Referral Marketing: Get Paying Clients Through Your Customers

Referral marketing strategies for business growth

– Importance of follow-ups for referral marketing
– Convincing clients to make phone calls
– Creating a service to manage call outreach
– Specializing in follow-ups, retention, and referral marketing
– Friendly approach to staying in touch

Michael DeLon 00:00
Hello and welcome to another episode of expert speak. I’m Michael Dylon and today I am talking with Mostafa Hosseini. And most well Mostafa at number one Tuesdays, we’ve got the most interesting name of any guest I’ve ever had. So I appreciate that. And number two, thanks for squeezing me and to your calendar. I appreciate that.

Mostafa Hosseini 00:25
thank you. Thanks for having me an I, it’s a pleasure to be here, I look forward to our conversation, it’s going

Michael DeLon 00:30
to be a fun conversation because you do something that I don’t do and that a lot of people don’t do. So I’m really stoked about it. So Mustafa has a he runs a company a call center, specializing in fixing the follow up problem. And you want to, we want to talk about that, we want to dive into that. But first, give us a snapshot of where what’s been your journey to bring it to do what you do 100%.

Mostafa Hosseini 01:00
So I went to school for marketing. And then while I was in school, I started a marketing agency ran it from 2010 to 2018. We did a to z digital marketing for our clients. And we reached a point where we was offering so many services. And I read the 8020 principle by Richard Kosh, which is going to change the way I think and the way I run my business. So almost overnight, I dropped the agency and I kept the coaching and consulting aspect of my business.

Now almost at the same time, I started teaching simple marketing formula, which was the essentials, the 8020 of marketing, and what was working for us teaching people how to create a simple marketing plan. Okay, now, going back, are you familiar with Dan Kennedy? Yes. So I learned the power of customer retention, and follow ups from Dan Kennedy and how extremely important it is, and nobody’s doing it. Yep. So the story is that every time I ran out of cash, or customers, or prospects and whatnot, I would pull my hair out for a couple of days, then it would come to my senses.

And I would pick up the phone, I would make it round of calls to my list of customers, prospects and the rest of it, or and on the day of or shortly after, I would get cash appointments, referrals, introductions, and you name it. So I’m like, Oh, this is awesome. We kept doing it. And he started teaching in my course simple marketing formula. And the last module was always retention. So we went from goal setting target market offer lead gen conversion, and last piece was retention. So I’m like people, here’s this, here’s the script. Here’s the process.

Take this call your list. You’re gonna see your results today. Yep. And nobody would do it. Yep. And I’m like, people, this is not a joke. It’s not like a Facebook ad. This will produce results today. And so they wouldn’t do it. And I had people in my mastermind, you know, where we were help them with implementation of the plan. And sometimes they would come and complain about sales and cash. So I’m like, Look, here’s a list here, you have a 2000 person list.

Here’s the script, call your people, they wouldn’t do it. So it took me about six months to convince a couple of them one week, one of them comes back. And she’s like, Mostafa, you wouldn’t believe this. I make five phone calls last week, and I had a 60% conversion. Look, awesome. This stuff works. Going. She would not continue calling. And I’m like, what do you need to see? It’s crazy

Michael DeLon 03:31
going on. So

Mostafa Hosseini 03:34
long story short, later on. We had a guy who was making calls for us and a couple of workshops. At the end. I’m like, Hey, I have a guy who can make phone calls for you. Who wants an introduction? Everybody? Oh, that’s interesting. Then I’m like, what if we do this for you?

What if we manage it for you? Who wants us to do it? Everybody? So that’s how we came to existence. So we started a call center specializing in follow ups, retention, and referral marketing.

Michael DeLon 04:06
Wow, okay. You just dropped a bunch of stuff there. Alright, let’s just let’s just talk about that cashflow thing, because you hit on something I talked and teach my clients all the time is the follow up. Most business owners I think spending 90% of their money, time and effort on the front end, I need a new lead versus the back end people already know like, and trust me, oh, forget about them.

New. So you’re actually over here, but you’re actually doing the phone calls doing the follow up to help them to so that they will retain clients get referrals and grow their business. All right, you got to unpack that. How does that work? So let’s put it in terms of, of a business owner.

Let’s pick a category let’s say financial advisor. We’ve worked with a lot of financial advisors.

Mostafa Hosseini 04:55
So the biggest problem that we solve just like you mentioned is the fact that you All businesses have a list of prospects and customers and past customers. And they’re spending a ton of time, money and resources to find new customers while totally ignoring their existing list. The second biggest problem that we saw was the fact that some of these people, they know they should stay in touch with their list, but they don’t have the time, the manpower and the resources to do it. And most business owners and salespeople hate to pick up the phone, and are afraid of conversations for some reason. I know, we would. So we our team does a very friendly, nurturing approach to stay in touch with the list from the moment they opt in.

To before and after a webinar before and after an event for an after consults existing customers past customers. We just stay in touch with them consistently, not bugging them lucky and friendly way to say hey, how’s it going? Seems like you’ve downloaded a guide or a checklist, can we help? Would you like to book a call with one of our people.

So that’s on the front end, after a webinar after an event, existing customers, like we dialed entire list every three or four months, just to make sure that so that they know we don’t forget them. And we know that we’re not forgetting them. And there’s all sorts of opportunities that come out of that. So

Customer Engagement strategies for financial advisors

– A system for following up with leads
– Prioritizing the human touch in follow-ups
– Using personalized messages for engagement

Michael DeLon 06:17
wow, that’s amazing. Because we teach, we teach a lot of follow up systems through direct mail through email and things, right? I’ve not taught that system, because it’s very time intensive, it’s very people intensive. And it’s very, dare I say script intensive, right? Because you gotta want to say, unpack that a little bit. How do you do help write scripts? Or what I mean? What’s the 100%.

Mostafa Hosseini 06:42
So what we do is, so we have a three step process is one, we do an assessment of their offer their landing pages, their funnel, and the rest of it to understand and know what they do and who they serve. Then we work on creating campaigns. So we write the scripts based on the type of campaign and what segment of the list we’re calling, then we start dialing the list and staying in touch with them. So that’s our three step process.

And so depending on, let’s say that you’ve done a webinar on how to create a book, right? So in that case, you’re gonna have a bunch of people that did show up, bunch of people that did buy, but two people that didn’t buy and a bunch of people that did not show up. Yep, so buyers, non buyers, and no shows, we would call all of them. Say, Hey, how’s it going? All the buyers, we call them up, say hi, welcome, congratulations.

Referral marketing script: do you know someone else that might need a book? Right. And so we asked for referrals. And then the people that didn’t buy, we get in touch with them and say: 

Hey, how’s it going? Can I help? Have you made a decision to move forward? Yay or Nay.

And if they still need help back on making the decision, we work on booking an appointment with one of the coaches or consultants to help them make a decision either way, okay, and we do it in a very non pushy, non salesy way we reach out to add that human touch to because it’s, it’s missing, the human touch is missing those days, it’s a lot of clicking and sweat, you know, sweeping through different profiles, and this and that.

So we’re like, Hey, can I help?  And then, we always engage in referral marketing, even if they’re not qualified, because maybe the person in front of me doesn’t have the money to sign up. But maybe they know someone that does, I never know. And then we call the no shows, Hey, you didn’t show up? Can we help? Would you like to attend the next workshop, and we just reach out and extend the helping hand and see what we could do, basically,

Michael DeLon 08:47
putting a human touch in that when you said that it just really resonated, because I teach one of my systems that we teach our clients is a simple, thank you process, four steps of how to say thank you in a way that nobody does. That gets tremendous response. But it’s because we’re, it’s personal. And when we teach it, you know, half of our clients never do it. But the other half who do it go, wow, that was really great.

Yeah, would you just do it, doing what you did, taking that making that personal touch, doing it in a non salesy way, which is really critical. And y’all doing it, that’s really cool, because you’re right, we don’t want to pick up the phone, we’re too busy doing those things. Right. It’s like having a concierge on staff who’s lined up perfectly with your brand with your message.

And then like you said, If I understood you, right, if you’re on the phone with somebody that let’s say they wanted a webinar, or they didn’t buy, they didn’t book an appointment or whatever, because financial advisors do workshops and seminars.

They had 20 people show up, eight booked appointments, they had eight appointments, they made two sales. You’re gonna follow up with the two sales saying hey, welcome aboard. You’re gonna follow up with the six who said, Hey, Kevin made the decision yet anything that we didn’t explain. And you’re gonna follow up with a 12? Who said, Hey, so sorry that we said something that you know, you didn’t like or whatever, is there anything we can do to help?

And then if they if they would come back and say, Yeah, I really do have a question, then your team connection with somebody at the financial advisors firm to have that meeting, because they’re the experts, you’re just doing the hard work, right. 100% That’s like, too good to be true. Yes, there’s a gold mine in the database.

Leveraging referral marketing and staying in touch with clients for increased profits

– Unlocking the value of dormant client databases
– Importance of staying in touch with customers
– Touchpoints for increased engagement and sales

Mostafa Hosseini 10:33
100%. It’s like, it’s like a vault of cash that people don’t open. That’s right, because they’re or they’re too lazy, or they’re afraid or they’re, you know, too busy. And

Michael DeLon 10:49
it I call, I call that database, a dormant database. It’s just lying there. And what you’re bringing to the table is what I tell my clients all the time, let’s breathe life into that dormant, dateless wake them up. And let’s engage in because there’s money there. And what you mentioned earlier on the referrals, every one of those people they know, five, or six, or seven or eight or nine people just like them.

And the referral thing is a hard thing, right? We teach a referral system, through using your books and things, but you do it a totally different way. And that’s what that’s very intriguing.

Mostafa Hosseini 11:26
I think in conjunction, it will work perfectly. Just like you asked for a referral in the book that will call them up and ask simply, do you know someone else that might be interested in this? Yeah. Do you know someone else that’s having the same issue as you are? Right, right. And

Michael DeLon 11:41
who do you talk to this over the weekend? About your financial situation? Right. Let me put a book in their hands. Yeah, I mean, it’s theirs. But it’s, it is that fear factor of I don’t want to do that, that that makes me feel weird. If I’m the business owner, if I’m the financial professional, who’s not been taught to do that, but it’s not them asking for the referral.

Somebody else who represent you, you do it representing their company? Right? 100%?

Mostafa Hosseini 12:04
Oh, yeah, I would call and say, Hey, my name is Mo. I’m calling on Michaels behalf. Yes, right about time.

Michael DeLon 12:10
Yeah, there you go. And I love that, did I catch you at a bad time? Because you always want to give people the opportunity say, well, actually, you did. I always wondered them. Why do you answer the phone? But that’s another issue. We’ll talk about that later. But you always ask that question. Do you have a few minutes? Did I catch it at that time?

Right? That’s awesome. What kind of results are people seeing? As they work with you? I could, I could guess. But as business owners come in, you’re on earthing this, this gold mine that they’ve been sitting on? Let’s talk about some of the results. What do people are saying?

Mostafa Hosseini 12:44
So some results we got it was create recurring revenue for our customers. Because once you don’t get in touch, don’t stay in touch with. So here’s the stat. businesses lose between 64 to 68% of their customers if they don’t stay in touch with them, because the customers perceive that the business owners don’t care about them.

And quite frankly, if you care about your customers, you should probably stay in touch with them. Yes, because they’re paying your bills, they’re paying your mortgage.

And the are the livelihood of your business. So creating recurring revenue and keeping your customers increasing customer satisfaction rates, increasing the average lifetime value of per customer and increasing profits, because new lead generation is about six to 10 times more expensive than customers retention. Yep. So those are the type of results that we create for our customers.

Michael DeLon 13:43
And those are simply the numbers. What he didn’t tell you is the depth of relationship, the heart value that you’re going to gain from this, because again, nobody does this. You would be the only financial advisor or attorney, whatever, in your market doing this.

And guess what, when they receive a call like this, guess what they’re going to tell their friends the next day you won’t believe the phone call I got yesterday. It will blow them away on it.

Mostafa Hosseini 14:16
I never say like we’ve had, we’ve had confirmation calls before events when we call them up and say hi, I’m calling say on my uncle’s behalf. I just wanted to remind you and confirm the fact that you have registered for this event coming up tomorrow. Are you going to be there and we’re looking forward to seeing you there or some version off and then they would show up to the events I’ve literally done this where I called my own event attendees.

And the next day they show up they’re like nobody ever called me to confirm the night before or a couple days before. So it increases show up rates they get happy to talk about it like you said and the engagement goes up. And you know when when a few things like that happen their wallets open.

Leveraging a done-for-you customer engagement for business growth

– Reaching out to dormant leads effectively
– Importance of a structured customer engagement system
– Simple Marketing: consistently asking clients for referrals

Michael DeLon 14:59
It is They’re touchpoints. And I do a lot of video touchpoints with with my prospects and clients, but what you’re doing is you’re doing it in a different way. So there’s different modalities. And we need to market to people with a variety of media. Sometimes emails, sometimes direct mail, sometimes voice sometimes video sometimes, right? Mix it up, it mix it up. And what happens is you become omnipresent. You’re everywhere. It’s like, wow, this guy’s everywhere.

Well, yeah, but the beautiful thing is when you when you have Mustafa and his team doing it for you, you the business owner, you get to focus on what you want to do most which is meet with clients. And after that, he and his staff take care of everything else. Well, maybe not everything, but most of it. It’s really a cool, cool system. I’ve honestly not heard of anybody else doing this, do it?

Well, you’re welcome. Because that’s brilliant. How do people? How do people get a hold of you to go? Okay, I want to know more. This really does sound too good to be true. How do I take the next step? What would they do? So

Mostafa Hosseini 16:01
a couple of ways is, sir, maybe search for my name on LinkedIn and send me a message or we could book the call, and or go to perseids.com, forward slash apply. That’s P E, R, S yo.com, forward slash apply. And there you can book an appointment with me and have a conversation. And I’ll share with you what we can do. And if you’re a good fit for each other.

Michael DeLon 16:23
Yeah, that’s beautiful. And we’ll have that in the show notes as well, just so people can can connect with it. Because I don’t know, I know Omar is pretty well, their mind is probably blown right now going, what. But you can you can trust because we vet people before we let them on the show that this is something that you really need to take a look at, because there’s so much money in your dormant database.

And my listeners know what that is, because I’ve talked about it all the time. That you’re just ignoring it running after new, new. And what we’re saying is go after old, old, because there’s money there, go after that old money left the garden and it’s not even old money, it’s people showing up that’s registered for your seminar, or your workshop?

Or it’s like a warm list. It is. And even if you could make one more conversion, from every seminar you do, what would that be worth to you? Or would that look like Oh my, and then you just start multiplying that over a course of months, because this is not a purple pill. This is a a structured strategic approach to growing your business to serving your clients and gaining referrals to their friends, neighbors, relatives, business associates, church members, and on and on and on.

Mostafa Hosseini 17:42
100% Like, I’ve seen people that like stay, say, ask for a referral once when they close a sale or once a year. But when you do it systematically through your book, through your greeting parents through to your thank you system, and maybe through a conversation three or four times a year reminding them and educating them on referral marketing. Yeah, that’s a different story.

Michael DeLon 18:04
Totally. Yeah. And when you when you program your clients, to be thinking about you and referring you to their their friends, your referrals go up. And that’s the easiest sale to ever make. Yeah, I

Mostafa Hosseini 18:18
think a big mistake that business owners make is they wait for the customer to refer them. And they think what they do is like, and I think it may be a myth, or maybe a mistake, they’re like, I’m just going to continue providing amazing service and wait for them to refer to me. But that’s a great idea to provide a great service, which you should do anyway. But then you should also gently and nicely ASK FOR ALL Yeah, as I’m sure Jesus says Ask and you shall receive. Right?

Michael DeLon 18:49
That’s right. Well, this is this is fascinating. So we’re gonna have the website, the LinkedIn everything in the show notes and definitely reach out and have the conversation because this is really it’s a done for you follow up process that is in line with your company, your brand and your your business is going to grow. Because these people already know you at some level, and Mustafa and his team just connect with him and add that human element on multiple touches.

It’s not just a one call deal. This is a multiple calls because it’s strategic. And my audience understands I talk strategy all the time. And this is this is a brilliant strategy. So let me encourage you to reach out to him You’re welcome.

To reach out to him on LinkedIn reach out to him is Percy LP our syo.com/apply and just have a conversation. See if you’re a good fit and learn from him. This is this is really, really cool. I’m super stoked. I’m glad that you chose to spend some time with me. It’s going to it’s going to be great. So alright, reach out to us. Don’t read the show notes read listen to this.

And yeah, it’s not too good to be true. It can actually happen for your business when you reach out to him. So have a have a conversation with Mustafa and see how he can help you reengage and fix your follow up problem.