280: Growth By Referrals: Land Speaking Gigs and Avoid Business Failure with Stacey Randall

Robert Plank 0:00 Robert Plank Show, episode 280, growth by referrals, land speaking gigs and avoid business failure with Stacy Randall, hi everyone, and welcome back to the show. And our guest, Stacy brown Randall has one focus in life, and that's to help business owners avoid business failure. What Stacy learned when her first business failed, and through years of researching successful business owners, is now what is making all the difference with her current business success, and she's sharing all her secrets. I hope you're excited. I hope you have pen and paper ready, and we're gonna get started. So, Stacey, welcome to the show. Thanks Robert for having me. I'm glad that you're here, and so I'm really glad that we're talking about, you know, like, business mistakes and your mistakes and stuff like that. Because it always kind of frustrates me when someone says, oh, you know what you just all you have to do is just these five steps, or here's this plan, or here's my story. And I think, man, it looks really nice and clean cut in hindsight. But what always interests me the most is kind of like, where, you know, people got stuck, or they weren't really sure, like, what to do next, or back into a corner and, like, the kind of mindset to solve that problem. So I'm really excited to kind of jump in and talk about some of your kind of ups and downs and pitfalls when growing your business. Yes, let's do it awesome. So, I mean, so sort of, sort of walk us through, I mean, I mean, what is it that you do, and kind of, where'd you start, and kind of what happened there?

Stacey Randall 1:18 You know, it's interesting, the business that I have now today, which is way more successful than my previous business, which actually isn't hard, since that business failed. So anything successful in any way, would be more successful than the business that failed. But actually the reason why I have the business that I have today, and I do a lot of business coaching, and I focus with my with my clients, I focus mostly on referral marketing, sticky client experience, productivity and business strategy, and why I think I coach, what I coach today, and how I'm uniquely positioned to help my clients is because I had a business failure a number of years ago. And I tell my clients all the time when, whether they're in my online programs or they're attending one of my live workshops, or they're sitting in my office, you know, or on the phone with me for one on one coaching. What I always tell them is, is that I can almost see it coming when a business has started down a path of potential failure, and I think I can see it just because I've been there and it's painful and I want to keep anyone from going through it, but because of that failure, which was horrible at the time. I know that I get to do what I get to do today because of that, so I wouldn't change anything kind of about that. My progression with my business today

Robert Plank 2:29 awesome. And I can really relate to that just as far as, like, you know, in the moment, or even as that sort of downturn is happening, or, you know, if one business is sort of on its way out, and you're kind of in that kind of scary area, in the moment, it sounds, it feels like the the worst possible thing, but then in hindsight, it's looking back years later, it's like whoa. And that actually, you know, opened up the right doors, or that toughened me up for something else, or because I had, like, a little bit of a disaster years ago, then when the another disaster happened years later, which is inevitable, or when a bigger crisis happened, then that sort of that, that problem that I had way back then sort of prepared me for the even bigger problem in front of

Stacey Randall 3:07 me, absolutely. And I think that just how I've built my business today has been completely served by the fact that I didn't have this. It's not a secret sauce or anything like that, but how I business, how I build my business today, which is 95% supported by generating referrals that I don't ask for, which means most of my new client bringing in new clients is really easy, saves me a ton of time and a ton of money. But because I didn't have a system at all in my first business, it was the one thing I knew I had to figure out with this business. And so from that, from your perspective, like your mindset is different. You are ready for different challenges. You know, you can come back from a failure because you've already done it. Not that I would wish a failure on anyone, but it actually generated the content of the business I have today and how I help my clients because of what I didn't have in that first business, which is also pretty cool,

Robert Plank 3:56 awesome. So to kind of give us a clear picture of you know, where you were and where you are now. What was that first business like? Exactly. So

Stacey Randall 4:04 my first business was actually an HR consulting firm, and I was highly specialized in generational diversity and employee engagement, and I had clients like KPMG, BDO Coca Cola bottle in consolidated Snyder's Lance, the snack food the city of Charlotte, which is where I'm based. So I had some pretty big name clients, and I did a lot of consulting, whether that's like employee engagement surveys or generational diversity presentations and trainings. I had a lot of clients. I had, you know, I was interviewed on Bloomberg News and had articles published and well known publications, and was interviewed by a lot of different media outlets. There was from the outside looking in, it looked like all these wonderful things were happening with that business. But the truth is, is the clients, the generation of new clients, was not happening at a pace where the business could actually be sustainable. So that, being the first business, I actually had to get a job, which, let's be honest, once you've had a. Taste of entrepreneurial freedom, having to go back and get a job is the worst thing ever. And so then I had to go get a job. And then I was able to launch this business a number of years ago, which is obviously my coaching practice,

Robert Plank 5:11 awesome. So So you, you did this HR consulting, and so you were, you know, you had these clients, you were on TV, and you were doing all this work, putting in all these hours, but the problem was not getting enough leads. It sounds like

Stacey Randall 5:25 it was. It was great credibility building. It was great brand reputation and management. But even those large name clients that I talked about, that I had, you know, for what I did, it wasn't necessarily enough to sustain a business that was going to be a multi six figure and was never going to be a seven figure business, because I just didn't have a system for bringing in new clients consistently. So, you know, BDO could be my client for two years, and that was great. And that contract was fantastic. But when it went away, you know, and that was kind of like my first large contract, when that business went away, I did not have anything to come behind it. And so I got on that roller coaster right where your stress goes up as your pocketbook goes down, right the numbers and the balance sheet go down, and I started paying attention. Like, you know, even if I bring on new clients, I never figured out a system to make it easy, and not that client generation is like, oh, I can go to sleep. And it happens, there's always work involved. But I hadn't figured out a system that worked for me, that I could touch business development every day in a way, that I could consistently have work coming in. And so, whereas I had big name clients, you would think that business couldn't fail, it didn't have some of the processes and systems in place that it needed to sustain itself.

Robert Plank 6:36 Okay, fair enough. And so, so, so that business kind of wasn't working out, and then you got your day job, and then at the same time, you built this new business. And so what did you do differently as you built up this more successful business?

Stacey Randall 6:50 So I kind of what I refer to as the three secrets learned from business failure, and those the things that I learned is what, definitely what I've put into practice in my current business. So I would say that I did not know what my second business was going to be. And I then happened, while I was working at my corporate job, while I was working in that position as a chief talent officer, I happened to get a certification in productivity and time efficiency coaching. And once I got that certification, I kind of thought to myself, hmm, I could probably build a business around this. I was always looking for the next plan B, right? So getting that coaching certification helped. And then I was like, Well, why did my first business failed? And I kind of discovered these three things. And the first one was, is I didn't touch business development every day. The second one is, I wasn't very good at protecting my mindset. And the third one was, is that I never had the conversation early enough in my business to figure out how to scale. And knowing as a consultant, a coach, kind of faces the same issues. Those three things became very apparent to me when I started this business, my coaching practice, because instantly I knew, if I don't solve these three problems in a couple of years, I'm gonna be right back where I was, and which is, how do you touch business development every day in a way that works for you? Because I won't cold call, right? And I don't want to spend every night networking, because I have three kids and a husband, and I want to be home at night as well. And so I knew I had to touch business development every day, but I hadn't figured out how to do it, so I had to crack that code, and that's where referrals became huge for me. And then I know, I knew that I got into this business for a reason, and I could never let anyone talk me out of it or tell me that I was crazy, which kind of was the case in the first business and with, you know, having that ability to scale, when you get into a coaching practice, you trade dollars for hours. There's no way around it. You can do presentations and make larger dollars for your hours, but you're still trading dollars for hours. So I knew I had to have an online component as well to my coaching practice. I didn't know what it was going to be in the beginning, but I knew I had to have an online component so that I had could have more passive, or eventually passive and reoccurring income as well. So from those three big kind of lessons learned, I kind of built this current business around that, and that truly has made all the difference. Awesome.

Robert Plank 8:54 So touch business development every day, protect your mindset, and then have that conversation about how to scale when I, like, a lot about a sort of just kind of getting into your frame of mind so far, is that, you know, that first business failed, and, like, I've seen a lot of entrepreneurs like, they have a business, and they kind of go down with the ship, and they keep on sort of, and they're sort of in denial. And I've seen other entrepreneurs kind of give up completely and and almost kind of live just in, I don't know, just sort of pretend like they, like they've given up, or that chapter of their life is closed off. And I just, I feel all these tactics. I'm like, Oh man, like you were, you had, like, a pretty good run, and maybe you just had to course correct a little bit. And I think that at least for me, like, sometimes I have, you know, like that, that anxiety or that anger or that frustration and stuff like that that comes from, you know, the natural entrepreneur stuff of, you know, having these problems to solve. And I think to myself, well, if only I kind of, you know, I had a better attitude or a better mood, or I kind of had a thicker skin. But then I think to myself, well, if these, if these problems didn't kind of enrage me a little bit, then I wouldn't be aware enough to kind of change. So I really like that. That, how that, you know, you. You protect your mindset and all that kind of stuff, but when it came time to sort of give up that business, if that wasn't working, first of all, you knew that that it was, it was time to ditch that. But you didn't just completely get up. You said, Okay, well now I've kind of have a little bit of a setback here, and I'm going to build it up. I'm going to do a better and I'm going to course correct along the way, and not just kind of be in denial about what's happening, good or bad, right?

Stacey Randall 10:22 And, you know, into two points to what you said. I think one of the reasons why I knew I'd always get back on the horse is what I always refer to it as, like I knew that I would try this again, is I do have an incredible support system, and I actually come from a family of entrepreneurs, and I don't think most people have that kind of background that I have. I mean, you know, when I think about all the entrepreneurs in my family, when we sit around the table at around the table at Thanksgiving. I mean, I'm looking at, you know, siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, husband, like I'm looking at a lot of people around the table that are entrepreneurs in their own right. So that, I think is helpful. I don't think it's I don't think it's a necessity. I don't think you have to come from a family of entrepreneurs to be an entrepreneur. That's crazy. But I do think that that helped me try again and not be scared to try again, and, to your point, really recognizing what went wrong. At first, it was really painful, and then it's really what set me free, when I could just accept the fact, hey, this is what you didn't do right if you're gonna do it again, solve these issues, and you should have different success. And I have, I mean, this business is totally kicking the bottom for a business number one, which has been an incredible journey. And I'm just, I'm thankful I didn't give up so that I have, I can talk about it, and I can, you know, hopefully help people learn from my mistakes. Awesome.

Robert Plank 11:33 And so sort of along those lines, those three important things that you differently, touch business development every day, protect your mindset, and then scale. So what sort of actions, what sort of like, you know, concrete, actual actions do you do you take to fulfill these, these three things? So you say, like, touch business development every day. Like, what does that mean for you exactly in this current business you have?

Stacey Randall 11:53 So I think every business owner kind of looks at their sales and marketing strategy, and they have a lot of tactics, right? Whether it's cold calling, it's advertising, it's sponsorships, it's attending trade shows. It's LinkedIn, you know, networking, it's networking, face to face. It's going to conferences. You know, everybody kind of has its, you know, branding, it PR, right? There's a lot of things to pick from in terms of a sales and marketing or a business development tactics, and most of us will pick a number of them when we start a business, and we'll just move forward and kind of see which ones work. What I did quickly, though, and I was, I was not, I was not, maybe not any different. I mean, didn't have a budget, so I wasn't spending money in advertising or going to trade shows, and that wouldn't fit for what I was trying to do. But the first thing I said was, okay, well, who's my ideal client, and where are they hanging out, and who knows them, and I kind of built my strategy around that, and when I looked at who my ideal client was, and where they were hanging out, and then I thought to myself, Okay, now what's the best way to reach them without ever having to cold call them? Because I'm just not going to do it. And I had a job where I had to do it, and I was very bad at it, so I knew that wasn't a process for me. So, you know, when I looked at those kind of pieces, it came to me, a few tactics kind of bubbled up for me, and one of them was speaking. So going to, even if it's like, you know, yes, I've spoken at conferences all across the country, but for looking for ideal clients locally, it was like, let me go speak to the local, you know, Rotary Club, or whatever it was, the local organization that needed a monthly speaker and educate the audience. And that would always drum up business for me. And that comes from understanding, obviously, how to tell stories that can actually draw someone in to want to buy you, right to actually want to purchase from you. And so one of the things that I think, from my kind of strategy perspective, was I'm going to do speaking engagements, and I set a goal, and I said, I want to speak at 12 organizations in my first year in business, this was a couple years ago now, but in my first year in business, I just want to speak at 12 organizations by setting that goal and then working a plan to make it happen. I ended up speaking at 23 different events that year, and that really jump started my brand recognition and my name recognition and then also what I do, because I was also trying to overcome what people knew me as as an HR consultant, and now I was a coach, so it's also kind of help people understand what I do now and then. The second thing for me was, is I had to figure out how to generate referrals. I had done my research while I was in my corporate job, you know, when I was figuring out what went wrong and I knew referrals would work for me. The company where I was had a part of referral training as a little bit about what they did. So I never went through it, but I could. I had a, you know, front row seat to it, and so I always paid attention to what I didn't like about that referral training and what I did like. And I realized that referrals could be the other thing for me, and so I just started testing things about how to generate referrals. And I wanted to do it without asking, because everybody tells you, if you want a referral, just go ask. And fundamentally, that felt wrong to me, and I think I'm like 90% of the world in that. And so I've just figured out, by trial and error, truly how to generate referrals without asking. And then I realized, when I looked back at the success I had, there was actually a pattern, and from that, I could build a system. And so then my clients, you know, I'm doing business, coaching with them, and productivity. Teaching with them. But then my clients are like, your business is exploding, Stacy, what are you doing? And I would tell them about my referral plan, and they're like, Okay, now I want you to coach me on that. So it was kind of organic. But all of a sudden it was like, Okay, I'll coach my clients on this. And I knew, I mean, the bell went out off so loud in my head, this is my scalability piece. Now that I figured out that this referral process can be five steps, and anyone can do it in any industry, B to B, B to C. Doesn't matter. I'd had success with multiple clients and a lot of different industries. I knew Okay, now this is how I can scale my business. And so it was interesting to watch the pieces come together. But it really started from I need clients so I don't fail. So I really focus on on that secret number one of business development every day, touching it every day, and then the rest kind of came along awesome.

Robert Plank 15:44 And there's so much good stuff in there. And one thing that kind of just sticks with me as far as what, what you've been talking about the last few minutes there is that, like, when I, when I first got started, I was, like, just a computer programmer, and then I just made, like, some some products, and then I sort of went to some videos, and then I would do a speaking, you know, engagement every now and then, but just every time that I kind of tell myself that, well, I need to get myself out there. I need to be more social. It's my tendency to be kind of like a, you know, a nerdy, kind of stuck, you know, stuck in the dark office kind of computer programmer. But every time I kind of get out of my own shell. And every now and then, I will go to, like, one of those local events, or like a Chamber of Commerce event or something like that. And so I'm really curious. So when you, when you speak at some of these, like local events, I mean, how do you, how do you land these speaking gigs in the first place, and what kind of things do you talk about?

Stacey Randall 16:38 So what I have found is, is that if you can have something different to talk about, most groups are desperate for a quality speaker, and because in my previous world, I could say yes, I'd spoken at these conferences and to these companies, and I had been on stage with 1000s of people in the audience to 15 people in the audience. So I mean, I think it's fair to be transparent here my ability to book speaking gigs came because I had a I had somewhat of a reputation as being able to speak and being a good speaker, and having a YouTube channel that people could go and watch clips from some of my presentations that I had been in, and you could see like the conferences that I had been to, by the logos on my website and things like that. So there was a little bit about that. Hey, we know she can speak now, is her topic relevant for us? And you know, I sometimes think that if you can find a topic and give it a really fancy title, and if you can use the word sabotage anywhere in your title, you're going to get people's attention. And so not only that word, but that just seems to be a useful word. And so for me, it was like, Okay, I want to coach small business owners. I want to coach people in what I call dime a dozen professions, like as in, there's a lot of you out there, so because I want to help them stand out through a client experience and referral marketing. And so I just looked for where they were. And then my number one thing I would always do is I look for a champion within that organization. Who do I know within the organization, or who I know know someone within that organization, meet with that person, get them on board with, like, who I am, my abilities, and would you be willing to talk to your board, or your education person on the board or whatever, to have me in? And once you had a once you have a couple of those under your belt, and you get some testimonials, it kind of feeds itself in terms of, you know, it just hurts the snowball effect, but truly identifying the right groups to speak to, who had my audience in the room, and then second, identifying a champion that would kind of go to bat for me. Were two huge things to get in the door. Then once in the door, I kind of had a strategy for how I would actually try to generate clients from that speaking engagement. And a lot of it came down to, obviously, what I would say and how I would tell stories about how I solved problems, and I would use, you know, stories from clients that where I knew those people were sitting in the room and they're like, Oh, well, I'm a mortgage broker, or, Oh, I'm a realtor too, or, you know, I'm a financial advisor. So I would kind of create my stories through that process. And then, of course, I always ask for speaking for free. I want the contact information so that I can send out additional resources. Never spam and never to ask to meet. It was always just, here's additional resources. So I had some level of control over reaching out to those people once my presentation was done, cool, and

Robert Plank 19:10 there's, there's so many good things in there and and I like how so, so you have, you take clips of yourself from previous speaking stuff and put it on your YouTube channel. And I like that a lot, because I've seen that a lot from, like, some of the podcast guests on this show, some of them will want to have, like, a video interview, just for the sole purpose of having themselves on camera, presenting their thing and then, and even, like, you know, when I have some sometimes I like look up different guests to have on the show. Sometimes I'll shoot over to YouTube and just kind of see, you know, is there a clip of them speaking? So at least I kind of see, you know, who I'm, who I'm dealing with, and what kind of things that they're talking about. And I like how you tell people to, and when you have your title of your talk to have make something interesting and use that word sabotage. And I imagine that, you know, using that word sabotage, or a word like it, sort of hits a lot of important hot buttons in that, you know, it, it. It, it solves a real problem, or at least promises to solve a real problem in that title. And it has sort of an emotionally charged word, as opposed to some of the usual drab stuff. And then, and then having that, locating that inside person within there, and having that, that clear problem that that you're solving, is really cool because, like you said, that you you have your league speaking engagements, and a lot of the people in your particular crowd are in these dime a dozen professions. And that's really cool, because you're actually noticing, okay, this group, they have this really huge problem that's not solved. Now I'm the one to solve it. And then when you talk about their individual professions, it's like, they can, they can completely relate to it, as opposed to you just talking in and sort of, it's a general term, so that's a really cool and then, of course, that passing out the, you know, the free opt in sheet to get those resources, lots of cool sort of step by step ways to get the most out of those speaking gigs. And so we're starting to kind of run out of time here. But I want to make sure that we get to that five step referral without asking for referrals. Thing that you mentioned, because that really intrigues me. How the heck do you get referrals without even asking for them?

Stacey Randall 21:06 You know, it's a fantastic question, and I am happy to provide for your listeners. I have this guy that I give called The Seven Deadly Sins to generating referrals. And one of the sins, or the no nos, so to speak, is that you ask for them. And when you ask for a referral, you do two things, you commoditize the relationship, you make it about work. You're now asking the other person to do for you, and you're trying to manufacture something that doesn't exist, which is pain. And a referral truly works when someone is talking to a friend, a buddy, a colleague, a local business owner, and they say, I've got this problem, and I need it solved when the pain can be identified by the referral source, and then you're brought in as the solution, right? That is when a referral truly works. That is when you have high close rates of referrals. So when we ask for them, we're manufacturing that pain. We're having a person think about, Well, who do you think has this pain? And then they've got to go out there and introduce you to people that may or may not need you, which is why manufactured referrals, just what I call them. They don't typically work well. So what I found is, is that, and that's what my online course does. It's called growth by referrals, and that's what my online course does, is it walks you through, okay, let's identify who is actually your referral sources. And if you don't have enough, let's, let's get you some more. And then let's figure out, what do we do to stay top of mind in an authentic way for you, but also that keeps the referral source top of mind. And I build out these strategies within the course for these for my clients, like what they build is a 365 not an everyday that's not what I mean to say, but it's like a year long touch point of how do we build relationships with people who already refer us, or should be referring us, so that we constantly stay top of mind. And when you're doing that, it eliminates the need to ask. But I don't mean sending out a newsletter, an E newsletter that nobody's reading. And I don't mean sending out you just a bunch of different things by email, like truly focusing on, how do we build our relationships so that we can actually get referrals from them, we can receive referrals from them. And there's just, it's really cool. There's just these five steps. And if you follow those five steps, you kind of do the path. You're like, oh my gosh, I have this plan created, and then you wash rents, repeat that plan year after year. And that's what I've been doing my first year as a business coach, 112 referrals, and I've received over 100 referrals every year since I've been in business, following the same process, and my clients have had that same kind of

Robert Plank 23:19 success. Awesome. And do you mind sharing with us those five steps, and we don't have time to unpack all of them, but are you okay with sort of telling us, okay, yeah.

Stacey Randall 23:28 So the beginning is, it's really the identification of who refers you, right? And then we kind of have to set the foundation. So it's kind of like understanding who refers you and getting the mindset right. It's kind of the first two steps. The third step is understanding what are those experiences, or those touch points of the outreach we're going to do on a year long basis. The fourth step is, okay, great. That sounds like a lot of work. So how do we automate this in our business? So we'll actually keep it going. And then the fifth step is, is, how do we track and measure and then tweak when something isn't working?

Robert Plank 23:55 Awesome. So sounds very scientific and very step by seven. So, so you identify who refers you, and then figure out that mindset and then, and I'm sort of curious about so those touch, touch points you mentioned, what would that be? Would that be sort of like, like a postcard campaign, or would that be like calling some of these people one on one, so that they can refer to their clients to you? Or sort of, what is? What are those touch points involved there?

Stacey Randall 24:19 So they're all different, right? They could be a thank you card that you mail. It could be an article that you found and you sent someone the link in an email. But it could be a Christmas card or a Hanukkah card or end of year card that you send out. It could be recognizing Mother's Day and Father's Day. It could be, there's lots of different touch points that you can do that loop back to your business that makes sense as to why you'd be doing outreach. They fall into five categories, which is, it's anything that you do one on one, like face to face, like taking them to golf, taking them to coffee, taking them to lunch, right? Then there's events that maybe you invite them to, whether you're hosting them or just attending. So there's the one on one, there's the events. Then there's gifts. Do not have to be expensive, but guess it's definitely one of the pieces. Then it's anything. You mail, which is typically like a card, and then because gifts are sometimes mailed as well, but gives are separate from anything you just drop in the mail and then anything you email. And when you think about doing your outreach, touch points in those five areas, we create what's called memory runway. So the more I do at the top, the one on one and the events, the less I you know. The more I do it there, the less I have to do. If all I'm going to do is mail stuff and email stuff, I've got to do way more of it. And then it becomes exhausting for that person receiving it and for me doing it. So it's a combination of those five types. And then we look at what works in your business and make it creative. And so step three in the online course is all about examples. It's all about what people have done and what you could do. And then resources are kind of generated for folks in that course as well in the online course, because that's the most important piece, is that step three, it's creating those experiences that will make you mean, that will make you memorable and meaningful to your referral sources, so that you stay top of mind, and they funnel you more referrals.

Robert Plank 25:58 Awesome. And I'm really I know that we don't have have time to to kind of dive deep into a lot of this stuff. But I really like your this whole concept of, instead of just blasting, you know, all this stuff to all of these people directly who might not even care, or, like you said, you're manufacturing their pain, instead of doing all that, then instead kind of cultivate their relationships with with your kind of secondary sources of people, people who refer those clients to you. So this sounds like a really cool kind of concept. And so where can people get that particular, that particular report that seven deadly sins? Absolutely.

Stacey Randall 26:32 So I have a special page created just for your listeners, so it makes it really easy. They don't have to think about this. But it's just growth by referrals.com. Forward slash Robert Plank, so growth by referrals.com. Forward slash Robert Plank, if they go there, they'll be able to download the Seven Deadly Sins of generating referrals. I also have a free Facebook group called referrals without asking, that they can click on the link and join that. And then I usually do every couple times a year, a five day challenge to jump start your referrals, and it's free. And so if one's live, when you're a person, when your audience goes to the website, they can get right into one. And if it's not, they can join a wait list and then be told when the next one is. But just some ways for them to kind of get an understanding of what is this stuff I'm talking about from referrals without asking. And then from there, of course, there's always information on my website, growth by referrals, if they want to learn about either my live workshops or the online program growth by referrals itself as well. Awesome.

Robert Plank 27:25 So lots of good, good stuff. And as we're kind of winding down here, when people kind of see the air in their ways, and they say, Okay, well, I need, I can't be just kind of working super hard, and I can't be, you know, chasing my tail, sort of like your problem was in that previous business, they say, well, I need to, you know, be getting my referrals. I need to be, you know, doing all these steps and stuff like that. Do you see anyone when they're going through your process? Do you see anyone sort of making the same hang ups? And do you kind of use your word? Do you see anyone sabotaging their own business with these referrals?

Stacey Randall 27:58 That's a great question. Yes. And nine times out of 10, it comes right down to their mindset. Because this information, what i t i always tell folks what I teach is not new, it is not a silver bullet, and it is not rocket science. It's actually pretty simple. The issue is, though, is you've never heard when I teach it through the course, most people have never heard anyone ever talk about it or explain it this way. So we've got 30 years of stuff in our heads about referrals and how we have to ask, and it is sometimes really hard for people to come out of that and really start actually looking at it differently and from a relationship perspective, and then actually putting things into place that will support that. So a lot of times when they get hung up, it's that mindset and it's like, hey, no, you have to commit to this long term. It's this is a long term strategy, not a quick fix for referrals. And also, yes, I know what you've been hearing from everybody else out there, but if you just follow this process and the success that my clients have had, and myself as well, that you can get there, and you can definitely generate a business that's fully sustained by referrals, or 50% sustained by referrals, whatever you're looking for, it's definitely there, but usually I'm helping them kind of overcome the fact that, yes, this is possible, yes, it is that simple, and that's true. You've just never been taught it this way before, which means if it's that simple, everyone can do it. They just need to have the information

Robert Plank 29:11 awesome. So just because it's simple, don't discount it. And there is a better way, and there is a way to get these referrals without being the cheesy used car salesman, without cold calling, without all that stuff. So, so this is really great stuff. So everyone should go right now to growth by referrals.com. Forward slash Robert Plank, to see all that stuff, to be able to join that Facebook group, to be able to get that seven deadly sins report and to be able to be on that five day challenge. So lots of good stuff today, lots of eye opening, kind of kind of bomb shows you dropped on us today. Stacy, so I want to thank you so much for stopping by the show. Everyone should go to growth by referrals.com. Forward slash Robert Plank, and I really appreciate you being on and sharing what you had to share with us

Stacey Randall 29:52 today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. This is Robert Plank,

Robert Plank 29:55 and would you like to be a guest on the program? Do you have an idea for a future. Episode. Or do you just want to tell us how we're doing? Get in touch with us right now at Robert plank.com/ask, to let us know you.