In January of 2014, I left a stable, nearly decade long career as a mental health therapist to enter the wild world of marketing. I’d been managing my wife’s business marketing for five years, and felt I had learned through trial and error how to help people make better decisions. I also saw gaps in the traditional small business marketing practices and I knew I could make a difference. 

But, I didn’t know how to generate leads. My marketing skills may have been razor sharp, but the thought of getting more clients in the door left me with a pit in my stomach. Every morning my alarm would wake me up at 5 a.m.,  I’d get a coffee or five, and head out the door to a local networking event. Podcasts about lead generation became the soundtrack to my life and accompanied me as I drove from appointment to appointment. Very few of these early meetings were successful. My calendar was chock full of coffees and business lunches, but at the end of each month I was left with next to no quality referrals. To put it bluntly, I couldn’t help most of these people, and they couldn’t help me. I was meeting with the wrong people, in the wrong industries, and the wrong target market.

One in ten coffees would send a referral my way. But I was determined. I would hustle my way to success.

It didn’t happen overnight, but hundreds of coffee meetings and networking happy hours later, I achieved victory. I transformed my sleepless nights and mounting frustrations into a strategic system that generates a healthy amount of leads - even during hard times. I learned how to cultivate the right relationships so people would introduce me to the ideal potential customers. By establishing a stellar track record and building trust, I also became the person that my clients came to when facing their greatest challenges.

I’ve identified the activities I need to track weekly. I’ve built out HubSpot to get the work done, while making tracking the metrics easy. Today, I know what I need to do to grow my marketing agency and I sleep like a baby. There’s no magic or quick fixes here. It requires putting in the work, but if you are willing to put in the work, your ideal referral practice will become a reality.

In this guide, you'll learn how to build a system that helps you get more of the right clients. 

Let's break down what that looks like:

• Identify your target market. Who do you want to work with?
• Develop a referral network. Who can and will refer you to your business?
• Cultivate relationships that generate referrals. Why should people refer you over your competitors?
• Understand the dynamics of a referral. How does it work?
• Developing a schedule of activities and KPIs. How much work does it take to succeed? (Hint: less than you think.)
• Leveraging social media for referrals. It isn’t just posting about you and your successes.

First Steps

Kickstarting the referral process can seem overwhelming, but this course will support you in taking the first (and second, and third..) steps to developing a solid system and diverse range of activities to generate leads.

These activities can include:

• Attending networking events
• Working lunches or coffees with people
• Joining a networking group
• Hosting business events
• Cold calling
• LinkedIn engagement and outreach campaigns

I’ve generated great leads with each of these strategies. But before you get started, you need the right mindset, a target market, ideal client profile, and buyer personas. This course will guide and support you in the process of building the foundation of your ideal practice.

While you wait, start thinking about your best clients. You know, the ones you wish would fill your roster. If you are a brand new coach, think about the type of clients you want to work with.