. I mean, it just isn't

Kimberly Beer:

because that's the way it Everybody does it right. And it

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isn't as effective as when you're standing there with

Kimberly Beer:

someone, it's also super easy to ignore. Because an email is

Kimberly Beer:

really easy to delete a text message is really easy to skip

Kimberly Beer:

right on by a social media request is easy to skip on by.

Kimberly Beer:

So the truth is, your ask for the referral is so diluted when

Kimberly Beer:

you do it, what I would consider most people think the easy way,

Kimberly Beer:

not that I'm saying that you shouldn't use email, you

Kimberly Beer:

shouldn't use these other ways to ask for these things. But

Kimberly Beer:

it's much more effective when you do it in person. Because

Kimberly Beer:

you're having a conversation, you have a connection with that

Kimberly Beer:

individual, the person on the other end of it has a connection

Kimberly Beer:

to you. And it's just more powerful if you ask in person.

Kimberly Beer:

Now if it's uncomfortable for you, I get it, I completely

Kimberly Beer:

understand. But here's the thing, the more you do it, the

Kimberly Beer:

more comfortable you will get with it. So it's difficult

Kimberly Beer:

sometimes for us to sit in uncomfortable or to live in

Kimberly Beer:

uncomfortable, but it's really just as simple as making a clear

Kimberly Beer:

ask, you know, hey, do you know two friends that might be

Kimberly Beer:

interested in what I do? Here are a couple of business cards,

Kimberly Beer:

would you please hand those to those people or I have some

Kimberly Beer:

language we're going to get to here in a moment that I think

Kimberly Beer:

will help you when it when it's getting you to really make that

Kimberly Beer:

ask especially after somebody gives you a compliment of some

Kimberly Beer:

kind, but in person does make a difference. They get part of

Kimberly Beer:

your service process that as you're in the sale or you're

Kimberly Beer:

closing the sale or you're delivering whatever it is, or

Kimberly Beer:

after the delivery when you're getting ready to leave wherever

Kimberly Beer:

it feels comfortable for you in there to just simply ask for

Kimberly Beer:

those referrals.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Are you looking to bring awareness to

Cara Taylor Swift:

your equine based product or service or create a unique way

Cara Taylor Swift:

for your audience to feel connected to your brand quality

Cara Taylor Swift:

horse photos tell your story and breathe life into your

Cara Taylor Swift:

marketing. They draw your customers in and create an

Cara Taylor Swift:

emotional connection powerful images, communicate your core

Cara Taylor Swift:

values and highlight the benefits your product offers.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Ultimately, proving your business is a voice your

Cara Taylor Swift:

customers can trust. It's time to use dynamic images that

Cara Taylor Swift:

define your small business and separate you from the rest of

Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

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Cara Taylor Swift:

That's fasthorsephotography.com.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Absolutely. And then along those same lines, you should be asking

Cara Taylor Swift:

for testimonials as well, Kim and I in Episode 28, the art of

Cara Taylor Swift:

getting better customer testimonials, we go into detail

Cara Taylor Swift:

about all of this, how to do it well and give a bunch of

Cara Taylor Swift:

different ideas. You want to make sure your clients okay with

Cara Taylor Swift:

sharing the testimonial. And then I would say as a business

Cara Taylor Swift:

owner, get to work putting that information out into the world

Cara Taylor Swift:

and take it one step further. And ask your client to share

Cara Taylor Swift:

what you create with their testimonial to their audience.

Cara Taylor Swift:

92% of customers trust referrals from people they know and word

Cara Taylor Swift:

of mouth referrals can really improve your marketing

Cara Taylor Swift:

effectiveness by more than 50% We know this already. We've

Cara Taylor Swift:

talked about this in our other episodes and think about it

Cara Taylor Swift:

within yourself, you know, as a potential client, you're going

Cara Taylor Swift:

to trust the referral from someone you know more than you

Cara Taylor Swift:

will any other kind of marketing that a business is putting out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there. You're gonna believe the word of mouth from the people

Cara Taylor Swift:

around you that you know, and you're gonna believe when they

Cara Taylor Swift:

talk about their awesome experience with you. So ask your

Cara Taylor Swift:

client to share that information. I would say, you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, Kim, you wanted to mention something about get your ask

Cara Taylor Swift:

after a compliment language now, and I freaking love this. It's

Cara Taylor Swift:

something I speak to all the time around getting your words

Cara Taylor Swift:

together and practice them coming out of your mouth. Can

Cara Taylor Swift:

you speak to that a little bit? I really love it.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely, absolutely. Most of the time

Kimberly Beer:

when a customer is really ready to give you a good referral or a

Kimberly Beer:

testimonial. It's pretty clear. They say things like thank you

Kimberly Beer:

this was a really good experience or I really enjoyed

Kimberly Beer:

this product or service or whatever it happens to be. And a

Kimberly Beer:

lot of business owners I watch and they'll say thank you and

Kimberly Beer:

they get be me and then that's it. They don't do it any

Kimberly Beer:

further. And I'm going to challenge every person listening

Kimberly Beer:

to this to create their own statement that they are going to

Kimberly Beer:

say every time a customer pays them a compliment. So my

Kimberly Beer:

statement that I would use is I'm so glad you feel that way.

Kimberly Beer:

I'm really working on building my business right now. And I

Kimberly Beer:

would love to serve more people. Do you know of a couple of

Kimberly Beer:

people who might be interested in whatever it happens to be

Kimberly Beer:

that you're doing? So I find this really really comes in to

Kimberly Beer:

be important, especially after I do a gestalt session with

Kimberly Beer:

somebody, because oftentimes at the end of it, people like feel

Kimberly Beer:

like they need to give some type of a small review of some kind

Kimberly Beer:

of their experience, especially if they're extroverted. But even

Kimberly Beer:

the introverts will give something like, that really

Kimberly Beer:

wasn't what I expected it to be, or thank you for this, because

Kimberly Beer:

that was very deep and interesting, or Thank you, I got

Kimberly Beer:

a lot of insights out of today that I think I'm going to be

Kimberly Beer:

processing for a long time. I mean, those are actual things

Kimberly Beer:

people have told me, and I could leave it at that, that would be

Kimberly Beer:

very easy for me to say, you know, thank you, I appreciate

Kimberly Beer:

that. I'm so glad you got something out of this day that

Kimberly Beer:

you came and spent all these hours with me. But at that

Kimberly Beer:

moment is the best moment for you to take a look about

Kimberly Beer:

appreciating what they've told you, and then taking a look for

Kimberly Beer:

them to look around their world. And you know, maybe spread the

Kimberly Beer:

love or spread the joy. Well, humans are naturally social

Kimberly Beer:

creatures, we want to give our experiences to other people. But

Kimberly Beer:

oftentimes, we don't have the availability to do that. So I'm

Kimberly Beer:

going to repeat this statement that I gave, because I think you

Kimberly Beer:

can can modify it for any business out there. And then I'm

Kimberly Beer:

going to tell you a little secret after I say it again, and

Kimberly Beer:

I probably will say it a third time for those of you who are

Kimberly Beer:

looking for your piece of paper to write it down. So I'm so glad

Kimberly Beer:

you feel that way. I'm really working on building my business

Kimberly Beer:

right now. And I would love to help or serve more people do you

Kimberly Beer:

know, have a couple of friends who might be interested in or

Kimberly Beer:

associates or whatever it happens to be and then say the

Kimberly Beer:

experience. Now here's the key at that point, stop and let them

Kimberly Beer:

think because they're going to come up with the people right

Kimberly Beer:

there in that moment that they're going to want to refer,

Kimberly Beer:

they may say it out loud, they may say, you know, my friend

Kimberly Beer:

Karen could really benefit from this, she's kind of crabby, and

Kimberly Beer:

it would be nice for her to get a gestalt session down. You

Kimberly Beer:

know, I mean, she needs to come chill out with the horses. So,

Kimberly Beer:

you know, okay, so they may say something about it right there.

Kimberly Beer:

Or they may not, they may just process internally and think of

Kimberly Beer:

one or two people. Now, let them go ahead and do that. And then

Kimberly Beer:

after you see that process, or after they talk, say I want to

Kimberly Beer:

make it super easy. If you would like to, you know, refer Karen

Kimberly Beer:

here and give them cards, give them business cards, business

Kimberly Beer:

cards have not died, people there are still out there in the

Kimberly Beer:

world. And it's still the easiest way for you to hand

Kimberly Beer:

information from yourself to someone else for contact

Kimberly Beer:

information. Business cards are cheap, business cards are easy

Kimberly Beer:

to get ahold of you should never ever, ever be without business

Kimberly Beer:

cards in your back pocket, in your wallet, in your purse, in

Kimberly Beer:

your camera bag in your massage bag. Whatever it is that you

Kimberly Beer:

carry around with you, when you do your work, you need to have

Kimberly Beer:

business cards in there and never give out a single business

Kimberly Beer:

card always give out more than one, I never hand out a single

Kimberly Beer:

business card I always want to hand out to because people lose

Kimberly Beer:

them. Or they may want to hand one off to their friends. So

Kimberly Beer:

wait for that moment and hand it off one more time for the

Kimberly Beer:

statement. I am so glad you feel that way. I'm really working on

Kimberly Beer:

building my business right now. And I would love to help or

Kimberly Beer:

serve more people. Do you know of a couple of your friends who

Kimberly Beer:

might be interested in and then give the experience you just had

Kimberly Beer:

Stop, wait for them to answer and then hand out cards.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So powerful, so easy, and you just got to

Cara Taylor Swift:

practice it. And I tell people to practice those words coming

Cara Taylor Swift:

out of your mouth so that you're comfortable staying it when the

Cara Taylor Swift:

time comes. And it rolls off your tongue and it feels right.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And absolutely, I would say also take some steps to further

Cara Taylor Swift:

harness your existing clients connections. For example, are

Cara Taylor Swift:

they boarding at a barn that you've always wanted to work in?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Do they use a particular animal business like a groomer on a

Cara Taylor Swift:

regular basis that they have a good rapport with? Do they maybe

Cara Taylor Swift:

help organize a local horse show planning committee that you want

Cara Taylor Swift:

to get some services in? Or maybe you want to be a sponsor?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Or you have some way to contribute? Are they a member of

Cara Taylor Swift:

an organization where a lot of your potential clients might be

Cara Taylor Swift:

hanging out? Is there a way for you to be a speaker there? So

Cara Taylor Swift:

start thinking about ways that your clients could potentially

Cara Taylor Swift:

work with you to put you in front of a bigger audience in

Cara Taylor Swift:

front of people that they know that might be great connections

Cara Taylor Swift:

for you. Like Kim said at the top of the segment, they know

Cara Taylor Swift:

other people and they're often not in their own little bubble

Cara Taylor Swift:

with the need for this service. Oftentimes, they they know other

Cara Taylor Swift:

people, they're talking about it already with other people and it

Cara Taylor Swift:

could be something as simple as saying, Hey, I'm getting

Cara Taylor Swift:

pictures of my horse made soon and then people are all I've

Cara Taylor Swift:

always wanted to do that, like people are having these

Cara Taylor Swift:

conversations. So if they have your card if they know someone

Cara Taylor Swift:

already, people like to also be in positions where they're

Cara Taylor Swift:

helping someone else out there making a referral, they like to

Cara Taylor Swift:

be authority and to know connections. So it's not a bad

Cara Taylor Swift:

thing to kind of try to harness some of that.

Kimberly Beer:

Every small business owner wants to gain

Kimberly Beer:

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Kimberly Beer:

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Bemorebusiness.com. See you there.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Kim, I know you wanted to talk about that

Cara Taylor Swift:

referrals don't always have to come from clients.

Kimberly Beer:

No, they don't. So that's another thing I think

Kimberly Beer:

we get stuck in in our head is that our referrals have to come

Kimberly Beer:

from people we serve. And that's not necessarily true. We all

Kimberly Beer:

have friends, family, networking acquaintances, social

Kimberly Beer:

acquaintances connections that we've made networking

Kimberly Beer:

connections that we've made, these people are really good

Kimberly Beer:

referral engines for you as well. I belong to ally you know

Kimberly Beer:

me, I love to network and I'm feel so fantastic. I was sharing

Kimberly Beer:

with Kara when we got on this morning to do our prep for this

Kimberly Beer:

episode that I've been getting to go to in person networking

Kimberly Beer:

events over the last couple of weeks, you know, my health is

Kimberly Beer:

now cleared up COVID Is restrictions are lifted, people

Kimberly Beer:

are starting to do in person stuff again, and I am back in my

Kimberly Beer:

element, I absolutely love a good in person networking event.

Kimberly Beer:

And when I go to an in person networking event, it never

Kimberly Beer:

fails, that there is usually one or two people in the room that

Kimberly Beer:

are the connectors, right. They're the people that when

Kimberly Beer:

they meet you, they ask you what it is that you do and

Kimberly Beer:

immediately will introduce you to the other people in the room

Kimberly Beer:

that might be interested in whatever it is that you're up

Kimberly Beer:

to. And the truth is, is that those people exist a lot out in

Kimberly Beer:

the world. And if you run into them, they may not need your

Kimberly Beer:

service, maybe they don't have a have a horse, but they have

Kimberly Beer:

three friends that have horses that they would like to refer

Kimberly Beer:

you to or a dog or a cat or whatever it happens to be. So

Kimberly Beer:

make sure that you get in the habit of talking about your

Kimberly Beer:

business. And then even if it's the person on the other side of

Kimberly Beer:

it that isn't able to actually purchase what it is that you

Kimberly Beer:

have still hand them a business card, because if they know

Kimberly Beer:

people or if they mentioned, you know, I have this friend named

Kimberly Beer:

Sally, who has a worse that might benefit from this, then we

Kimberly Beer:

can do that we can harness Sally to come into our business

Kimberly Beer:

through somebody who was never a client of ours. I learned this

Kimberly Beer:

really, really well at what I consider my definition of hell

Kimberly Beer:

one year. So one year I got stuck doing this is gonna be a

Kimberly Beer:

cute story. Hopefully people will enjoy it. So I got stuck

Kimberly Beer:

doing a Multi Product booth at the National Western Stock Show

Kimberly Beer:

in Denver. And so if you don't know, the National Western Stock

Kimberly Beer:

Show, it's a wonderful event. By the way, even though I'm going

Kimberly Beer:

to talk a little poorly about it because of my own personal

Kimberly Beer:

experience. It's a wonderful event they have in January, in

Kimberly Beer:

Denver in January in Denver. Let me say that again in January in

Kimberly Beer:

Denver, and the hours for the show are ridiculously long. It

Kimberly Beer:

is cold and snowy and it's miserable. And that year there

Kimberly Beer:

was extra snow. And there's not a lot of parking at that venue

Kimberly Beer:

and the vendors have to ride a bus to be able to get there you

Kimberly Beer:

like park somewhere else and then you ride this bus to get to

Kimberly Beer:

your booth. And it the bus is not really heated well, and it's

Kimberly Beer:

just a it's let me just say it's a miserable experience. And the

Kimberly Beer:

situation I was in there wasn't a lot of money in the

Kimberly Beer:

conglomerate that came together. So I was staying in a really

Kimberly Beer:

crappy hotel. And then I had this booth where I was selling

Kimberly Beer:

all these equine products. And I was put in the place where all

Kimberly Beer:

the cattle show people are. So every person that came to my

Kimberly Beer:

booth owned cattle, not horses. And so they would wander around

Kimberly Beer:

in my booth and ask questions about the stuff that I had for

Kimberly Beer:

sale which I would gladly answer for them. And then they would go

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you know if I ever bought a horse, I would do that. So I got

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really smart really quick and started asking them Do you have

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horses when they walked up? Or what kind of horses do you have

Kimberly Beer:

when they walked up to the booth? And if they said they

Kimberly Beer:

didn't have horses then I would hands them a couple of business

Kimberly Beer:

cards from the organization and say, if you have friends with

Kimberly Beer:

horses, please send them by the booth. And here's a couple of

Kimberly Beer:

cards where they might want to check out our stuff. Because the

Kimberly Beer:

people that were coming up, they didn't have any interest or need

Kimberly Beer:

for what I was selling, but they did know people that do have

Kimberly Beer:

that need. And it was super beneficial to be able to hand

Kimberly Beer:

them the cards. And honestly, what happened in the end was

Kimberly Beer:

that they would go back to their horsey friends at the show. And

Kimberly Beer:

they'd send them back to the booth to say, Hey, there's this

Kimberly Beer:

really cool booth with some great products in it. And

Kimberly Beer:

they're kind of out of the way from the horse crowd. So go over

Kimberly Beer:

and check them out. So that's my long story. And back to my

Kimberly Beer:

definition of hell, that is definitely if I were in hell

Kimberly Beer:

that would be my definition of it would be to have to go to

Kimberly Beer:

that booth every day.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Okay, I think we're ready to move on to number

Cara Taylor Swift:

two, we have spent a ton of time on number one, because it's so

Cara Taylor Swift:

important. And I think we're ready to move on to number two

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Kim, I have to say that that does not sound like a very fun

Cara Taylor Swift:

event having to drag your vendor stuff on a bus to the booth. But

Cara Taylor Swift:

let's talk about number two, which is make it easy. Make it

Cara Taylor Swift:

easy. Why is this important? It is

Kimberly Beer:

important because you have to make it easy for

Kimberly Beer:

people because otherwise they won't do it. Right. Right. So

Kimberly Beer:

you have to give them the tools to be able to give you the

Kimberly Beer:

referral. I don't know about you, cara. But I don't remember

Kimberly Beer:

anybody's phone number anymore, or their email address for that

Kimberly Beer:

matter, or even their website?

Cara Taylor Swift:

No, there's times I don't remember my own

Cara Taylor Swift:

phone number. Yeah,

Kimberly Beer:

I mean, we don't do that anymore. I used to have

Kimberly Beer:

everybody's phone number memorized, I don't any longer, I

Kimberly Beer:

gotta have something to send it off to somebody else. That's why

Kimberly Beer:

you know, having some type of a physical thing that you can hand

Kimberly Beer:

to people is really important. Following that physical thing up

Kimberly Beer:

with the email that you wanted to send to begin with, or the

Kimberly Beer:

text message or whatever is also helpful, make it so absolutely

Kimberly Beer:

stupid, easy for people to send you a referral. You know, like I

Kimberly Beer:

said, always give out more than one business card, make it easy.

Kimberly Beer:

What other ideas do you have to make it super easy for people

Kimberly Beer:

care?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Well, you've mentioned the business card

Cara Taylor Swift:

already. But you can also create a referral card, something that

Cara Taylor Swift:

just has all that information on there. Or what I also like to do

Cara Taylor Swift:

is I use an app called Blinq, it's blinq. And it's basically

Cara Taylor Swift:

in a virtual business card that has a QR code. And you can have

Cara Taylor Swift:

someone just scan all your information to their phone and

Cara Taylor Swift:

save it right into their phone. And it has stuff like your name,

Cara Taylor Swift:

your phone number, your email address, your website, your

Cara Taylor Swift:

social media links, and then they can take that, and they can

Cara Taylor Swift:

just text it right to their friends. So it's another easy

Cara Taylor Swift:

way to share your information. I also like the option of doing

Cara Taylor Swift:

basically like a pre done email from them. So you if you have if

Cara Taylor Swift:

they know they want to give some information about you to one of

Cara Taylor Swift:

their friends, having some kind of pre done, you know, the

Cara Taylor Swift:

services that you provide some bullet points around that, that

Cara Taylor Swift:

they can drop into an email with your contact information and how

Cara Taylor Swift:

they can reach you a direct link, some of those kinds of

Cara Taylor Swift:

things is awesome. And it makes it so much easier for your

Cara Taylor Swift:

client. And then the last thing in that same kind of little

Cara Taylor Swift:

category is if you have some kind of already pre done

Cara Taylor Swift:

infographics that talk about the work that you do, that are easy

Cara Taylor Swift:

to share, just anything that you can put together, that your

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients don't have to do any work. They can take that

Cara Taylor Swift:

information, give it to a friend and share your information,

Cara Taylor Swift:

something outside of a business card, you know, that's creative

Cara Taylor Swift:

and informative is awesome to consider.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. And I think it bears saying in this

Kimberly Beer:

particular instance, that part of making it easy for the people

Kimberly Beer:

that refer you, you also need to make it easy for yourself to

Kimberly Beer:

follow up with the people they send to you. Because this is

Kimberly Beer:

something I hear a lot people like to complain to me. I don't

Kimberly Beer:

know, do it. But do I have a face that people are like she

Kimberly Beer:

will listen to me complain? I feel like I can share all of my

Kimberly Beer:

dissatisfaction in the world with with Kim. But I hear this a

Kimberly Beer:

lot. I hear people say, Well, you know, you referred me so

Kimberly Beer:

this is what happens because I refer people to other

Kimberly Beer:

businesses, you referred me to this business. And I reached out

Kimberly Beer:

to them. I've never heard anything from them. And then as

Kimberly Beer:

the referring person, I'm like, well, that's not good because I

Kimberly Beer:

really enjoyed my experience with that business. They really

Kimberly Beer:

seemed on the ball. They did the thing where they asked me

Kimberly Beer:

because they want to build their business and now here it is. My

Kimberly Beer:

friend reached out and wanted to work with them and now can't or

Kimberly Beer:

now won't because they didn't follow up. So I'm not going to

Kimberly Beer:

refer that business as readily the next time. Please make sure

Kimberly Beer:

that when you start making referrals A big focus in your

Kimberly Beer:

business that you are able to follow up with people. So you're

Kimberly Beer:

not the person who drops the ball, when that referral comes

Kimberly Beer:

into your own business and networks in with you. So it's

Kimberly Beer:

really important I realized, as a small business owner, there's

Kimberly Beer:

a lot of times balls get dropped, Hey, I've done it,

Kimberly Beer:

Cara's done it, we've all missed out on a follow up at some

Kimberly Beer:

point. But if you can make it drop dead easy for you to do it,

Kimberly Beer:

like write up a nice little confirmation that, you know, I'm

Kimberly Beer:

so glad so and so referred you and I really want to set up an

Kimberly Beer:

appointment or whatever it is that you do just sort of figure

Kimberly Beer:

out that plan ahead of time and start to really think about the

Kimberly Beer:

sales flow through your business, like how do customers

Kimberly Beer:

move through your business? And how can you facilitate that,

Kimberly Beer:

especially when they come from a referral, so that you're not

Kimberly Beer:

letting that person down, that you asked to give you a referral

Kimberly Beer:

when they do and they're their friend or their their person

Kimberly Beer:

comes around. And I don't know if they'll go back and complain

Kimberly Beer:

to that person, but I don't know, it seems like to a person,

Kimberly Beer:

they'll come back and complain to me. So I'll hear your complaint.

Cara Taylor Swift:

When I get a referral from someone, or when

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm reaching out to someone that was referred to me, I almost

Cara Taylor Swift:

always, if appropriate, will let the person who gave me the

Cara Taylor Swift:

referral know, hey, I just wanted to let you know, I had a

Cara Taylor Swift:

great conversation with so and so today, thank you so much for

Cara Taylor Swift:

the referral, or I just reached out to so and so. And I really

Cara Taylor Swift:

appreciate the referral. And a lot of times I'm doing that for

Cara Taylor Swift:

two reasons. One, because I want to thank them for making the

Cara Taylor Swift:

referral and let them know that on my end, I have reached out

Cara Taylor Swift:

but also, if they come in contact with that person in a

Cara Taylor Swift:

few days, or a couple of weeks, they can say to them, oh, hey, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

heard Cara reached out to you for that service or for

Cara Taylor Swift:

photography, you know, how did that go? Do you have a shoot

Cara Taylor Swift:

setup, and that is another trigger point or another place

Cara Taylor Swift:

where a referral, it's like another part of that referral.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So it's like reinforcing it. So if they didn't contact you back

Cara Taylor Swift:

or reach back out to you, or you didn't make a connection, the

Cara Taylor Swift:

first time you reached out or you attempted the connection,

Cara Taylor Swift:

this isn't like a reminder place that can really encourage them

Cara Taylor Swift:

and reinforce that they should be connecting with you. I love

Cara Taylor Swift:

doing that. And I have found it to be super successful. And then

Cara Taylor Swift:

coming back to the part of just kind of being ready that Kim

Cara Taylor Swift:

brought up, you know, you're going to be asking for these

Cara Taylor Swift:

referrals, but you have to be ready for those new clients when

Cara Taylor Swift:

the referral happens. So start defining your client processes,

Cara Taylor Swift:

get comfortable with them, get your ducks in a row, so that

Cara Taylor Swift:

when those referrals start coming in that you handle them

Cara Taylor Swift:

professionally, quickly, and that you're ready to roll with

Cara Taylor Swift:

it. And that includes getting comfortable with your pricing.

Cara Taylor Swift:

You know, a lot of times when you're starting out, you're just

Cara Taylor Swift:

trying to get things done, and you're working through each

Cara Taylor Swift:

stage. But you need to be ready and comfortable when they ask

Cara Taylor Swift:

you okay, how do I work with you? What does it cost to work

Cara Taylor Swift:

with you? How does this process work? How quickly can I get on

Cara Taylor Swift:

your schedule? You need to be ready to answer those questions

Cara Taylor Swift:

quickly as well.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. I think that brings us really

Kimberly Beer:

nicely into our last point here, Kara. And that because that

Kimberly Beer:

follow up, it's good to go back to the person that referred to

Kimberly Beer:

the individual to you and offer them a reward for that it. We

Kimberly Beer:

are all animal behaviorists, if you are live around animals,

Kimberly Beer:

you're a behaviorist around animals. And you understand that

Kimberly Beer:

sometimes it's much easier to do things with a waterboard. And so

Kimberly Beer:

I don't encourage you to like I don't know, give like treats to

Kimberly Beer:

your customers. But I do encourage you to offer them some

Kimberly Beer:

type of a meaningful reward for your business hopefully

Kimberly Beer:

associated in getting them back into your business. So for

Kimberly Beer:

example, a nice way that I would think about it is I would offer

Kimberly Beer:

somebody saying, Oh, if you send someone to me for a referral,

Kimberly Beer:

then as long as I know that referral came from you, and I

Kimberly Beer:

would give you a 10% off and your your person you referred

Kimberly Beer:

10% off or some such thing, a discount of some variety. And

Kimberly Beer:

that way it encourages the person who did the referring to

Kimberly Beer:

come back. So I have a return customer and I get a new

Kimberly Beer:

customer out of the person or persons that they refer. So it's

Kimberly Beer:

worth it. And people always like balk about these discounts and

Kimberly Beer:

about being able to give people who refer people in money or

Kimberly Beer:

some type of financial discount the type of a reward. But the

Kimberly Beer:

truth is, is advertising is expensive and most small

Kimberly Beer:

businesses today they don't even have an adequate advertising

Kimberly Beer:

budget as it is. So honestly, the cost of what it costs you to

Kimberly Beer:

make a new customer if you really put a pencil to it and

Kimberly Beer:

get a good understanding of it. You will see it's pretty pricey

Kimberly Beer:

for every new customer that comes into your business and

Kimberly Beer:

when someone provides a referral and brings that new Customer in

Kimberly Beer:

for you, it is far cheaper to give them a discounted whatever

Kimberly Beer:

to be able to get them in than it is to try to make that

Kimberly Beer:

customer on your own. And in the fact that the customer already

Kimberly Beer:

comes with a good attitude, they're not questioning, they're

Kimberly Beer:

coming with a little bit different tweak in how they show

Kimberly Beer:

up in your business makes it all that much easier for you to work

Kimberly Beer:

with them, serve them, sell them, whatever it happens to be.

Kimberly Beer:

So offering that reward to me is super, super important. And I

Kimberly Beer:

know Kara, we've done a couple of episodes on this, you're the

Kimberly Beer:

one who keeps track of that

Cara Taylor Swift:

we actually did two Episodes Episode 11 and

Cara Taylor Swift:

14, where we talked about creating customer loyalty

Cara Taylor Swift:

programs, we talked to our good friend, Terry Cage of Terry Cage

Cara Taylor Swift:

Photography and talks about her loyalty program. And then we

Cara Taylor Swift:

continue that conversation in on a second episode, which was

Cara Taylor Swift:

episode 14, highly recommend, if you're thinking about creating a

Cara Taylor Swift:

loyalty program, which is basically what we're talking

Cara Taylor Swift:

about here, to some degree, getting people to come back to

Cara Taylor Swift:

you refer their friends, and then having some incentive for

Cara Taylor Swift:

doing that is a really great way to increase loyalty of your

Cara Taylor Swift:

customers. So definitely check that out, I would say just kind

Cara Taylor Swift:

of as a parting note on this, that as a business as a and as

Cara Taylor Swift:

appropriate for your business, if there is a way that you can

Cara Taylor Swift:

go out and share the work that you're doing for your clients to

Cara Taylor Swift:

the world that you should do that. And I like to tell people

Cara Taylor Swift:

that, you know, when we're talking about doing these

Cara Taylor Swift:

referrals, these client referrals, you know, you can

Cara Taylor Swift:

tell their story, if they allow you include their testimonial,

Cara Taylor Swift:

if they have that, but the key is to really make your client

Cara Taylor Swift:

the hero across the board. So if that's in the story that you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

telling about them and about your experience with them, do

Cara Taylor Swift:

it. If it's thanking them for going out and bringing people

Cara Taylor Swift:

in, do it. If it's letting them be a voice of, you know,

Cara Taylor Swift:

authority and guidance about your business when they're

Cara Taylor Swift:

guiding other people to you and bringing other people to you.

Cara Taylor Swift:

That's wonderful. Do that create more opportunities for that

Cara Taylor Swift:

anywhere that you can?

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely, absolutely, this has been a

Kimberly Beer:

really great episode to remind me of how important it is like I

Kimberly Beer:

don't think about referrals already I do quite a bit. But

Kimberly Beer:

how important this part really is to your overall business, and

Kimberly Beer:

how critical it is in building a business or executing a

Kimberly Beer:

business. And on that note, what I would like to do is to thank

Kimberly Beer:

every one of our listeners for tuning in and hanging out with

Kimberly Beer:

us this long. And I'm hoping that since you're here still and

Kimberly Beer:

listening to us, you got something out of this episode.

Kimberly Beer:

And I really appreciate that. And I would love it if you could

Kimberly Beer:

think of two friends right now that you think might get

Kimberly Beer:

something out of The Business Animal podcast. And if you

Kimberly Beer:

wouldn't mind, please let them know that we're out here and

Kimberly Beer:

refer them to us. We would be more than appreciative of that,

Kimberly Beer:

and getting some additional listeners into our atmosphere

Kimberly Beer:

here. Because we do this as a labor of love to help people out

Kimberly Beer:

there with their animal based small business and we really

Kimberly Beer:

want to see more animal based small businesses be successful,

Kimberly Beer:

so please send them on over to listen to us.

Jaz:

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business

Jaz:

Animal. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And

Jaz:

if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn

Jaz:

more. Find us at thebusinessanimal.com We'd love

Jaz:

to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well

Show artwork for The Business Animal

About the Podcast

The Business Animal
Tame Your Business Animal
Saddle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school and have you wagging your tail with joy.

About your host

Profile picture for Kimberly Beer

Kimberly Beer

Think of me as your Entrepreneurial Wisewoman, I optimize the most important asset in your business: YOU! I do this through knowledge earned from 30 years of my own entrepreneurship helping my clients ideate, build, market, and automate their small business. I have a unique toolkit of skills that address the toughest aspects of entrepreneurship fall into the gap between your therapist and traditional business coach. I am known for my out-of-the-box approaches including drawing on the wisdom of nature and horses to inspire you in the changes you seek. I lead an active and supportive community of like-minded business owners who are creating a business that supports the life they want to live.