The Three Rs: How to Get More Reviews, Referrals, and Repeat Clients (with Kylie Kelly)

Colie: 00:00:00

Okay, a tiny little behind the scenes before we get into this one.

Colie: 00:00:05

When Kylie and I hit record on this episode for her show, The Email Growth

Colie: 00:00:09

Show, we didn't even have a topic.

Colie: 00:00:11

We just started talking and figured it out as we went.

Colie: 00:00:15

But the funny, maybe ironic part, is that the topic we landed on is one that I am

Colie: 00:00:21

now completely obsessed with, and you might be able to guess, it's the three Rs.

Colie: 00:00:27

Rave reviews, referrals, and repeat bookings.

Colie: 00:00:30

And here's why.

Colie: 00:00:31

I have watched this play out in my own business and with every client

Colie: 00:00:35

that I work with on their systems.

Colie: 00:00:37

Staying consistent with your past clients is the strongest way to

Colie: 00:00:42

grow your revenue, hands down.

Colie: 00:00:44

It beats chasing new clients on Instagram.

Colie: 00:00:47

It beats paid ads.

Colie: 00:00:48

The people who already paid you are the easiest people to get to pay

Colie: 00:00:52

you again or to refer their friends.

Colie: 00:00:55

The problem is the consistent part.

Colie: 00:00:58

Everybody means to follow up, and nobody actually does it.

Colie: 00:01:02

So since this episode with Kylie, I built a tool to fix that.

Colie: 00:01:06

It's called Untapped Potential, and it helps you remember to stay in

Colie: 00:01:11

touch with your past clients so the follow-up actually happens instead

Colie: 00:01:15

of living on your to-do task list.

Colie: 00:01:18

That's why I'm replaying this episode for you today.

Colie: 00:01:21

While you listen to Kylie and me talk about how to bring in more reviews,

Colie: 00:01:25

referrals, and repeat clients, I want you to ask yourself whether this is

Colie: 00:01:30

something that you want to tackle.

Colie: 00:01:32

If it is, stick around, because I have a special offer for

Colie: 00:01:35

you at the end of the episode.

Colie: 00:01:38

Okay, let's get into the conversation.

Kylie: 00:02:06

Colie, welcome to the Email Growth Show.

Kylie: 00:02:08

I'm so excited to have you on the podcast.

Colie: 00:02:10

Kylie, I am so excited to be here.

Colie: 00:02:12

Thank you for having me.

Kylie: 00:02:13

Of course.

Kylie: 00:02:14

I can't believe that this is the first time we're getting you on the show,

Kylie: 00:02:17

because we've been in each other's worlds now for quite a while, but I'm

Kylie: 00:02:21

excited to talk about the way that you do case studies and testimonials,

Kylie: 00:02:26

and you just get some really great feedback and gold and just amazing

Kylie: 00:02:30

things from your existing clients.

Kylie: 00:02:32

So I'm excited.

Kylie: 00:02:33

Before we jump into that, let's share with our listeners who you are so that

Kylie: 00:02:37

if anybody doesn't know, we can educate them on the world of Colie James.

Colie: 00:02:41

Thank you so much, Kylie.

Colie: 00:02:42

So everyone, I'm Colie James.

Colie: 00:02:43

I am a client experience systems strategist.

Colie: 00:02:47

But more recently, I have become absolutely obsessed with everything

Colie: 00:02:51

client experience communication.

Colie: 00:02:53

And so, I mean, I don't wanna call myself, like, an email copywriter,

Colie: 00:02:56

but there's definitely some, like, new little thing that I need to

Colie: 00:02:59

start calling myself, because client communication is where it's at.

Colie: 00:03:03

It drives everything in your business, including the workflows that we are all

Colie: 00:03:07

obsessed with creating inside of our CRM.

Kylie: 00:03:10

I think as well, like, there's so much focus on getting new clients, right?

Kylie: 00:03:12

Like, a lot of business coaching education, everything that's out there is

Kylie: 00:03:16

always focused on selling and launching and getting new clients in, but I think

Kylie: 00:03:20

there's a real missed opportunity when the onboarding, when the client experience,

Kylie: 00:03:24

when all of that is the afterthought.

Kylie: 00:03:27

So I love that you specialize in that.

Kylie: 00:03:28

What do you think, like, the biggest missed opportunity is for people when they

Kylie: 00:03:31

start to think about client experience?

Colie: 00:03:33

I feel like all service providers deliver the goods, and

Colie: 00:03:37

then their clients are dead to them.

Colie: 00:03:38

Yep.

Colie: 00:03:38

Did you ask for a feedback, a review?

Colie: 00:03:40

And they're like, "No, I didn't wanna bother them."

Colie: 00:03:42

I'm like, "Okay, did you ask them for a referral?"

Colie: 00:03:44

And they're like, "Well, no.

Colie: 00:03:45

I mean, you know, again, I don't wanna bother them."

Colie: 00:03:47

And then this is me.

Colie: 00:03:48

"Okay, did you invite them to rebook your services?"

Colie: 00:03:51

And they're like, "No, when they're ready, they'll come back."

Colie: 00:03:53

And that is literally why in the last few months I have been trying to shout the

Colie: 00:03:56

three Rs, rave reviews, referrals, and rebookings, from, like, the mountaintops.

Colie: 00:04:02

Mm-hmm.

Colie: 00:04:02

Because in your offboarding process, yes, you finish strong, yes, you deliver

Colie: 00:04:07

an amazing, you know, product to your clients, but then you have to turn

Colie: 00:04:11

around and try to get the three Rs, because that is where the money is.

Colie: 00:04:15

And like you said, I don't wanna be on Instagram constantly chasing new

Colie: 00:04:19

clients over and over again when it's much easier to get the people who have

Colie: 00:04:23

already paid me to pay me more money.

Colie: 00:04:26

That is what I want for everybody.

Kylie: 00:04:27

Oh my goodness.

Kylie: 00:04:28

I love that.

Kylie: 00:04:28

I love that, 'cause you're right.

Kylie: 00:04:29

Everyone listening, I know that there are so many business owners that

Kylie: 00:04:32

give such an incredible- product or service, and yet then we move on, right?

Kylie: 00:04:37

What's the next thing?

Kylie: 00:04:38

What else are we doing?

Kylie: 00:04:38

So let's go through the three Rs together.

Kylie: 00:04:40

So let's talk about rave reviews first.

Kylie: 00:04:42

So what does that look like in your business?

Kylie: 00:04:43

Like, what do you teach when it comes to getting a rave

Kylie: 00:04:46

review from an existing client?

Colie: 00:04:48

Well, I feel like a lot of people wait until the service is

Colie: 00:04:51

completely delivered to ask for a review, if they ever ask for a review.

Colie: 00:04:56

One of the things that I try to coach people on throughout your client

Colie: 00:04:59

experience is that at different touch points, you should be asking

Colie: 00:05:03

your clients how they feel and how the service is going for them.

Colie: 00:05:06

So immediately after they've hired you, in your onboarding or intake form, if

Colie: 00:05:11

you do one, you should be asking them how they found you and why they hired you.

Colie: 00:05:15

Because if your service doesn't happen for four months, they may forget the

Colie: 00:05:20

specific details of how they found you on Google and what it was about

Colie: 00:05:24

your process that made them say yes.

Colie: 00:05:26

So I'm not telling you to, like, do an entire feedback form right after they

Colie: 00:05:30

hire you, but most of us are already sending some kind of questionnaire, and

Colie: 00:05:35

it's super easy for you to just slip in two to three questions asking them about

Colie: 00:05:39

how the inquiry and the booking process was so that you can have that information

Colie: 00:05:44

before you actually get into the service

Kylie: 00:05:47

Oh, I love that.

Kylie: 00:05:48

And I guess as well, and I know we're gonna talk about case studies in a

Kylie: 00:05:50

minute, but when you're wanting to, like, really capture that before of

Kylie: 00:05:54

somebody before they start working with you, it's, it's freshest in

Kylie: 00:05:56

their mind before they've started working with you at, at that point.

Kylie: 00:05:59

So I guess even getting that kind of information then would be helpful?

Colie: 00:06:02

Yeah.

Colie: 00:06:02

For me, I mean, I do client experience systems.

Colie: 00:06:05

I do them in mostly Dubsado and HoneyBook.

Colie: 00:06:06

I ask them to rate their confidence in using Dubsado,

Colie: 00:06:10

in using automated workflows.

Colie: 00:06:12

How do they feel about the client emails that they're sending?

Colie: 00:06:14

I wanna get a baseline when we're in the process of doing it, and I ask

Colie: 00:06:18

them those same kind of questions in a slightly different way.

Colie: 00:06:21

And then when we get to the other side of the service and they've

Colie: 00:06:24

actually implemented all these assets, asking them how they feel about

Colie: 00:06:27

being in their business, if their clients have noticed any changes.

Colie: 00:06:30

You have the before, the during, and then the after to kind of make

Colie: 00:06:35

one of those full case studies that really brings people to you

Colie: 00:06:39

and makes them want to hire you.

Kylie: 00:06:40

Oh my goodness.

Kylie: 00:06:41

Now, for everyone listening, there is a website page on Colie's website

Kylie: 00:06:45

that is case studies, and I crush over it every time I see it, and

Kylie: 00:06:48

I'll put the link in the show notes so you can go and have a look.

Kylie: 00:06:50

But this is exactly then what to do with the case studies afterwards.

Kylie: 00:06:54

'Cause I feel like, you know, I used to have…

Kylie: 00:06:55

Okay, full confession.

Kylie: 00:06:56

I used to have a Google Drive folder called Testimonials, and

Kylie: 00:06:59

it was screenshots, random-ass screenshots from all over the place.

Kylie: 00:07:02

I didn't do anything with them.

Kylie: 00:07:03

I, I, I'd then have to, like, go, like, digging when I was doing a sales page

Kylie: 00:07:07

to find the testimonials that actually applied to that particular service or

Kylie: 00:07:09

offer, and then they weren't complete.

Kylie: 00:07:11

They were like, you know, "Kylie is great," and, "This was great."

Kylie: 00:07:13

It wasn't like the before and during…

Kylie: 00:07:15

You're laughing.

Kylie: 00:07:16

The before, during, and after, right?

Kylie: 00:07:17

So for anyone listening that's a bit of a hot mess like I was, you're not alone.

Kylie: 00:07:21

Like, I feel like this is something that we don't even know we need

Kylie: 00:07:23

to work on until we're like, "Oh, that makes so much sense."

Colie: 00:07:27

I mean, I 100% agree.

Colie: 00:07:29

And I also feel like, confession, I wasn't really drilling this into my own

Colie: 00:07:34

clients until, like, the last two years.

Colie: 00:07:35

I mean, this is not something that I've been doing the entire 13

Colie: 00:07:38

years that I've been in business.

Colie: 00:07:40

Like, none of that.

Colie: 00:07:41

But I feel like once I really started getting into writing better client

Colie: 00:07:45

experience emails and once I started kind of coaching my clients through including

Colie: 00:07:49

social proof- To combat objections, show people why the service that you

Colie: 00:07:54

offer is so great, it became really apparent that everybody needed some

Colie: 00:07:58

coaching on how to actually ask their clients how they felt about the service.

Colie: 00:08:02

And so originally, I was doing that one kind of longish questionnaire

Colie: 00:08:06

at the end, and it wasn't until, like, the last year that I've

Colie: 00:08:09

really been telling my people, "No.

Colie: 00:08:11

Like, you need to be collecting data through the whole process, even if it

Colie: 00:08:15

isn't in, like, a questionnaire form."

Colie: 00:08:17

And I will admit, I love to get people on video whenever I can.

Colie: 00:08:21

I tape all of my client calls, and it's not just for feedback.

Colie: 00:08:25

I mean, it's part of the process.

Colie: 00:08:27

Now I use, you know, AI transcription to get everything.

Colie: 00:08:29

But, like, one thing that I have noticed about my clients when we hop

Colie: 00:08:33

on our weekly 30-minute call is they get on the call and they're like, "Hey,

Colie: 00:08:37

Colie, I just have to tell you about this thing that happened last week."

Colie: 00:08:40

And they are giving me, like, the best results that I could ever get.

Colie: 00:08:44

And so the one thing that I would tell people, if I can't convince you to

Colie: 00:08:48

send, you know, these questionnaires at multiple times during your client

Colie: 00:08:52

experience, I just encourage you to talk to your clients- Mm-hmm … at least

Colie: 00:08:57

once during the service and record it, because clients just start dropping gold,

Colie: 00:09:02

and they often say things about you and your process and your offer that don't

Colie: 00:09:07

really come to mind when you ask them to sit down and write a testimonial.

Colie: 00:09:11

It's like everybody's mind goes blank when you're like, "Can

Colie: 00:09:14

you give me a testimonial?"

Colie: 00:09:15

That's when you get that shitty ass, "Oh- Working with Kylie was great

Kylie: 00:09:19

That's so true.

Kylie: 00:09:20

That's so true.

Kylie: 00:09:20

I'm wondering, for the case studies that you get through that are like,

Kylie: 00:09:23

"Oh my gosh, I need to do a video interview with this student, with this

Kylie: 00:09:26

client," what do you do with them then?

Kylie: 00:09:28

So that they go on your case study page.

Kylie: 00:09:30

Do you do anything else?

Kylie: 00:09:31

Like, do you send them out to your email list?

Kylie: 00:09:32

Do you do anything else with those video testimonials?

Colie: 00:09:35

I mean, full confession, I now have two main signature offers, which you know.

Colie: 00:09:39

One is a smaller done-with-you email communication program, and the other one

Colie: 00:09:43

is my full system set up done with you.

Colie: 00:09:45

Almost every single client when they finish gets invited to do a

Colie: 00:09:49

podcast interview, and they know it's coming because the reason that

Colie: 00:09:53

they hired me in the first place was because they heard at least one case

Colie: 00:09:56

study testimonial on my podcast.

Colie: 00:09:58

When I talk about this, a lot of people are like, "Okay, but

Colie: 00:10:00

Colie, I don't have a podcast."

Colie: 00:10:02

Yeah, you don't have to have a podcast to interview your clients.

Colie: 00:10:04

You could totally interview them and slap it up on YouTube, and then, you know,

Colie: 00:10:08

send it to your email list so that you can show them what it's like to work with you.

Colie: 00:10:12

You can put it on YouTube and then embed it on your sales page to kind of let

Colie: 00:10:17

people know what other people say about the service that they are interested in.

Colie: 00:10:21

Here's all the ways that I use case studies.

Colie: 00:10:24

First, I do update that one case studies page, and it actually has testimonials

Colie: 00:10:31

and results from, like, people who have worked with me in all of the capacities,

Colie: 00:10:35

my DIY courses that I no longer do, my done-for-you services that I no longer do.

Colie: 00:10:40

And I also want to say, my case studies page isn't full case study after full case

Colie: 00:10:45

study after full case study, which can get exhausting for people to read and consume.

Colie: 00:10:51

And so I have, like, shorter testimonials.

Colie: 00:10:53

I have some of those screenshots that you mentioned, and then I have some

Colie: 00:10:57

medium to large-ish case studies.

Colie: 00:10:59

So they live on the case studies page.

Colie: 00:11:01

Almost all of them that are related to an offer end up on that specific

Colie: 00:11:06

sales page, either in like a mini case testimonial canvas or, you

Colie: 00:11:10

know, something longer if it's like a super juicy one and I know that it's

Colie: 00:11:14

gonna help me convert those clients.

Colie: 00:11:16

And then where else I use case study testimonials is on the proposal when I am

Colie: 00:11:21

sending it to people to book the services.

Colie: 00:11:24

Now, that isn't a longer case study.

Colie: 00:11:26

That is more of like the really juicy testimonials, but I would

Colie: 00:11:30

argue that by the time someone gets to the proposal, they've probably

Colie: 00:11:34

seen case studies on my website.

Colie: 00:11:36

We've had a conversation to, you know, make sure that my offer is a good fit

Colie: 00:11:40

for them, and the proposal is just the final push to get them to book.

Colie: 00:11:45

And then since this podcast is about email, I email it in all the ways.

Colie: 00:11:49

So first, if it's a podcast episode, there is a full email dedicated

Colie: 00:11:54

to that episode when it goes live.

Colie: 00:11:56

And then in subsequent evergreen emails, I might put a little snippet

Colie: 00:12:01

with a, "Hey, just in case you're interested in hearing more, this

Colie: 00:12:04

was a full case study on my podcast.

Colie: 00:12:06

Here's a link to go listen."

Colie: 00:12:08

And then often I will have, like, a footer on some of my emails that

Colie: 00:12:12

also gives, like, some social proof, and so I will sprinkle in some

Colie: 00:12:15

case study information there too.

Kylie: 00:12:17

Oh my goodness.

Kylie: 00:12:19

Okay.

Kylie: 00:12:19

So I hope everybody was just taking notes.

Kylie: 00:12:21

If not, go back and rewind.

Kylie: 00:12:22

Know that just starting with one is better than nothing, but that is just

Kylie: 00:12:25

a masterclass on what to do with them.

Kylie: 00:12:27

I l- I love that.

Kylie: 00:12:29

Can I say as well, this is the start of 2026, this is going live, all through

Kylie: 00:12:33

last year and going into this year, we know people need more trust, right?

Kylie: 00:12:36

We're trying to build more trust, especially in the online

Kylie: 00:12:38

space with AI, with the way that the landscape's changing.

Kylie: 00:12:41

So this is, like, the easiest way.

Kylie: 00:12:43

If you are giving your clients really great results, which I'm sure most

Kylie: 00:12:46

of you are, this is a really great way to start to even build more trust

Kylie: 00:12:50

in yourself as the business owner.

Kylie: 00:12:52

Oh my gosh.

Kylie: 00:12:53

So I love this.

Kylie: 00:12:54

I love this so much.

Kylie: 00:12:54

How do you figure out, Colie, like when you're coming up with the questions to ask

Kylie: 00:12:57

at each point, can you share with somebody if they're like, "Yes, I wanna do this.

Kylie: 00:13:01

I wanna do it throughout the customer journey" what's just a couple of things

Kylie: 00:13:04

that they could do to figure out what questions to ask and when to ask them?

Colie: 00:13:07

So one of the things that I try to do when I'm doing, like,

Colie: 00:13:10

a case study interview is I try to find the hook or specifically what

Colie: 00:13:14

is different about the way that I worked with them versus other people.

Colie: 00:13:18

So for example, I have a case study that's going live the week that we

Colie: 00:13:22

are recording this interview, and she happens to be a personal organizer,

Colie: 00:13:26

which is very different than most of my other clients who are photographers.

Colie: 00:13:30

And so I made sure to ask her questions that kind of led into

Colie: 00:13:34

the fact that my Systems in Session offer is not just for photographers.

Colie: 00:13:38

That was one thing.

Colie: 00:13:39

The second thing was Megan didn't even have a contact form on her website

Colie: 00:13:43

because she didn't want anybody to inquire about her services when she

Colie: 00:13:47

didn't have systems on the back end to kind of move them through the process.

Colie: 00:13:52

And so I talked about what it was like to build a business and have all these

Colie: 00:13:56

ideas, but you were actually too afraid to let somebody try to hire you before you

Colie: 00:14:01

had the systems in place that you wanted.

Colie: 00:14:03

And so, you know, these are your clients.

Colie: 00:14:05

You know the specific results that they've gotten.

Colie: 00:14:07

You know what makes them different than your other clients.

Colie: 00:14:10

You know if they have said something that would specifically address

Colie: 00:14:15

objections that you get when people are considering hiring you.

Colie: 00:14:19

So anything that you can do to kind of keep notes on your clients and

Colie: 00:14:23

ask them those kinds of very specific questions is absolute testimonial gold.

Colie: 00:14:28

In addition to the really general, "What made you hire me?

Colie: 00:14:31

Where were your systems, emails, website, like, where was it

Colie: 00:14:36

before we worked together?"

Colie: 00:14:38

How was the process of the service?

Colie: 00:14:41

You don't have to ask every single person the exact same questions because

Colie: 00:14:45

that's how you get case studies that are just one after the other saying the

Colie: 00:14:49

exact same thing over and over again

Kylie: 00:14:51

Oh, I'm so glad you brought that up 'cause, and I know myself, so I have

Kylie: 00:14:54

a Senja plugin thing for testimonials, which I actually really enjoy.

Kylie: 00:14:57

It, like, gamifies it and I get stacks of them coming back.

Kylie: 00:15:00

But again, it's the same question over and over and over again.

Kylie: 00:15:03

So this is even a really good reminder for me to actually add that

Kylie: 00:15:06

personality, that personal layer as well.

Colie: 00:15:09

So I will say, and I was hoping that you were gonna bring up

Colie: 00:15:11

your Senja, because some people are like, "Oh, Colie, like, interviewing

Colie: 00:15:14

my clients sounds really great, but, like, I don't have time for that."

Colie: 00:15:17

That's okay.

Colie: 00:15:18

If you do something like Senja, it is a one-way interaction where your clients can

Colie: 00:15:22

record a video and they send it to you, and you have it to use on your website,

Colie: 00:15:27

your email marketing, all of those things.

Colie: 00:15:29

You could also use something like VideoAsk.

Colie: 00:15:32

And so I will say when I was still doing done-for-you system setup,

Colie: 00:15:35

I was using that, 'cause this is way before I had a podcast.

Colie: 00:15:38

But there were basically three different videos in this funnel where

Colie: 00:15:42

the first one was like, "Hey, I'm so happy that your systems are created."

Colie: 00:15:46

And then I would ask a question, and then they could send me a

Colie: 00:15:48

video response, and then they would be shown a different video.

Colie: 00:15:52

Now, it could be that it was just videos A, B, C for everyone, but you could

Colie: 00:15:57

also put a little bit of conditional logic in it so that if you asked

Colie: 00:16:00

them a question you could actually steer them to a different video with

Colie: 00:16:04

a different question to get variety.

Colie: 00:16:06

The point that I want to get across is that just because you don't have

Colie: 00:16:10

time to set up an interview with your clients doesn't mean that there aren't

Colie: 00:16:14

alternative ways for you to kind of simulate this in an asynchronous manner.

Colie: 00:16:18

I mean, you love Voxer.

Colie: 00:16:19

Go back and forth with your clients to do an interview in Voxer instead

Colie: 00:16:23

of getting on a video call to do it, you know, synchronously.

Kylie: 00:16:27

Oh my goodness.

Kylie: 00:16:27

I just thought of that as you were talking.

Kylie: 00:16:28

I was like, oh my gosh, Voxer would be great for this.

Kylie: 00:16:30

'Cause the time zone is often the struggle for me, so I was like, okay,

Kylie: 00:16:32

if you did something like that you're still being able to really personalize

Kylie: 00:16:35

it to their experience, get them chatting without it having to be on Zoom.

Colie: 00:16:39

And I do wanna add one thing.

Colie: 00:16:41

There is nothing prohibiting you from asking a follow-up question.

Colie: 00:16:45

I feel like people think whatever they get is what they get, and

Colie: 00:16:49

they don't wanna bother anyone.

Colie: 00:16:50

They say something in their, like, you know, very generic

Colie: 00:16:53

answers to your standard questions that sparks your interest.

Colie: 00:16:57

Send them an email and ask a follow-up question.

Colie: 00:16:59

Send them a voice note on Voxer or, you know, on Instagram.

Colie: 00:17:03

Don't let the conversation end if you still have additional questions.

Colie: 00:17:07

No one is going to be bothered if you follow up and ask a few additional

Colie: 00:17:12

things if the goal is to improve the case study or if they're giving

Colie: 00:17:15

you feedback that are gonna help you actually improve your offer.

Kylie: 00:17:19

Mm, oh, I love that, Colie, 'cause yeah, I feel like often we are.

Kylie: 00:17:22

We're like, "Okay, thank you," full stop.

Colie: 00:17:24

It's that weird, polite, "Okay."

Colie: 00:17:26

And I, I wanna admit this out loud.

Colie: 00:17:28

Sometimes I have an interview where I ask questions that I think I know

Colie: 00:17:32

the answers to, and it goes off track.

Colie: 00:17:35

Like, that's not what I thought they were gonna say.

Colie: 00:17:37

And yes, I finish the interview, but then I often will, like, sit.

Colie: 00:17:41

when this happens and like think about it.

Colie: 00:17:43

And then I will go back to them and ask one or two more questions because that is

Colie: 00:17:47

going to make sure that, again, I don't end up creating five or six case studies

Colie: 00:17:52

that could have been any of my clients.

Colie: 00:17:54

I want each one of them to stand out for a particular reason, and sometimes

Colie: 00:17:58

you can't get that in that exact moment.

Colie: 00:18:00

And so it's okay to come back to them for an additional answer, especially if you

Colie: 00:18:05

are gonna be writing the case study up.

Colie: 00:18:07

I mean, it would be weird if you did a video testimonial and you

Colie: 00:18:10

guys got back together and you were wearing different clothes.

Colie: 00:18:12

But if you're writing it, no one is gonna know that you asked them

Colie: 00:18:16

things in like three different phases

Kylie: 00:18:18

Hmm.

Kylie: 00:18:19

I love the intentionality you're putting behind this and the almost, like the angle

Kylie: 00:18:23

about each case study being so different, and I think that's definitely a standout.

Kylie: 00:18:27

I've never, I've never even heard people talking that way, so I

Kylie: 00:18:30

love that you've brought this up.

Kylie: 00:18:31

How do you then move to the next R, which is your referrals?

Kylie: 00:18:35

So do you get the case study done before you ask for a referral,

Kylie: 00:18:39

or what does that look like?

Colie: 00:18:40

It totally depends.

Colie: 00:18:41

I know that I preach over and over again you have to ask your clients for

Colie: 00:18:44

referrals, but I actually don't have to ask most of my clients for referrals.

Colie: 00:18:48

They run off and just start, you know, sharing the gospel.

Colie: 00:18:51

I will say, I've probably had at least half of the people inside

Colie: 00:18:55

Assistance in Session, which at this point is a little bit more than 30

Colie: 00:18:59

people, half of them I can probably attribute to two or three referrals.

Colie: 00:19:04

They really loved the service and they got such great results on the other side.

Colie: 00:19:08

And so I just think that the case study is one little bit, and if

Colie: 00:19:12

you're doing it on a podcast or you're sharing it on some public medium

Colie: 00:19:16

where your client can actually share it, please tag them on Instagram.

Colie: 00:19:20

Please, you know, make them a contributor on YouTube if they're also on YouTube.

Colie: 00:19:24

Because if you are bringing them into the process, they are more likely to

Colie: 00:19:28

share that case study with others.

Colie: 00:19:30

And again, I mean, yes, ask for a referral.

Colie: 00:19:33

But that's a way to get them to share you to your audience without

Colie: 00:19:35

actually saying, "Hey, go work with Colie in this capacity."

Colie: 00:19:39

Now, one of the other things that I just encourage every service provider

Colie: 00:19:42

to do is let people know how important referrals are to your business, and

Colie: 00:19:47

if you have a referral offer, just make, you know, what it is that they

Colie: 00:19:51

have to do in order to collect that referral fee, that affiliate payout.

Colie: 00:19:56

Make it clear what they have to do.

Colie: 00:19:58

Like the person should list their name on the intake form.

Colie: 00:20:00

Because I have a lot of people that are like all in the same world,

Colie: 00:20:04

and so I have to be really strict on this person needs to list your

Colie: 00:20:08

name, because often they're listing more than one person name or they're

Colie: 00:20:12

saying one person but also this other person influenced their decision too.

Colie: 00:20:16

So just whatever you decide to do, make sure that you are communicating it well.

Kylie: 00:20:20

I love that.

Kylie: 00:20:21

And again, it just goes to show how powerful referrals

Kylie: 00:20:24

can be in your business.

Kylie: 00:20:25

And then look at the way that you partner it with so you're getting

Kylie: 00:20:27

your new clients in, then you're getting your referral traffic in, and

Kylie: 00:20:30

then this brings us perfectly to the last R about rebooking, then you're

Kylie: 00:20:33

getting clients that you've worked with to rebook your services as well.

Kylie: 00:20:37

So this is how you sell out.

Kylie: 00:20:38

This is how you build a business that is sustainable without burning out on social

Kylie: 00:20:41

media or running yourself into the ground trying to get new clients all the time.

Kylie: 00:20:45

It's like this beautiful approach also using the existing client

Kylie: 00:20:48

relationships that you've built.

Kylie: 00:20:49

How do you go about rebooking?

Kylie: 00:20:50

'Cause people feel uncomfortable, right, or awkward reaching out and be like,

Kylie: 00:20:53

"Hey, do you wanna work together again?"

Kylie: 00:20:54

Like that feels awkward.

Kylie: 00:20:55

So talk to me about how you go about that.

Colie: 00:20:57

I know it feels awkward, and that's why, like, when I work with my clients

Colie: 00:21:01

on their client communication- We are planning that now so that in six months

Colie: 00:21:05

after I stop working with you, Colie, and I send this email, it's no longer

Colie: 00:21:09

awkward then because all the awkwardness happened six months ago when I was writing

Colie: 00:21:13

the initial iteration of that email.

Colie: 00:21:15

The whole point of the three Rs and putting it inside of your off-boarding

Colie: 00:21:19

process is that if you take the time now to figure out how you want to ask

Colie: 00:21:24

for these referrals, what your referral offer is gonna be, what the timeline

Colie: 00:21:28

is that someone needs to come back to you and rebook you for either the same

Colie: 00:21:33

service or a complimentary service, we've done all the hard work now.

Colie: 00:21:37

We've written the emails.

Colie: 00:21:38

And while you may take one or two minutes to, like, personalize it before

Colie: 00:21:42

you send it, all of that awkwardness and, "Oh my God, is this a thing?"

Colie: 00:21:46

This happens now.

Colie: 00:21:48

And I give a gold star to anybody who decides to semi-automate this inside

Colie: 00:21:53

of their CRM, because then you're not really asking them to rebook you.

Colie: 00:21:57

It is part of the process It is an automated thing that just happens.

Colie: 00:22:01

But I do wanna, like, plant this little seed right here.

Colie: 00:22:03

If you don't know when your client should come back and rebook

Colie: 00:22:06

you, they won't know either.

Colie: 00:22:07

And so when it comes to the service that you're offering, I

Colie: 00:22:10

need you to really think hard.

Colie: 00:22:13

When is it appropriate for someone to come back for the exact same service?

Colie: 00:22:18

Or, for example, if you are a website designer, it could be that they're

Colie: 00:22:21

gonna come back for a sales page when they have a new offer, or that

Colie: 00:22:25

you're going to revamp their website when they get new brand photography.

Colie: 00:22:29

It is up to you to tell them how they can work with you when any of

Colie: 00:22:33

these things occur because websites are not set it and forget it.

Colie: 00:22:37

No one is spending $7,000 on a website and just letting it get old and crusty,

Colie: 00:22:42

you know, on the side of the road.

Colie: 00:22:43

It is something that you need to update as things change in your business,

Colie: 00:22:47

as your brand photos come from a new session, like, all of these things.

Colie: 00:22:51

But again, your clients don't know what else it is that you offer if you don't

Colie: 00:22:57

tell them, especially for those of us that have these, like, back pocket offers- Mm

Colie: 00:23:01

that are only available to clients once they've worked

Colie: 00:23:04

with us in our signature offer.

Colie: 00:23:06

And so if you have any kind of services like that, things that you're willing

Colie: 00:23:10

to do, things that you would love to do for your clients but only after

Colie: 00:23:14

you've done this big, main signature service first, you've gotta have a way

Colie: 00:23:18

to communicate that to them, even if, in my case, it was just a website page

Colie: 00:23:22

that no one could find because it wasn't indexed, and I called it Backstage Pass.

Colie: 00:23:26

But you go back there, and it had, like, a half-day audit that I would do or a new

Colie: 00:23:31

VIP day that was, like, four hours instead of the original eight hours that I did.

Colie: 00:23:35

Mm.

Colie: 00:23:35

But when you establish these offers, you have to communicate them to your client.

Colie: 00:23:40

And let me tell you, the first time that you get one of your clients

Colie: 00:23:42

to rebook you based on one of these emails, you are gonna wonder

Colie: 00:23:46

why you didn't do this before.

Colie: 00:23:48

Like, you're really gonna kick yourself at, "Oh my gosh, it was this easy?

Colie: 00:23:52

I could have gotten people to come back on repeat," versus, you know,

Colie: 00:23:55

thinking about it and waiting for them to come back to you.

Kylie: 00:23:58

Okay, Colie, this has been so good.

Kylie: 00:23:59

Thank you for sharing so much with us.

Kylie: 00:24:01

All the links are in the show notes.

Kylie: 00:24:02

Go and suss Colie out.

Kylie: 00:24:04

I'll also put a link to her website and her socials and all the things.

Kylie: 00:24:06

Go and dive into her world.

Kylie: 00:24:08

You are going to fall in love with how easy she makes this.

: 00:24:12

Okay, be honest.

: 00:24:13

While Kylie and I were chatting, did one or two very specific

: 00:24:17

past clients pop into your head?

: 00:24:20

Like people you know are probably waiting to hear from you right now?

: 00:24:24

So here's the thing.

: 00:24:25

I want that to be super easy for you to do now, like this week, and in the future,

: 00:24:31

I want you to keep doing it with all of your past clients so that you're not

: 00:24:35

sitting here six months from now being like, "Wait, did I actually reach out?

: 00:24:40

Who should I reach out to next?"

: 00:24:41

That's literally why I built Untapped Potential.

: 00:24:45

You pop in all your past clients, what they booked and when, and it tells

: 00:24:50

you when to check in and rebook them for a new offer or the same offer.

: 00:24:55

That's it.

: 00:24:56

No more trying to keep it all in your head.

: 00:24:58

Now, if you wanna hear more about Untapped Potential and that special offer that I

: 00:25:02

promised you at the top of this episode, head to routineflamingo.com/podcast.

: 00:25:08

One more time, routineflamingo.com/podcast.

: 00:25:12

And then seriously, go message those two clients that you thought of.

: 00:25:16

They will be happy to hear from you, and I wanna know what they say.

: 00:25:21

All right.

: 00:25:22

That's it for this episode.

: 00:25:23

See you next time.