Evan Carmichael explains why most businesses don't get referrals: they fail to stand for something specific. He uses a celebrity photographer named Rich as an example, someone with distinct work but vague messaging. The fix is to distill what makes you different into one powerful sentence and repeat it everywhere so people can actually describe your business to others.
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You have to stand for something. If you want to have success as a business owner, then you have to stand for something. You have to find something to make you differentiate yourself, something that you believe in, something that makes you special, or you're going to get lost in the shuffle. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe that hungry entrepreneurs deserve help. And yesterday I was having coffee with a friend of mine named Rich, and Rich is an awesome photographer. He's a celebrity photographer, he's shot Lady Gaga, a whole bunch of celebrities. His pictures are awesome. They have an edge to them, they're funky, they're sexy, they're urban, they're different. I've never seen a photographer take pictures like the way Rich does it. And then he's saying, "Hey, I'm trying to get new business, I'm trying to get referrals." And so I said, "Well, Rich, like, what's your message? What do I talk about?" And if I look at his signature, even as an example, It'll say Rich, company information, photographer and entrepreneur. And as he promotes himself, he says, "Well, I'm a photographer." Are you kidding me? I'm a photographer? Rich, you're crazy good. You're not just a photographer. You have style, you have an edge, you're very different. You have a specific target market you're going after. You've got to express that. I can look at Rich's pictures and see they're different than any other photographer that I've ever seen. But I don't know how to describe it. I don't know why his pictures are different other than when I see it, I know they're different. It's up to him to explain to me what makes his company different, what makes his pictures unique, what is so special about his service, what does he stand for. If you want to get referrals, you have to make it easy for people to talk about you. For me to talk about Rich, I don't know what to say besides, "Rich is a really great photographer, he has a unique angle, and he's a great guy." That's not a solid referral. I need to be able to pass on how amazing his pictures are and describe it in a way that other people can understand. And if I'm struggling to be able to talk about his business, then I'm not gonna do it. You have to make it easy for your customers, for your referral partners, for everybody that you meet to be able to quickly explain what it is that you do and why you're great. You have to start by standing for something, and a lot of us already have it. Rich has it. He can't communicate it yet. He's gonna work on that. He can't communicate it yet, but he has something different. So you need to find something different. You have to stand for something. And then make it easy for other people to talk about you. If you're not getting referral business, it's either because, one, your product or service sucks and you're not doing a great job servicing your clients. If that's the case, you got a lot of work to do. Or two, you're not making it easy for people to talk about you. If you're a photographer, if you're in a really competitive industry, which most of us are, just saying you're a photographer does not make me want to spread the word about you. I know tons of photographers, why am I going to talk about you? What's so special, unique, and different about your company? You have to find a way to stand out, to stand for something, and incorporate that into all of your messaging. Dumb it down to one sentence that is powerful, that makes it easy for people to share your message, and then you'll get more exposure, and you'll get more leads, and you'll get more referrals because you're making it easy for people to talk about you. Good luck. If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. I'd also love to hear from you if you wanna leave a comment under the video. The comments make my day, guys. I love seeing those come in. If you have a question for your business, please leave it in the comment section below and I might make a video reply for you. So thank you guys, I'll see you soon.
