0:00:00 - Betsy Jordyn
What is the relying on referrals trap and are you in it? I talk about what can hold consultants and coaches back from a reliable client pipeline on this episode of the Consulting Matters Podcast. Welcome to the Consulting Matters podcast. This is the show for purpose-driven consultants and coaches who are ready to own the power of what they do and grow a business that reflects the impact and income they're here to make. I'm your host, betsy Jordyn. I'm a business mentor and a brand positioning and messaging strategist for remarkable consultants and coaches and their unique strengths. You can find out more about my personal branding services on my website at wwwbetsyjordancom. And don't forget Jordyn with a Y.
So let me tell you a little bit about what we're going to be talking about today by starting off with a quiz. So I want you, in your mind, to think, agree or disagree with the following statement referrals on repeat are the dream. So I want you to think about it. Where are you standing on that one? Because, on the one hand, as a consultant or coach, you know that your sustainable and scalable success depends on your client pipeline. You know it needs to be filled with the right clients who are excited to work with you, ready to invest in your partnership. I know you're nodding your head, but what if the dream of referrals on repeat is actually standing in the way of that consistent client pipeline and is quietly keeping you stuck? That is what we're going to be diving into today.
We're going to be talking about what I call the relying on referrals trap, and this is when we are completely dependent on our referral network for lead generation. And I totally get why we get into this trap, because so many people will just tell you like, hey, just go out and get clients, you know, and that you could just get word of mouth referrals. And that makes so much sense, given your experience. Like, if you're like I was when I first started my own consulting business, you know I had a thought when I left Disney and I'm going on on my own, that, like people just magically started coming my way, and so you might think like, okay, that's great, this is working. This is working and referrals work great until they stop. And that is when we start to see that we're in the relying on referrals trap and feel the need for something more stable and solid. And that is what we're going to unpack on today's show. So what you're going to discover is what is positive word of mouth, because I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need positive word of mouth and I want you to understand what that is, but also why it's not the marketing strategy that you think it is.
We're also going to talk about how you could tell if you're in the relying on referrals trap. Three reasons why referrals definitely dry up, even with people with robust professional networks. The number one thing that you need to escape the relying on referrals trap and chances are you probably already know what it is, but I'm going to need to bring it up to the surface for us to be able to deal with. And also, how do you use your relationship skills to build a predictable client pipeline? So if you're somebody who's an extrovert, who likes to go out and meet people and that's how you want to grow your business, great, you can get that predictable client pipeline. And I'm going to tell you all about it. And we're also going to talk about what to avoid to do on LinkedIn. That absolutely kills their networking. So it could just be me who's coming back from sabbatical and seeing some things that people are doing on LinkedIn. That's making me like I'm not sure how I feel about this place, but we don't have to do it that way. So we're going to get into that as well. So tune in and start building a dependable way of getting clients without the chase and hustle and without playing small, because you really deserve this and you deserve to be able to do it in a way that supports your way of wanting to get clients.
So when you're done listening, I also got a bunch of new freebies. I told you all about it in my last episode. They're all on my website around how to position yourself for the right clients and the strategic opportunities. But there's one I really want to highlight on my website, and it's a guide to help you refine your messaging so that when you're asked what do you do, you are able to explain it in a way that people who you're talking to will be able to nod their heads and say, oh yes, I'm your ideal client or I know exactly who to introduce you to. You need to have that in order to be able to use your relationship skills to consistently get clients. So you definitely want to go over there and grab it. Go to wwwbetsyjordancom forward slash downloads to grab that guide, or all the guides and, of course, you need personalized guidance to help you escape the relying on referrals trap. I'd love to help you. Head on over to my website at wwwbetsyjordancom forward slash services to learn more and book an intro call.
So, without further ado, let's get into the show. All right? So let's get into it. Let's talk about what is positive word of mouth, why it's great and why it may not be the marketing strategy that you think it is. So let's talk about what positive word of mouth is, and so I'm going to put my marketing hat on. So I have several different hats that I bring to you when I am doing these episodes. I have my old my organization development consulting hat. You know from that background, I have my branding hat and I could put that one on. But today I'm going to put my marketing hat on, and I think that this is really important, because I want you to think about positive word of mouth from a marketing standpoint, and that is a term.
Positive word of mouth could also be called intent to repeat and recommend from a marketing standpoint, and marketers measure it using what's called the net promoter score. So forgive me if I nerd out a little bit, but this is really helpful. So, basically, on customer surveys, customers are asked to rate the responses to the question. You know how likely are you to recommend our company products and services to a friend or colleague? From one to 10, where 10 is highly likely and one is unlikely and so the score is calculated by dividing the percentage of promoters with the percentages of detractors. So just picture the people who rate nine and 10 from the percentage of people who rate like one to two. That's divided and there's a ton of research that shows a correlation between a high net promoter score and revenue over time due to more loyal customers who are raving fans.
So, that said, I'm bringing this up because I want to say word of mouth, positive word of mouth, is something that we all really want. Of course we do, especially from the clients who we love working with and who we would love to work with again, and who we would like more of that exact kind of client. That is great, but the net promoter, or the intent to meet and recommend the positive word of mouth, is an outcome. It's not everything and it's only one part of the overall goals that marketers have. So there's actually three goals that we have with marketing. It's to build awareness, intent to try and intent to repeat and recommend.
So when you just take that one part of marketing out and just say I just want to get word of mouth and you miss the rest, you're really self-optimizing it. So it's almost like, and just say I just want to get word of mouth and you miss the rest, you're really sub-optimizing it. So it's almost like if you say I have a goal of like I want to lose like 10 pounds, like so the my whole strategy is like well, I'm just going to lose 10 pounds. Like well, that's not your strategy. That is the outcome of a whole bunch of things that you do to get to that whole thing. So I hope that makes sense. But I really want to be clear that what I'm talking about in the relying on referrals trap is not to say we want to give up positive word of mouth. We need positive word of mouth. That is a great sign that everything that we're doing is working. So you definitely want that. So now let's get into what it means to be on the relying on referrals trap and what that means.
And relying on referrals means that you're really just exclusively dependent on other people to introduce you and recommend you to new clients. It's almost like you don't personally go after your own clients, you go through somebody else, like there's someone in between. So it could be your past clients that you want to do that work for you, and that's not bad at first. You know, like, where you are waiting for your past clients to do it Like, for example, like when I was in what I would call my freelancer stage, I did that all the time. I didn't even think of anything else because I was so brand new and so I.
You know, when I left Disney and started consulting, I didn't go gangbusters on building my brand. I thought, well, maybe I'll start consulting. And some of my colleagues who had moved on from Disney to new companies found out and they wanted to bring me in. So they started calling me and that's all I did to get clients. So in my naivete I was calling it my putting out good juju phase, like, oh, I put the good juju out there and, look, the universe delivered, you know, and that was all great until I wanted something more stable.
So a lot of times we start off with depending on other people to introduce us to new clients when we're new and that's not really a trap, that's just a phase. My client, Jennifer, before we started working together, she had that same situation, but she did not have to go very far for her first client. You know, when she left her former company they brought her instantly back as a consultant. It was probably more a contract worker the way I see it now and the way she sees it now but she got work right away. So it's like okay, great, you know, past clients would just keep referring me and then it works until it stops, you know, and you want something more stable. So that's when she connected with me. So one source that you might be going through to get to clients is your past clients.
Another thing that we do to rely on referrals is, instead of doing things to meet and connect with our potential clients directly, we do things to meet and connect with people who can introduce us to our ideal clients. So what this looks like is like subcontracting with firms. So instead of us going out and getting work, we go subcontract with somebody else who's getting the work. Or we might do a lot of like networking to connect with other more established consultants or coaches, and maybe we set up live or virtual coffees and we're like hey, you're doing really well, maybe you can like send me some of your carryover work or maybe you could bring me in. Or we go to industry focused networking events for the purpose of finding people who could introduce us to clients.
People ask me all the time because of my organization development background and being in Florida is literally should I join the good network, the greater Orlando OD network, and I'm like good is a great organization, good Network, the Greater Orlando OD Network, and I'm like Good is a great organization. But go there. Specifically if you're looking to build your relationship base with your colleagues and get that support, like that's awesome. If you're doing it from a marketing standpoint, I would rather you go to events that your clients are at. That's more of a not relying on referrals. You're networking to go where your clients are. But if you're going to networking events thinking like well, maybe somebody could introduce you, that's relying on referrals. Or maybe you do a lot of networking to make connections with internal leaders, like maybe you try to find HR people who are trying to manage like a preferred provider list and you want to get on their list for coaching or for other kinds of like training work or that kind of thing. So you're relying on somebody else to introduce you to your clients. That's what I mean by relying on referrals trap.
So the relying on referrals trap isn't just about the activities. It's about doing these things for too long and at the exclusion of doing other things that you could be doing to pursue your own clients directly. So the trap really is it's not about the activities. Some of these activities are very empowered if you make that as a choice, but if you are doing nothing else and you're just constantly going through other people, then you might be in the trap. So let me give you some examples.
Rachel is a qualitative research with a ton of experience, and so when she first went on her own, she decided to start with subcontracting with other more successful consultants, which is great, and it was great. Until years later, she's still doing the same work she's done for years investing all of her time and money building someone else's brand while making a fraction of what she could if she landed the clients on her own. So sometimes maybe she posts things on LinkedIn and hit some networking events with her research colleagues, but not her clients. Rachel is in the trap, but, on the other hand. But Keith is not in the trap, even though he sometimes subcontracts with other colleagues. So Keith has done the work, he's invested the time and money and built his own brand and he's got a really cool, amazing brand. That's all around his unique expertise in bringing the arts to business and the business to the arts, and he pursues his own clients. But when exciting work comes up along with the opportunity to partner with other people he enjoys working with, he says yes, why not? It's not the totality of his business, because he's really taken responsibility for his own brand and he's still going out and getting his own clients. But why would you say no? So again, it's not around the action itself, it's why you're doing it, and only you can really tell why I'm doing it. You know, am I doing it because this seems like a great opportunity, or am I doing something because it's like, well, I'm a little nervous to go out and I'd rather have somebody else talk about my work?
Another example is Scott. He's a fractional CFO and when he first went on his own, you know he reached out to his network's. A great strategy I would recommend to everybody I work with when we launch their website, after we go through all of the branding work. Your first order up for bids is to let your network know what are you doing, what are you up to, and ask for introductions. That is a great thing you should do right away at the beginning, and so that's not a trap doing that. The problem was is that when he kept doing that, and only that years later he would spend a lot of time, you know, trying to find people that he can, you know, latch on to, who could introduce him to clients, but nothing really that put him out to help himself out there to find his own clients. So the trap is partially where you're going through other people and it's partially going through other people at a time period where you've outgrown it and you should have done something new and added on to your mix of how you're doing things. And so that's where the trap is. Like trap means I'm holding myself back from what I should be doing next, because at a different phase, different things are more relevant and important. At a different phase, different things are more relevant and important.
So now we're clear about what it means to rely on referrals, how it's different than positive word of mouth, which we all want. But let's talk about why referrals actually dry up, even with people with robust professional networks. So let's talk first about waiting on positive word of mouth to do all your work for you without doing anything else marketing wise, nothing else to drive your brand awareness or intent to try. You are tying your client acquisition to the behaviors of your past clients. So you're sitting there fingers crossed that they remember you but, more importantly, they think of mentioning you at the right times and that they're motivated to go the extra mile to set up the introduction, you know, and also with your former clients, you're just relying that somehow they've stayed up to date with how your work and your focus has evolved, like one of the things that I love about some of my old clients is that they do recommend me for work.
But it was a couple of years, a couple of years ago, that I realized I did not do a very good job keeping my network up to date, that I have completely retired from consulting myself and I focus now exclusively on empowering other consultants. When I did get, one of my very, very important clients referred me to another consulting engagement, to another client. So they had that relationship and it's like, okay, I really care about who was being referred to me. But I realized at that point is like well, this is a great opportunity. It's not my opportunity and I have not done a very good job keeping the client who referred that client to me up to date, given all the changes in my business. So you are relying. If you have done any evolution in your business or how you're thinking about what you want to do, if you pivoted focus, especially if you've moved from working with individuals to organizations or what have you, your past clients will only see you in the context of what you used to do. So you're tying your future clients to what you did on the past.
The second reason why referrals dry up, even with people with robust professional networks, is if you're relying on your referral network not necessarily past clients, but people who know clients you are tying your livelihood to a referral network that does not work for you. This is the hardest thing that people are like. This is the dream Referrals on repeat. You want your nexus people to do all of this marketing and sales work for you and they don't work for you. They are busy. They have their own lives and their own careers to attend to, so you're counting on their ability to think and mention you at that right time, go the extra mile to introduce you, but you're also relying on their ability to untangle your messages, especially if your messages are focused on expertise or methodology to go like okay, so they have this five-step methodology to help accelerate the results in an organization. Okay, I know, I know exactly who to refer them to. Okay, bam, like, we make them work really, really hard for us. So that's another reason why referrals dry up. And then the other reason is just math. There's only so many clients and opportunities out there within your first and second degree connections, but there's tons of clients out there who don't know your past clients or your referral network that you are just missing out on the opportunities. So even if you have, like, all of these referral people who are like out there they're recommending you all the time, there's only so much opportunity within that particular network.
So how do you know if you're in the trap? So here's what I want you to do. I'm going to give you some indicators and I want you to be kind of mentally evaluating yourself like oh, am I in the trap? You know, and how do I feel about being in this trap. So one way to know if you're in the trap is you don't go after your own clients directly. You go through other people to find clients, or you'd rather avoid marketing and sales altogether. Like you kind of have mixed reviews about it. Like, yeah, I really want to get clients, but the work to get those clients not so much, and I'd much rather have other people talk about my work and bring me in than me talk about myself. You sit around and you're like, oh, I have no clue where my next client is going to come from.
The referrals you get are hit or miss. Some are really great, others are way off. And I think the biggest feeling about how do you know you're in the trap is really actually it's a feeling it's just you feel ick. You just feel like I'm not achieving what I set out to achieve when I started my business. Like I started this business because I want control over my career, my time, my earning power, and I just feel like I'm just giving it away, like I'm not getting that control that I wanted. So think for a second, you know, are you in this trap and, if so, what do you want to do about this control that you might feel like you've given away. Do you want that control back? Do you want to have a sense of agency, a sense of ownership over your results and your client pipeline? Really answer that question. You got it Okay, so let's move on to the number one thing you need to escape, and you know what it is.
You already know what it is. You know underneath the relying on other people to bring in clients. It's not really about the tactics. It's why we do it right. You know.
It's that temptation to play small and we all struggle with it. All of us, every single consultant, coach and business owner. We struggle with this. It is part and parcel of our work. And how hard it is to be a consultant or coach who is a business owner, because we are the product, we are the service, we are the brand. There is nowhere to hide. This is why growing a consulting or coaching business, I compare it all the time to the heroic journey, which is that myth and story that Joseph Campbell had outlined out for us. That's the foundation of the heroic journey, which is that myth and story that Joseph Campbell had outlined out for us. That's the foundation of the movies that we love, like Star Wars and Harry Potter, you know, wizard of Oz is that we all have to go into this unknown, into this vulnerable space, and we are. We are doing that. We have to do that time and time again. So, of course, of course, of course we are tempted to play small, and I don't think what we're shrinking back is not from the clients that we want, it's from the visibility that getting those clients required, and so that's the challenge.
So the number one thing you need to turn this around is just to gather your courage. It's not about gathering your confidence Confidence comes later. It's to gather your courage to be seen and to go after the clients that you want and not wait or rely on other people. Because when you're relying on other people your past clients, your referral network you're hiding behind them, you're hiding behind their reputation. So you're hiding in so many different ways, and the only way that you're going to be able to come out and get that control over your pipeline is to be the face of your business, and that's why this is so hard and that's why what we do is not for the faint of heart, but it's worth it. You know, just think from from what we do as transformation agents. You know we can step out into this kind of courage. You know we could help our clients, who are likely in very similar places where we're asking them to step out into new levels of their leadership in brand new ways. So we're modeling for them what this looks like, and so it's a powerful thing to do. It's really hard and it's a choice, so that's the number one thing you need.
I know you have a lot of questions in your mind or you're nodding your head, you're like, yeah, you're rating my mind, or you might be like I'm turning this podcast off. I don't want this episode because this is too vulnerable. That's fine. You and I are still going to stay connected. Fine, you and I are still going to stay connected. So now let's talk about how to get to this predictable client pipeline and really focus on the relationship skills.
So last week I got into my roadmap, my big picture roadmap. My last episode was all around how do you position yourself for the clients and opportunities that you want. So it had a more of a big picture standpoint and more from a content marketing bias. You know, because that's that's the way I am. I really like content marketing. That works for me. I'm somebody who is an introvert and creative and that's how it works for me. But in this episode I want to paint a picture for people who are different from me. You know, I want to show you how to create that client pipeline that you're in the driver's seat of. If you're more of an extrovert who loves connecting with people and I cannot for the life of you see yourself sitting behind a computer day after day after day trying to master the complexities of content and digital marketing so I want to show you how to create a relationship-driven, networking-focused marketing system.
I want to be clear on that Relationship-driven, networking-focused marketing system. There's three parts of it. It's using your relationships, but also from a strategic standpoint of networking, and it's a marketing system where you can use your ability to develop authentic win-win collaborative relationships to attract the clients you want on repeat. It's not referrals on repeat, as it's not relying exclusively on others out of their own goodwill to drop clients to you. It's about pursuing proactively the clients you want in a consistent way. So that's this revised roadmap for the relationship-based extroverts in my audience and who really want to still use their relationship skills, and I think that's great ideal client who they are and the context for your help.
That's the go-no-go point. You cannot ask people and network and connect with people to find your ideal client if you have no earthly idea who that person is and the problem you solve. And alongside that is that clear messaging that makes it easy for everyone you meet and who asks you what you do to instantly get like, oh yes, I'm your ideal client. Or bingo, I know exactly who is your ideal client. If you're not clear on exactly who is the right client you want to work with and the context for your help, I promise you with 100% certainty, with all of my heart, neither will anyone else you meet through networking.
So one thing you need to have on the ready all the time is what I call your networking, what I do script. This is a conversational way to talk about what you do. This is one of the big deliverables that my clients get in my VIP strategic brand building program, where we create it and, more importantly, we practice it. I'm not going to lie, it's not. That's not. One of the favorite things that they do is they don't always love the role play, but it's super beneficial. I can go on and on about this. I have training on my YouTube channel. I'm sure I have a podcast on the what I Do script because this is such a core part, but I'm just going to give you a quick overview of this script. It really has three parts.
So somebody asks you what you do. What you don't do is to say, oh, I'm an OD consultant. That might have been something I might have said back in the day. Or you know something vague like I ignite leadership and organizational transformation. You know stuff that makes people go. What the heck are you talking about? Now, what you do is you start off with so you know when, and then what you do is paint a narrative about your ideal client. This is the most important part of the script. If you get this part, everything will flow and you start off there and then you go into. What I do is then, instead of sharing your title or credentials, you paint a picture of what you help your clients do, which leads to, and you end strong by sharing the value that your clients get by virtue of working with you.
So I had I had some friends of mine who work for Google and they were telling me about some of the ways that I was talking about what I did and how I was doing it all wrong, because I would do that crazy like, oh, I know leadership and organizational potential, and they all look at me like I don't know what you're talking about and they're the ones who started introducing me to this whole idea of the. So you know when what I do, and it's like everything shifted in my head at that point in time. So I tried it out at different networking events instead of like that whole, like night leadership, whatever you know, what I started to say is so you know, when companies are growing from this size to the next and the wheel starts falling and the leaders start finger pointing you can't see me but I'm acting out these phrases and also when I see all these head nods and everyone's like, yes, I'm like, ooh, this script is different. People are engaging. I painted a picture that they totally related. Whatever I said afterwards did not matter, you know, but what I do is like I would say well, what I do is I align senior teams around agreed upon strategic priorities which helped them grow smart, not hard that they got they didn't get anything about. Like, oh, I help, like ignite transformation and all the aspirational things I was saying they didn't get. When I talked about, like I'm an organization development consultant, I painted a clear picture, and so, with this script on the ready, even if you do nothing else in this roadmap, nothing else that I'm going to share with you today, this will completely transform your networking, because not only are you going to get more head nods and people leaning in and wanting to learn more, but a natural way to move the conversation from the event to the follow-up intro call or coffee. So that's the first step. As another reminder, I mentioned that I had a four-part script for a messaging guide on my website. This is what it all goes over. It doesn't go into the details of the entire script, but at least you get the foundational messages. Head on over to wwwbetsyjordancom, slash downloads and grab this guide. So step two Okay. So now we're gonna talk about website.
Even if your clients are gonna come through the relationships you're personally creating, you still need a website. Positive word of mouth is only one of three goals of marketing. Another goal is to drive intent to try, and that is where your website fits in. All future clients will check out your website period. It happens all the time and what they find shapes their thinking If want to move to the next step with you, and how much they think you're worth. So here's how your website influences intent to try. So let's just say I don't need a website, you just think it's no big deal. Just, you know, use a LinkedIn profile or whatever.
So somebody comes to you, you do all this work, you meet a potential client, they check out your website and it's absent. And they might be thinking, hmm, is this person really in business? You know, is this their full-time thing or a side hustle? And then, when they can't find it, and they can't find your contact information, they're like, ah, it's too much effort to even connect with you further. Or let's say you do have some sort of website, but it's just really hard to navigate, methodology heavy, not really attractive. They might be thinking can this person help me? Do I want to stake my reputation on them and bring them in? And if they cannot find your contact information or how to book a call, they might be like, oh my gosh, why are they making this so hard for me to connect with them? And then they pop off.
But if your website offers an engaging experience to people who you have met through all of this networking you're going to do and it makes them feel like I'm in the right place. They totally get me. Oh my gosh, they're copy. It feels like they're reading my mind and this person knows exactly how to help me and they have the credibility to back it up. And there's this big button at the top that says book an intro call. It takes them an online calendar. You just created an easy button experience Like you've just taken out all of the friction that it might take for somebody to work with you, so your website is still important. So if you don't have a website, I also have a guide on how to get your website up and running on that page. But definitely be thinking about the credibility and this also will help you get out of that whole playing small thing. It's been so interesting for me. Lately I've been adding another little service on the side with my clients where I help them on their actual photo shoot day, and all the clients I've helped with they've all come back with the same feedback as like I really saw myself in a different way. It gave me a different kind of confidence and it just reminds me that a lot of times when you work on your website isn't about transforming how everybody else sees you, but how you see yourself, and that transforms what the actions are that you'll take.
Okay, next step, I need to talk to you about LinkedIn. So, given the work we do as consultants and coaches, you know, and that we're going after leaders and high achieving professionals, there's lots of social media sites that you could be on, but LinkedIn has to be in play, and LinkedIn plays a role in both brand awareness and intent to try. So it is important that you set up your LinkedIn profile to align with your website. But I'm just going to say some things about LinkedIn, and I don't know if you're in my same boat, but LinkedIn, coming back after a sabbatical of just seeing, like, how spammy it's gotten, and so here's some things to keep in mind. Linkedin in comparison to other social platforms, it's a 24-7 networking event. Like you couldn't really say the same thing about other platforms. Like, if you go onto Instagram, it's not really about networking. You know it's about other things, but it's not that.
The keeping it real rule for LinkedIn is if you wouldn't do it in a live networking event, don't do it here. This is what I keep seeing people doing all the time. All these DMs I've gotten lately. They walk in a room Like would you ever go to a networking event? Walk in a room and say hi to someone and immediately pitch them. Like you would never do that. You would say, hi, what's your name? Oh, my name's so-and-so. Oh, what do you do? What do you do? And you go back and forth, you know, or send your assistant to the event and pretend that they were you. You wouldn't. That would never happen.
So this has been an interesting thing that's happened in the last couple weeks is I've gotten two messages on LinkedIn and the profile picture looks like the same person. It looks like somebody AI'd them and the profiles of these two people were the same. And the DM was the same. It says like hi, betsy, I noticed your post. Would it be possible to send me more information about your services and programs? Would love to connect and learn more. And it was only to follow up with the pitch for their services. And it was literally the same LinkedIn profile, the same message, and so all I will say is, if you're going to do stuff on LinkedIn to connect with people, don't be gross, like. Just don't be gross like that. Just be relational, be human. You know how to do this.
If you see on your notifications that it's one of your colleagues like birthday, then send a message. But don't just say happy birthday. Send a happy birthday, what have you been up to? You know, if you notice like one of your colleagues has switched jobs and you know that there's something relevant that you could help them with, like, don't immediately just say, oh hey, it's been a while, can I help you? You know you go in, how's it going? Tell me a little bit more. Develop relationships, like use your relationship skills. If you're going to do anything on LinkedIn, okay, so I'm off my soapbox on LinkedIn. I'll probably come back to it later on because it really drives me crazy, but I'm off it for now.
So step four, the other goal of marketing. So I mentioned that there's three goals of marketing awareness, intent to try, intent to repeat and recommend. Now we're at the section around doing tactics intentionally, choosing networking tactics to build awareness in a relational, not transactional way. And so if you're going to leverage your network, which you might do, you still might have part of your activities to be working through the people who know, the people who might know the people you want to meet it's about doing it on a daily, regular way people you want to meet. It's about doing it on a daily, regular way. It's about daily sending out emails. Like one of the things that I offer my clients when they are just launching is I have a whole spreadsheet that they can use to list out all the people in their network. You know former clients, former colleagues, you know nexus people and a way to track it so that you're doing like a very personal and strategic approach to constantly sending out those emails and phone calls and setting up those meetings so that you can create that connection.
But you want to make sure that you are offering help as much as you are asking for something from them. Like always be thinking about the two-way benefits. So if you are going to go through a third party to get to your ideal client, make sure that that third party is just not a somebody that is like a utilitarian means to your own ends. Like think about like well, what can I do to benefit them? How can I help them? But then the rest of your work is doing networking to go where your ideal clients are. So it's about weekly looking for networking events where your ideal clients go and attending those events. Or maybe it's creating your own networking events for those clients. Maybe it's your own meetup group for the clients that you want to help, or going to meetup groups. Or maybe it's like starting a leadership roundtable or breakfast, like it's creating something where you're bringing those people to you and then the peace stater is installed.
The most important. If you're going to do something that's a live, personal thing, go for speaking opportunities for professional associations and events where your clients go to, where you can offer something of value to their audiences in exchange for that exposure. Like that's a way that you are showing up as strong as possible, where you are showing up as the expert but still being of service, like one of the most fun things I've done. So, as I mentioned, I've been on sabbatical for a while and I had a my first speaking opportunity with the International Coaching Federation so much fun, you know. And I had my first speaking opportunity with the International Coaching Federation so much fun and I had an opportunity to go in there as a speaker. I'm not a part of the association because I'm not technically a coach, but I have something to offer to that particular audience about building their brand, and so it was really fun. It's a win-win and there's a way to create relationships. So I wound up with several intercalls out of that particular meeting and I had no sales pitch. I also got a chance to reconnect with a friend that I hadn't seen for a while. There's a lot of really great opportunities there.
And then finally we're at step five. So now we're at the intent to repeat and recommend marketing outcome phase. How do you get that repeat and recommend? It's not just about doing work, it's doing work that goes above and beyond. So J Stacey Adams has this equity principle. I learned this a million years ago I'm kind of dusting off from my new OD days, but I think they talked about this is that humans, we have a psychological need for balance, and so balance and equity. So if we feel like we've gotten more value than what we have paid, we will have to create that equity by giving positive word of mouth and that type of thing and doing that repeat and and recommend. But if we've gotten less than what we paid, then we might be grumbling and doing more negative complaints. So the goal is is not necessarily just giving people what they paid for, but going above and beyond, like. That was always. The principle we had at disney was like, yeah, we charge a lot of money, but we created these magical memories that they'll never get anywhere else. So it's not just delivering. Deliver amazing experience that creates results. But then go above and beyond, not necessarily doing work for free, but just give an amazing experience. But here's the challenging one. You're probably like nodding your head, like, yes, I could do that. Here's the next one Make asking for testimonials and introductions to new clients as a key part of what you do as you conclude your work.
You've got to directly ask for them and that's how you bring this whole thing together. Where you are consistently doing the brand awareness intent to try and the intent to repeat and recommend is you're capturing the experience and turning them into testimonials which you can put on your website, which will also motivate more people to want to work with you. And then you also have to ask them. So there's a difference between I'm relying on referrals or I'm relying on word of mouth, where I'm just waiting on the goodwill of my former clients to give me introductions, versus asking. You need to go ahead and ask for those introductions.
So the bottom line of everything that we've been talking about today to escape the relying on referrals trap is to rely on yourself, you know, to move the locus of control from your past clients or the referral network to yourself to go after and find your own clients. That's what we're really talking about Bringing your agency back inside yourself and taking the reins on something that you really have to take responsibility for and also having to overcome. You know, whatever is keeping you from wanting to do that, which is totally understandable is it makes total sense that we could easily fall into the relying on referrals trap because of the pure vulnerability of what we're doing as consultants and coaches. You know the way to get out of it is to recognize that that all can work for a time period. You know, relying on referrals, relying on the positive word of mouth, is great, but it works until it stops. And the thing about positive word of mouth is it's great and referrals are great, but it works until it stops. And the thing about positive word of mouth is it's great and referrals are great, but it's not a marketing strategy. It's an outcome of great marketing strategies and other things that we do.
And if you are an extrovert and you want to build a way of consistently getting clients by using your relationship skills, then you have to strategically build and implement that system to achieve that goal. You have to do things on the regular basis. It's just, if you want a consistent pipeline, you have to do consistent actions. And, in your case, if you're an extrovert and you want to do that, then you have to consistently be setting yourself up to be where you're going to be meeting those clients. So that's the recap.
What can you do next? Well, to help you with that go no go point of identifying your ideal client, make sure you grab my guide at wwwbetsyjordancom slash downloads. I would also encourage you, as a next step is just to be reflecting on what might hold you back from your potential. Like, it is a lot easier to rely on other people, to hide behind other people, but what? What could it look like to start thinking about? Like stepping out of that, hiding into greater visibility? That really is just an act of service for your clients? Like, what can you do to reframe that? And the third thing that you could do is, of course, if you need help, I would love to help you. You know. Head on over to my website to learn more about my personal branding services and we can definitely help you, you know, quickly overcome this relying on referrals trap. So that's a lot.
That's it for today's episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to hit subscribe wherever you're tuning in. Pass it on to your colleagues and friends. Would love, love, love, if you could take a minute to rate and review on an alpha podcast. It'll help more people find the show, especially now as I've just repositioned my show. So I would really appreciate it. And until next time, thanks for listening.
