Episode Summary
If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you know that I constantly say “If your customers aren’t telling their friends about you, you’re in trouble.” So in today’s episode, let’s actually talk about HOW to get your customers to refer you to their friends. It’s not enough to create an exceptional experience worth sharing – that’s the barrier to entry. In this episode, I’m going to outline the four main buckets that your customers fall into: paid, reputation, repeat, and referral. I’m also going to share with you a special offer on a course ALL about referrals from my late friend, John Ruhlin.
Sign up for the Referral Partner Transformation course here
Listen to the Episode
Transcription
Brittany Hodak [00:00:02]:
Hello, and welcome to the Creating Superfans podcast. I’m Brittany Hodak. And if you’ve listened to this show before, you know that I start every episode by saying if your customers aren’t telling their friends about you, you’re in trouble, And that’s because referrals are the most important ingredient for success in every single business. Did you know that a referred customer is 36 times more valuable than a cold call and more than 4 times as valuable than a web lead. And according to inside sales, they are also twice as likely to come back and see you again. Here’s the deal. You have more competition now than you ever have at any point. That’s because your customers aren’t just comparing you to your direct competitors.
Brittany Hodak [00:00:47]:
They’re weighing their decisions for how they spend their money and their time against your indirect competitors as well. So it’s not just all of the new players in your industry, but also all of the things that are taking your prospects and your customers’ attention. And that is why word-of-mouth marketing and referrals are so important. In fact, according to Nielsen, 88% of customers trust recommendations from people that they trust, so friends and family members, over any other form of advertising. Think about it. Are you more likely to take action if somebody you trust tells you that you should? Probably. Right? So a question that I’ve been asking to customers and prospects and clients this year is, okay, if you were gonna estimate what percentage of your business this year came from referrals? And what I found is that a lot of people aren’t tracking this metric, or at least they aren’t tracking it closely. They may be able to tell me, well, I feel like more than half my business is coming from referrals, or I feel like I’m getting even more referrals this year than I did last year.
Brittany Hodak [00:01:57]:
So I started to think about what it would look like to formalize this process. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been talking to groups and challenging them to track their customers using 4 buckets. So think about all of the customers that you’ve worked with this year, whether you’ve got a b to b business or a b to c business or you’re b to b to c. Think about all of the customers that have come into your company through your pipeline. They come from 1 of 4 places. The first bucket is the paid bucket. These are customers that you’re acquiring through your marketing campaigns, through ads, through promotions. Somehow, you paid for them to see your message.
Brittany Hodak [00:02:40]:
It was very likely interruptive marketing. Right? Like, you served them an ad. You met them where they were at and said, hey. Pay attention to me. So those are your paid customers. Those are the customers that cost the most for you to acquire. The second bucket is the reputation bucket. Now some of these customers you pay for, but a lot of them you don’t.
Brittany Hodak [00:03:03]:
These are people who find you because of your reputation online. So maybe it’s Google. Maybe it’s social media reviews. They also could find you from your reputation offline. So PR, maybe they read an article about you, maybe you got an award, they saw something about you in community in the community. Your reputation is what made them choose you over one of your competitors. So that bucket is part paid, part earned. Now the next 2 buckets are all earned.
Brittany Hodak [00:03:35]:
The third one is referrals. Those are customers who were created by existing customers. If you’ve heard me talk about creating super fans, that’s the big idea. These are customers who are so delighted by their experience that they tell their friends. We love referrals. This entire podcast is gonna be about why they matter and how to get more of them. And then that 4th bucket is repeat customers, so somebody who’s coming back to you again. As you think about your business from this year, where have your customers come from? What would the distribution of those buckets look like? Go ahead and pause this episode right now if you wanna look at it or think about it to decide not just where you think those buckets fall this year, but what you want them to look like over the next 3, 6, or 12 months.
Brittany Hodak [00:04:28]:
The more you can tilt the scale toward having those customers come in through those 3rd 4th buckets, the stronger your business will be. The lower your customer acquisition cost will be and the higher the amount of time that you’ll get to spend taking care of customers rather than trying to attract new strangers into your business will be. Here’s a really, really cool stat about referrals. I’ve seen a couple of different versions of this, and the exact number is gonna vary based on your business anyway. I’ve seen it quoted as anywhere from 3 and a half x to 5 x, but somebody who is referred to you is several times more likely to refer somebody else. And it makes sense if you think about it. If you go out and have an experience with a business, whether it’s a restaurant or a retail store or anything, and if it’s your first experience, you may tell people, but you may also think, I’m gonna, like, give it another try. Maybe that was the outlier because you’re not really sure what the normal experience is.
Brittany Hodak [00:05:33]:
So maybe you’ll wait until you go back and have a second amazing meal, or you buy a second cool thing from the shop, and then you’ll be more likely to say, hey. I’ve had a couple of great experiences. Because as I said before, since we know that consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising, a lot of times, making a recommendation can feel like we are putting our reputation on the line. So we wanna make sure that if we tell somebody that we care about, that they’re gonna have a great experience, that we know they’re gonna have a great experience. But what if the first time you spend money somewhere is because somebody told you it was gonna be awesome, and then it was? So now you have confirmation bias. Right? You’re somebody you trusted said, this place is great. You went, and it was. So now you’re much more likely to be willing to make a recommendation or a referral to someone you trust because you heard it from a friend, and now you’re telling it to a friend.
Brittany Hodak [00:06:34]:
So it makes sense. So I don’t know if the true statistic like I said, I’ve seen it quoted as anywhere from 3a half times, more likely to refer somebody to 5 times more likely. But even if it’s on the low end of that, heck, even if it’s less than that, if I said to you, somebody who comes to you via referral is twice as likely to refer somebody else, that still sounds like a pretty good ROI. So what do we do? How are we going to earn more referrals? Well, obviously, that’s what this entire podcast is about, how you turn your customers into those super fans. So it should go without saying that the first step is that you have to create an amazing experience. If you want people to share it, you have to be share worthy. So that’s not the ceiling that you’re shooting for. That’s the floor.
Brittany Hodak [00:07:25]:
That’s the barrier to entry. But you can create a system around earning more referrals. In fact, today, I wanna talk to you about an offer that, for a limited time, is being made available to people who want to transform the way they think about their business. Now this is not an offer from me. This is coming from the company founded by a dear friend of mine. So if you follow me, on socials or if you get my newsletter, you have seen me talk well, you’ve probably seen me talk a lot over the years about a dear friend. And over the past few months, you have seen a post a few posts from me about the fact that this friend passed away. My friend, John Ruhlin, literally wrote the book on earning referrals.
Brittany Hodak [00:08:16]:
It’s a book called Giftology. It’s fantastic. I I think I’ve probably given this book as a gift more than just about any other book. I was buying it for somebody, the other day, a a friend of mine. And in my Amazon history, it said, you’ve purchased this book 19 times. And I’ve also bought a lot directly, from from the company and and had the company send a lot, so I I’ve gifted this book a ton. I give it my absolute highest level of, approval. It’s called Giftology, and and it is about how to build a business that is based in earning referrals.
Brittany Hodak [00:08:58]:
It’s all about relational marketing and why it matters. So, my friend John Ruhlin was slated to be a guest on this podcast this season. And in August, he passed away. He was 44. It was a a a freak thing with his heart, and, obviously, everybody who knew him and loved him was was completely devastated. His wife, his 4 young daughters, and everyone in his company who’s been working alongside him for years. And in the several weeks since John has passed away, in thinking about how to best keep his legacy alive and keep continuing the incredible work that he dedicated his entire adult life to, his team came up with a really great offer. And I wanted to share that offer with you in this episode today because, as I have said, I completely stand behind it behind it.
Brittany Hodak [00:09:56]:
So referrals are one of the most important things in business. And if you feel like you don’t have a step by step, foolproof system that you can follow to understand how you earn more of them and the right way to capitalize on them, then what I’m about to tell you about might be for you. It’s called the referral partner transformation course, and it’s designed to help people identify their most valuable relationships, add value to those relationships without being awkward or spending a ton of money, and creating a sustainable referral process that actually works. So today, I wanna tell you about the referral partner transformation course, what it is, why it works, and why if you want to build a stronger practice around earning referrals, this might be a really great program for you. So this is a step by step system that’s gonna teach you 4 things. Number 1, how to identify the key relationships in your network that can become immediate partners, meaning they can start sending business your way today because they already know, like, and trust you, and they know people in their network that can benefit from all of the great things that you do. Number 2, it’s gonna teach you how to truly appreciate and add value to those relationships with strategic, memorable communication and interaction. So this is not a transactional system.
Brittany Hodak [00:11:29]:
This is a relational system. It is all about a two way street. Sometimes I say super fandom is a two way street. You’ve gotta love them if you want them to love you. It is very much aligned with those principles. The number 3 thing that it’s going to show you how to do is to create a repeatable process so that you can generate referrals consistently without even having to ask for them. That’s the best part. It’s going to create an evergreen funnel.
Brittany Hodak [00:11:53]:
And number 4, it will truly deepen relationships with your partners through genuine appreciation. Again, not a do this, get that reward program, not something that feels transactional where people can earn something, but a truly relational system. So this program is organized into about 4 hours worth of short videos and modules that you can watch on your own time to identify how to collect, organize, and prioritize all of your potential referral partners, then appreciate and add value to that network to create partners and accumulate referrals into a well oiled relationship machine. Now you’re never gonna feel pushy or desperate or self serving because this is all about adding value first. So what’s included in this program? Well, you’re gonna get 27 short videos. As I said, it’ll take you about 4 hours to watch all of them, so that’s less time than listening to a book on Audible. You’re gonna get a partner playbook with step by step instructions that includes a spreadsheet and even scoring metrics, checklists to show you exactly what to do to show up and receive those referrals, and you’re gonna get some really great support. So there’s community support where you can ask questions and get feedbacks.
Brittany Hodak [00:13:14]:
There’s a road map for how to have conversations, so many things. And right now, until the end of October, you will get more than 30 bonuses from people who knew, loved, and trusted John Ruhlin. So I have some bonuses in there. Some of my very favorite people have contributed. You’ll find content from people like Phil Jones and Hal Elrod and John Hall and Todd Herman and Mike Michalowicz and so many incredible people who, like John, have built our businesses based on referrals by showing up and loving on the people that matter to us, not because we’re trying to get referrals, but because we love and appreciate those people. And as you’ll learn in this program, sometimes the best way to get referrals is by not asking for them at all. So if you wanna sign up for this program, you can find the link in the show notes, and I wanna encourage you to do this now. Because if you join this upcoming cohort, not only are you gonna get this for the lowest price that it’s ever been offered, but you’re gonna have access to live calls and community support.
Brittany Hodak [00:14:30]:
So all throughout the month of November and even into December, you are going to have live calls, which will also be recorded if you can’t join live, where you’re going to get to take everything that you’re learning and put it into practice. So you’re gonna learn about the mindset you need to start your referral machine. You’re gonna learn how to choose who your best partners are. You’re gonna learn the 5 elements of momentum, and you’re gonna learn how to energize your relationships forever. Check it out. I promise you it’s absolutely incredible. I would not be talking about this if it wasn’t something that has changed my business and a philosophy that I wrote about in in my book creating super fans. I shared a story about John, maybe multiple stories about John, in the book, but but one in particular, that always makes me smile when I think about it.
Brittany Hodak [00:15:21]:
I had posted online about wanting to buy a new blender, and it’s very overwhelming. I think I have ADHD. I’ve never been diagnosed, but, like, I’m pretty sure I do. And so sometimes tasks like that send me down a crazy rabbit hole. Right? So for, like, 2 weeks, I was reading blender reviews and trying to figure out all of these different things and decide what I wanted, and and I had posted on Facebook, I think it was, some social network, and said, like, can somebody please just tell me what Blender to buy? I’m so sick of having to replace my, like, $50 Ninja Blender every 3 years or, you know, 2 years when it stops working anymore. So I was ready to buy, like, a grown up, adult expensive blender, but I wanted to get it right because they’re really expensive. So a couple of days later after and then I got even more overwhelmed because, like, 70 or 80 people were, like, buy this blender or don’t buy this blender. It’s so much information.
Brittany Hodak [00:16:15]:
A couple of days later, a box shows up with a brand new Vitamix blender with a note from John saying good luck blending your new role at experience.com where I’d just taken a role as CXO with your speaking career and the life, as mom to those 2 cute little boys. So it was such a cute a cute sentiment, such a fun note. Right? Like, good luck blending all these things together. But more importantly, it took this decision that I had been putting off because I knew it was important because I wanted to be able to make smoothies and snacks and things for my kids, but it was just overwhelming. So in this course, you’re going to learn how to take the things that we all wish we could do. Right? Like, we all wish we could just be paying attention all the time and listening for those cues and trying to find those moments where it’s like, that’s the perfect gift. That’s the perfect thing that I can get. But John teaches you a system in this program.
Brittany Hodak [00:17:13]:
He put it together to serve people, and now even though all of us are heartbroken that he’s gone, his wisdom lives on in this program where you get to learn from, I think, truly one of the best there’s ever been when it comes to earning referrals. So check out the link in the show notes to go to the referral partner transformation course page. You’ll get all of the information. You can sign up now. And as I said, this is a course that I believe may be also offered again in the future, but it’s never going to be offered for the low price that it is now. This is a course that typically sells for $26100, but because of this grand reopening and because all of us are coming together to try to spread the word so that anybody who needs help from referrals can get it from our friend John, is being offered for only $800. $800 is gonna get you lifetime access to all 27 of those videos, all of the modules that I told you about, all of the live calls, and the bonuses from more than 30 people, including yours truly. So if you wanna get serious about referrals in your business for 2025, if you want to be looking back a year from now and saying, wow.
Brittany Hodak [00:18:33]:
When I look at my buckets, so many people are coming from the repeat bucket. So many people are coming from the referral bucket, which is spilling over to the reputation bucket, but meaning that I’m doing very little or maybe even no paid customer acquisition, then this is for you. You know how important word-of-mouth is. You know how much it matters. In fact, you know, according to to the stats that you look at it or the years that you look at them, Nielsen says that customers are 77% more likely to buy a product if their friends recommended it or referred it, and word-of-mouth marketing results in 5 times more sales than paid media impressions. So this is a huge deal. We all know the way that we buy. We know that every customer is an influencer.
Brittany Hodak [00:19:22]:
And if you wanna have more discipline around your referral engine, if you wanna earn more customers from word-of-mouth and have a business that is truly driven by your customers telling their friends, then I encourage you to check out this program. I promise you it’s fantastic. I know that you will love it. So click on the link in the show notes. Check out the referral partner transformation course today. I know you will love it because it was made with love and care and expertise from my buddy, John Ruhlin. Thanks so much for listening. I’ll be back next week with a brand new interview episode of the Creating Super Fans podcast.
