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The Client Referral Ladder

we are now talking about howto build your brand message I think we struck a chord there because the chat rooms I know in studio we talked a lot of lunch about the perils of pitfalls the struggles with identifying a unique brand message with identifying something that really cuts to the core so you can start to speak to your target market rather than just talking the world so let me go ahead share with you guys a little bit here about what I call the client referral ladder and we're going to save you right into howto build an authentic brand message okay climate for a lot of this is something I talked about my creative life that I did teo about two years ago very important though because this is why you need to create unauthentic brand message because what you're trying to do is build a message that people can go out into the world and scream at the top of their lungs and that is so important because we're a personal service business which means we are a referral business being a referr...

al based business you know primarily obviously it's important to get a lot of business from other channels but nonetheless in a personal service business like we're in even in a non person service business I would argue referrals are the life blood of success and so there's actually a method toe fostering that it's the perfect precursor to the value of why you need to build that authentic brand message we've been building that value up this is going to the final leg that we have to stand on that we need to build for the authentic brand message so thes air the three phases of the client referral ladder and what I mean by that is that there are three types of clients that refer you thie advocate the evangelists and the true believer they're all three very different and you have to understand how each of them work to understand how to create what we want which is the true believers don't get me wrong advocates of angelus and true believers are all wonderful they all provide value but the true believer that is the type of van that's the type of sorry evangelists look at that that's the type of client we want referring us now here's the thing they all refer us and they'll do a great job referring us but content moves people down the chart down to the bottom down the true believer okay let's look at the advocate the that the advocate is that person who goes out in the world and says you need a photographer name I need a photographer I think you should hire jared now that's a great person having your team don't get me wrong I don't want to pigeonhole number one and say that it's bad it's great they're the type of person that you see waiting for someone to bring up I'm getting I'm getting I'm getting married I need a wedding photographer then they go oh I know a great wedding doctor's name's jared they're great advocates come when you do a good job taking care of your clients so you have a good system you take consistent care of them you're gonna get lots of advocates gonna get lots of people who say jared took great care of me he was wonderful he took great pictures blob of law he took great great service the problem is is that it doesn't create an experience that people want to talk about and without an experience that I want to talk about people have no way to share about who you are notice that an advocate says oh yeah jared did a great job but there's nothing behind that there's no story there there's nothing that changed them evangelists on the other hand they walk around saying does anybody need a wedding photographer is anybody out here are you getting married married married no getting married russ russ getting married russ you need a wedding photographer wish I did the evangelist is out there screaming does anybody need what even over because I know a good one and that is so much more valuable they're actively marketing they're actively marketing on your behalf let me tell you a story about the reds be an advocate and evangelist so I flew up here and I philip here on alaska airlines alaska airlines I fly a lot and I have to say I had a good flight I left on easter sunday the airport was surprisingly crowded I got up here the boarding started the check in process the airport's actually surprisingly easy they have a bunch of kiosk set up so you can do it individually you don't think waiting that long line I don't have to check any bags because I travel light so I just wished up went through security got to my gate they board the plane really early in the last caroline's don't you know that they board very early I was a little alarmed at like forty five minutes of the flight there like we're boarding and I thought oh my gosh I didn't allow myself enough time I realized I did got on a plane sat down wonderful experience it's about a three hour flight up here from san diego they did three drinks services somehow that was pretty good nowadays I mean you're lucky if they even make the beverage cart down there at once landed we landed thirty minutes early made my way off the plane life was good they gave me a good service and a good experience you know what I haven't told anybody I've seen since then about my experience in alaska airlines if somebody asked me hey I'm flying to seattle do you have any good ideas I probably say alaska airlines price so yeah lask airlines that they did invaded a great job you know I'd recommend alaska airlines and we'd be often our merry way until the next time somebody asked me if I had the recommendations for the trip up to alaska er for up to seattle to see that me being an advocate for alaska airlines they did a good job for me I'm happy to recommend them when the situation arises but I'm not out there looking for opportunities there was nothing special about the service it was great they didn't do anything wrong but there was nothing special about it there's no story for me to tell maybe because they showed up early actual wasn't that great because I you know I didn't have my ride ready to go so it didn't really matter that much to me there was nothing that made me want to talk about them evangelists evangelist or people that want to talk to you talk about you because of something that you did something that you did in your service that was extraordinary and it makes them want to go and shout and scream at the top of their lungs there's a little restaurant in san diego that I am an evangelist for it's a hole in the wall restaurant and it is wonderful I discovered upon it one day by accident I went in there for lunch it's called al ferrand I talked about them two years ago in creative live and I think I sense sort of put him on a map because they only have four tables in the restaurant and now they've doubled their size and they know me very well ever since I got got off creative live last time but the first time I went in there I walked in and it's a it's a lebanese flatbread place we only have four tables in the restaurant and I walk in and I sit down and this wonderful boisterous woman walks over and says hello she's got a thick accent she says you are new here and I said yeah yes I am and she's like I know all my customers welcome let me show you the menu so she walks through the whole menu she says my name is michelle what's your name and she introduces herself she goes to the back she brings out ah plate of hamas for me and she says because you're brand new here I brought you a plate of home it's on the house I brought you both spicy and regular try it out see which one you like best you know next time you come back which one you want to order okay thank you very nice to you we order our food according to her recommendations and then her husband comes out he is the head cook and the owner of the restaurant with her he comes that introduces himself to us and he says that he's like you know can I can I spend a couple minutes is telling you about how unique our olive oil is compared to all the other olive oils that are used and I said sure they went through and told me the whole story that is behind the olive oil that he uses and how he imports it all the way over from the middle east and about how he how he uses this olive oil on about how it's a family recipe and the unique things that make it different why he thinks that's better but if you don't think it's better this okay but he just wanted you to know about it this story can go on on on on our way out I get a big hug from her and she said no you're gonna be back right you're going to bring sarah back with you next time right ever since then too that was about three years ago that I first went to outfront I have told probably every single friend of mine about al front every time we go back we bring friends with us and every single time we come back she gives us a big hug at the door she knows our name and she makes a point to get to know every single guest we bring we brought somebody back just a couple weeks ago that had come when they were out from new york we walk in and she said you're jared's friend from new york aren't you now that comes from a very special personality but I'm not going to get into the specialness of that personality herbie now remember I'm not going to get into the specialness of her and how great and warm and welcoming she is what I am going to get into is that she found a way to create a story for me to tell she found a way to create experience that gave me a story aiken transport and tell to everyone I can tell everyone a story about that and that story gives me an excuse to talk about them if I didn't have a story like I don't have a story with alaska airlines I don't have a reason to talk I can't walk up and say hey I had a good experience flying up yesterday it was good wasn't great can I tell you about it that's weird but I can walk up to you and tell you all about out front and why it's amazing because you can lean into that and go oh my gosh I know a restaurant like that I want to go to a restaurant like that yeah byron it's talking about uh in terms of getting people to understand something unique about what you're doing so these unique attributes that you're creating uh they don't a friend of mine once said it's not unique uh if they expect right so you could be doing something that is totally off the wall crazy but if they expected it's not necessarily unique what they did at this restaurant is something that you never expected exactly ended it and that's exactly what you hit the nail on the head if you're just providing your clients with everything you promised they're never gonna have a message to talk about you and that's the true believer is a true believer is what content creates it gives them all the excuses to run and run around because true believers take the evangelist take the things that make up an evangelist but they make it about you instead of about the business so true believers your clients are true believers are referring you and not the fact that you're a photographer there referring you byron not the fact that you have a wedding photography busy this it takes all the tenants that I just shared about an evangelist but it personalizes them and they're recommending you and the service you provide just happens to be something that you do a true believer says I know someone who is perfect for you his name is jared hey happens to take pictures by the way but I think you two would be perfect for each other content does that content delivered at the right time to the right person through the right medium does exactly that they lean in because you're solving their problems on authentic message is the underpinnings and then delivering content that actually loves on them that solves their problems and that does it in a way that makes him feel loved and respected and appreciated in value makes them true believers rather than just evangelist because now they feel a personal connection to you not just the business I feel a personal connection to al front but I don't have a personal connection to them one on one but we're in the service of personal service business where people can have a personal connection with you one on one and there's value their true believers run around trying to find business for you and it's based on them authentically buying into your message saying yes I understand I am body your message I am your message and now I can go have an excuse I have a story to tell about you through the experiences you provide in the content that you create