Ever do something (or not do something) even though you know better, Reader? I did that once. (Well, let's be real...it wasn't the first time, and won't be the last time. 😂) You see, I teach a little something called The Greenlight Question. It's a way to find out how likely someone is to refer people to you. In a no-pressure, non-awkward way. More of a conversation, than a sales pitch. Below, I talk about a time a boofed things up by not asking it when I should have. I was hosting an event...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, how much are you giving? Referrals, that is. That's the same question I asked a newer client recently who was talking out some referability woes with me: "Well if you don't mind me asking, how many referrals are you giving?" He just looked kind of puzzled and said, "Well, I'm trying to get referrals." My response? "I know, but how many are you giving?" You see, not only is giving referrals the best way to get them... ...But it's also the best way to get unstuck. You know, unstuck...
15 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, do you feel like a taker when asking for referrals? It's super common to feel that way. In fact, I recently had a client say those exact words to me. "I feel like a taker when trying to ask for referrals, so I just don't take any action." Part of his hang-up when I dug into it is, he'd rather be known as someone who's generous. Well...? Perfect, actually. We have the ability to Be the Change We Want to See. So if we want more referrals, if we want more relationships, we want more...
29 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, the other week I took a little dive into how quality connections are made. Specifically, at events. (And even more specifically, at the right events...where people who are aligned—or at least shouldered—with your industry are in the room.) After that email, I had a client hit me up for a game plan of what kind of people to talk to at an event he was going to. It's a question I love, because you should always have a game plan going into events. With a game plan, you're in control....
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, let's retrace a little example of how quality connections are made. It relates to events. You see, I'm in the middle of launching a new educational product through an affiliate program. And there's a connection I was introduced to awhile back. He's become the president of a pretty well-known leadership company, and I wanted to see if he'd be interested in being an affiliate. And it got me thinking about how I got connected with this guy. So I traced the breadcrumbs back. Because...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, isn't being afraid of success a funny thing? Success is simultaneously the thing we want most and the thing we fear most when we're on trajectory to get it. This concept of fear of success recently crept into a client's life. He's part of our Boardroom, and over the past 6 months he's seen exponential growth in his business just by doing some of the things we regularly talk about here. He was recently at a conference and someone—who he'd known for awhile—came up to him and said...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, "more in '24" was the catchphrase for this year. (Quick check: What did you want to be or have 'more' of this year?) One of the areas I wanted to be 'more' in was physical fitness. So I got involved with an organization called F3. It's a group of men who get together early in the morning to do some crazy outdoor workouts. One of those crazy workouts was this morning. We were running up a pretty steep incline for the better part of a half mile. Repeatedly. BACKWARDS. (Try that for...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, wanted to share some insights from a coaching call I just had with a client. Like most of my clients, he's trying to scale his business through referrals. Over the years he's done pretty well with client-driven referrals, and he's now trying to level up even more by creating referral partnerships. So he was telling me about a potential referral partner he'd talked with, and was relaying their conversation. He had done a great job pivoting the conversation from a sales call to a...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I was at the funeral of a friend and business partner the other week. After, I made this video for a group of my clients. Thought you might want to see it too. In case you missed my other post, this is about John Ruhlin, who wrote a book called Giftology. John was a leader. He was an encourager. But what he really did was share how generosity can be a way of doing business. It's a belief we both subscribe to and appreciated about each other. (Although John did it at a...
3 months ago • 2 min read