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File it under “Too much of a good thing.” Referrals? Good. Fantastic, in fact. In theory. 

Organic growth by word-of-mouth is the goal. It’s virtually hands-free, affordable, and works for businesses small, medium, and large. It’s the great equalizer. But before you get to the point of having a nearly self-perpetuating system, you need to lay the foundation, build the system, and cultivate the appropriate environment. And that is no quick fix. 

Without doing the legwork, you’re faced with two grim realities: getting few referrals, or getting non-ideal referrals that you waste time, energy, and money chasing down.

In this episode, business partners Matt Halloran and Kirk Lowe tackle part two of “death by referrals,” walking you through the why, what, and how of crafting a referral machine that consistently delivers quality results. And don’t forget to check out Part 1 if you haven’t already. Death to death by referrals! 

Matt & Kirk discuss:

• The importance of environment, developing your referral process, and how to execute that process for maximum return-on-influence
• How too many skeptics and too few fans in your pipeline can lead to a slow and painful “death by referrals”
• Why your mindset should be 3, 5, or 10 years, and not 90 or even 180 days
• The relationship between Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence and the environment
• Making it explicit to your clients why, how, and who they should refer to you 
• And more

“Winning at referrals is about creating an environment for a system to thrive, and you need to understand that environment and how to build it, and having the environment is really having all the things that add value to your prospects’ world.” ~Kirk Lowe

Resources: 

• “Influence: The Power of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini
• Website: The Cialdini Institute
• “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie 
• Top Advisor Marketing Podcast: Death by Referrals With Kirk Lowe, Part 1 (Ep. 431)

Connect with ProudMouth:

• ProudMouth
• LinkedIn: Matt Halloran
• Twitter: Matt Halloran
• LinkedIn: ProudMouth
• Facebook: ProudMouth
• Twitter: ProudMouth
• YouTube: ProudMouth

About Kirk Lowe:

After decades spent helping build and market successful financial services brands, Kirk recognized the increasing role and importance of influence in the rapidly expanding Expertise Economy. Successful financial advisors harnessing the power of podcasting, video, social media and progressively building their influence were attracting clients rather than having to chase them.

Kirk’s ‘ah-ha’ moment—that influence is essential for professional experts—led to his co-founding of ProudMouth, an influence accelerator dedicated entirely to liberating financial experts and advisors from the tyranny of sales by giving them the means and methods to become recognized, in-demand authorities.