How To Get Consistent Leads, Customers & Referrals Without Burning Out

0:02Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features. So you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda. More of what matters most to you. Go to mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product. You know that feeling when there's a spark building inside you? That you were meant for more? That's your own drive pushing you towards what's next. Capella University gets that. With their FlexPath learning format, you can set the pace and earn your degree without putting your life on pause.

0:44You've built experience and you know what you're capable of. Now, this is your time to turn that momentum into more. The only real question is, what can't you do? Learn more at capella.edu. How? How do you get consistent leads, customers, and referrals without burning out, without sending yourself into the hospital? This is the number one question I get asked via email from our subscribers. If you've ever posted on social media and never heard anything back, if you tried a new$100 million marketing tactic and got zero results, or felt like getting customers is some sort of dark art, this episode is for you.

1:22And I know exactly how this feels because when I was growing our software company, Webinar Ninja, I was the head of marketing. I had the responsibility of making sure we had a consistent way of getting customers. Why? Because I had the ambition of selling this company one day. If my referrals are all based on who I am, this is not going to work. It's not sustainable. I can't hand that over to somebody. So I'm going to share with you the exact system that I built to get consistent leads, customers, and referrals that has nothing to do with dancing on TikTok. What we're going to talk about today is that getting these leads, getting these customers is not an art.

2:00It's actually a science. It's a system. And today, I'm going to give you the exact framework that makes growth predictable, whether it's 2026 or 2030, whether Facebook ads die or SEO changes or AI rewrites. rules all over again. This framework works because it's built on how human beings actually make decisions. And the best part of that, that doesn't change.

2:29Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow, and scale your business. If this show has helped in any way, it would be amazing if you could drop us a quick review on whatever app you're using to listen to this podcast right now. It helps me and my team bring new episodes every week. And more importantly, more entrepreneurs will be able to discover our podcast so you can help someone else start their journey. Thanks so much. Today's Q &A Wednesday, and I have my co-founder, the executive producer of this podcast, and the person who keeps this show running on time.

3:11Nicole Baldino is in the building. Welcome, Nicole. Happy to be here, Omar. I love the questions that we get. They take me back to different stages in our business journey. And I remember actually having a lot of these questions myself. Not only is Nicole here to serve up the question, she's here to keep me honest throughout the conversation. So, Nicole, take it away. Yes, that's why I'm here, to ask Omar the questions that you would be asking if you were sitting right next to him. Today's question comes from Joseph. Joseph asks, I feel like I'm always chasing leads, but never getting anywhere.

3:43I try different things, but nothing sticks and I'm exhausted. Is there a system that actually works consistently? Yeah, that question really floods my inbox and it's for good reason. It's because underneath every business problem that I see, there is this concept of like, I don't have enough customers. I don't know where they are. I don't know how to get them. So if we solve this problem, your business becomes a whole lot easier. Now, the problem is, is that most people think the solution is a tactic, right? They think it's some sort of hack that they have to do in order for them to get more customers.

4:16And it's not a tactic. It's not a hack. What you need to do is build a framework, a consistent system that allows customers to learn about you, understand what the value that you offer, be convinced this value is good enough for them to so they can part with their money, become customers and be happy enough customers to refer new customers to you. So the framework that I'm going to give you today consists of four buckets and every single customer acquisition activity falls into one of these buckets. When all four of these work together, it's like magic. But the problem is, is that if one of them doesn't work, then the whole system doesn't work.

4:50So if your business is stalling out and you feel like you can't get consistent leads or customers or referrals, it feels exhausting. You feel like you're spinning your wheels, You're chasing a ghost. So the framework I'm about to give you stops all that in its tracks. The framework is called cash, C-A-S-H. Create attention, attract interest, sell and serve, and harness referrals. So let's go through each one. The first one is C, the letter C, create attention. Now, a lot of people understand the principle of this. It's pretty simple, like people need to know about you in order for them to find you, in order for them to buy from you, but it's a little bit broader than that.

5:28And I want to give you some specifics to help you along the way. When I say create attention, I really should be saying creating attention, because this is something you have to consistently do. You can't just do it once and then just hope people saw your post. Okay. This is something that has to happen over and over and over on a daily basis. You can't just create something great and wait for people to find it just because you said, Hey, I launched this product and go ahead and buy it. Here's the link. You know, this is something that you have to communicate over and over, not only in social media, not only on email, but it has to become your identity, right?

6:04It has become who you are. And I'll share some stories today about what this means, but the whole point of creating attention is understanding that people are busy, okay? People don't have a lot of time. They're worried about their own problems, their own worries. They got to go to work. They got to pay the bills. They got the kids. They got the dog barking in the background. There's a lot going on, right? So you need to remind them of you every single day. Creating attention means deliberately putting yourself in front of the right people through one of seven channels. Now, before I go into the seven channels, I want to like highlight with a highlighter that's neon, that's burning your eyes, this part of that sentence, okay?

6:45Deliberately putting yourself in front of the right people, Not everybody, okay? You know, a lot of people, when they have a new business, a new product, a new service, they like to present it to maybe their mom, maybe their sister, maybe their friends. Are they your ideal customer? Are they looking for your solution? If not, what they think is not really important. And you really don't need to show them what you have or try to get their attention because they're not your ideal customer. So the point here is that a lot of people feel like this is a lot of work because I got to tell the world about my products and services.

7:19No, you only need to tell the people that need what you have. And this applies to all seven of those channels. Like I talked about content, paid ads, partnerships, direct outreach, events, communities, and referrals. Okay. I totally hear you on all that, but someone listening might think, okay, seven channels. That sounds like a lot. So maybe where does someone actually start? Great question. And this is where most people make a critical mistake. They try all seven at once. And the thing is that when you spread yourself thin, you don't really do well anywhere. Okay. You basically achieve 20 % of the results you should have because you're spreading yourself against maybe five or six different platforms.

8:01You're posting content, you're running ads, you're doing events, you're doing outreach all at the same time. Now, what I believe works is that you have to go all in on one channel, get some wins, master that channel, have some traction before you move on to another channel. I remember we made that conscious decision very early on because you do feel like you have to be across every single channel. And when we decided to focus on one channel, I remember you saying we have to really put our efforts into one channel and give it a go for a good consistent amount of time? How much time would you say?

8:39I would say minimum 90 days. And it depends on how fast you can get traction. Some platforms you can get traction pretty quickly and some not so much. You know, like for example, YouTube takes up quite some time. You know, it took us about 400 videos on YouTube to start seeing what's working. So you have to really understand that you need to commit to this. You need to commit to the channel. You need to go all in minimum 90 days. And this is if you're doing it full time, you're doing a part time. You may want to stretch that out to maybe, you know, more four or five, six months. The point here is, is that you really want to make sure that you are seeing value.

9:13You're getting a return on your investment and something's actually happening. You're getting some wins with that channel. Yeah, because in some ways that fear of like, oh, I'm not across every single channel makes you a little bit anxious. But at the same time, it's also a relief because once we focused, that made all the difference. It was just noise for that. As soon as we started to focus, we really saw different results. Yeah. And here's an exercise I would give anyone that's just starting out. OK, three questions you need to ask. Where does my ideal customer already spend their time? Where are they?

9:44What websites are they visiting? What platforms are they on? What are they consuming? What kind of information are they consuming? The next question is which channel plays to my strengths? OK, so for example, I love to teach. I've been teaching all my life. So what channels really work for me as a teacher? Well, channels that really are about video. So I am going all in on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. I'm not so big at X because I can't really flex my teaching muscles on X as much because it's not really video first. And the third question you ask yourself when you're getting started is which channel can I commit to for 90 days without abandoning it?

10:24So, for example, one channel could be content, like posting on TikTok is one of the channels, which is content. Maybe you want to use ads as a channel. Maybe you want to run an event. That's a channel. So choose one channel for 90 days without abandoning it, without being inconsistent. You know, one of the things that we talked about back in the day when we were teachers, I used to teach classroom management. And one of the things I used to ask teachers, you know, as I was training them, are you consistent in the classroom? and they would say, I'm consistent sometimes. There's no such thing. You're inconsistent then.

10:57You're either consistent or you're not. So don't break promises to yourself. Be consistent for 90 days, at least when you're getting started in that channel. Give it a red hot go. That's another way we often describe it. But keep it hot for 90 days. Okay, so that was C. What's the next letter? Well, we're spelling cash. So the next letter is A, attract interest. Okay, attract interest is an interesting one because most people just forget about this. They just get attention, right? And they don't understand that you gotta keep people's attention. You gotta keep them interested. So for example, they get someone to look at their content, to look at their ad or their website, for example, and then they immediately start talking about themselves, okay?

11:39Look at all the accolades I have. Look at all the things I've done. This is my backstory. This is a snooze fest, okay? Why? because people in general, whether we want to admit or not, are selfish, okay? We care about what's in it for me. If I go to a website, if I don't immediately understand what this product does, I'm out there. I'm out. Forget it. This is, I'm wasting my time. I'm going to go and do something else. So you have to talk to the customer. You have to talk to your audience in a way they understand, hey, I got your back. This is what I can do for you. These are the problems I can solve for you through my products, through my services.

12:14And give examples, give context. Show them a case study. Show them what happens. What's the after picture of working with you? I agree with you. And it's true. People do care about themselves more than they care about the person. But how does that fit into the idea that people are told to lead with their personal brand, to lead with their story? I strongly disagree with that. And the reason why is that I don't think you should lead with it. You should have a story. You should have a brand. but the first question you have to answer is what I can do for you, right? What is in it for the person that's on my website, that's watching my Instagram reels, that are consuming my content, that's consuming the ads, whatever it might be.

12:56They really want to understand it like, is this something I need to pay attention to? Do I need to be interested in this? Once you have their interests, when they understand like, okay, this person's valuable. Oh, actually, I really like what they're putting out there. I want to learn more about this person. This is where your brand comes in. This is where your story really matters, where you can start talking about your credibility and the words you won and the mentions and all that kind of stuff. But in the beginning, they don't really know who you are. They really want to understand, like, what you can do for me.

13:22Do you have any examples, though, in terms of messaging that works in that regard, where it is more about the customer? Yeah, this podcast. Yeah, give some examples. I think this will be helpful. If you want to do a little deep research, you can just go back to any of my episodes that I've taught on this podcast, over 2 ,800 episodes. And you can look at the beginning of the episode. And I often try to give as much value as possible in the beginning. I show you what you're going to get in this episode. At the end of this episode, you will learn this. This is the outcome. And then once you understand that, in the stories I share and give the examples, I give you a bit of authority.

13:59I share the stories of building the businesses that we built. The fact that we grew our software company, got acquired, how much revenue we've made over the years. This then tells them, OK, this person's worth listening to. I got some value in the beginning. I trust them now. I want some more. So I can't really talk about myself without first giving first. It's just like any relationship. Like if you meet somebody for the first time, you want to learn more about them. You want to help them out. You want to make sure that they feel like they're being heard. Once they get that, then they're like, OK, tell me about you.

14:30Sometimes it's as simple as a few language and words, a few shifts in language. Like I think we talk about often, so you can, putting you in the language in the copy versus I in the copy. I like that. It could be as simple as that, right? Yeah. When it comes to messaging. 100%. Cool. Self-directed investing, trading, full service wealth management, automated investing, financial planning, thematic investing, retirement planning. Phew. And to think that's just a small taste of what Schwab offers. Because Schwab knows that when it comes to your finances, choice matters. No matter your goals, investing style, life stage, or experience, Schwab has everything you need all in one place.

15:09So you can invest your way. Visit schwab.com to learn more. Running a business means you're always reachable, until you're not. And the moment you miss that call, that text, that follow-up, a competitor is the one that picks it up. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the business phone system built so you never miss an opportunity. With Quo, all your calls, texts, and voicemails live in one place so anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history, and respond fast. Set up in minutes on any device, keep your existing number, and add teammates as you grow.

15:47No IT, no hassle. And Quo's built-in AI agent handles after-hours calls, answers questions, and even books appointments so you never miss a lead. even when your team is offline. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to quo.com slash MBA. That's q-u-o.com slash MBA. To make it simple, I'm going to give a four-part framework or four-part formula so that you understand how to keep people's interests, how to make sure that you do this part of the equation of cash, this formula of cash. And the four-part formula is problem, promise, proof, path.

16:33Okay, problem, what pain does your customer have? What are they suffering from? What's keeping them up at night? Promise, what is possible if they work with you, if they listen to this video, if they sign up for your program? Proof, why should they believe you can deliver on what you're saying? This is where you now talk about your personal brand. You talk about we've done before, a little bit about your story. And finally, path. What is the next step they should take right now? This is probably one of the most neglected parts of this formula because a lot of people are just like give value and they don't tell them what to do next.

17:08Like you got to give them a call to action. You got to tell them, all right, next, what I want you to do is go to this link or comment below keywords so that they're engaging with you or ask me a question on this topic. This is the first step towards many steps to get them to become a customer. I love that you reminded everyone about that call to action, because it's not just about the messaging being vague and not landing anywhere. Once you've got a good message and you've got their attention, tell them what to do next, that specificity of what's the next step that you should take. It's so often overlooked and so important.

17:39Exactly. If your messaging could apply to anyone, it will resonate with no one. So you have to be very, very specific about who you're speaking to. This is something that is very, very important. I think a lot of people forget they want to reach so many people they think I want to widen the net as much as possible. But when you try to speak to everyone, you speak to no one. It's like you're speaking to avoid. You sound very vanilla. But when you know exactly who you're speaking to, it's much easier to be able to communicate and resonate with them because you're speaking their language. The more specific you can get about helping out and understanding their pains and their needs, they're going to be like, this person understands me.

18:15This person must have the solution because they understand my pain so much. So it might be at a risk of being disliked. I think sometimes that messaging can maybe seem polarizing or people are afraid to alienate one side of the audience. You got to be okay with the fact that not everyone's going to love you. I mean, if you don't get any kind of hate on social media, if you don't get any kind of disapproval, then you're probably doing something wrong. Like you're not really making a stand. You don't have a line in the sand. You're not really standing for anything. So it's good that you have some pushback.

18:45And we got a lot of strange comments on our content. But I like to reply with politeness and say, hey, maybe you're right. Maybe you're right about that. But this is my perspective. This is what I think. And at the end of the day, this is my show. Absolutely. I mean, it's yeah, the beginning, it might be hard, but I think eventually it gets easier. We got a lot more to cover in today's episode. But if you're getting value so far, you already got value, then hit that subscribe button on whatever platform you're on. It's the best way for you to say thank you to us. Now, I also want you to subscribe because we have an upcoming episode I don't want you to miss.

19:17It's called How to Create a Business You Won't Regret. Sometimes we create businesses, we create worlds that we're trapped in, gardens that we can't get out of, okay? So I want you to make sure that you are consciously building a business that you will love. And that's what that episode's all about. We're working on it right now. Hit subscribe so you don't miss it when it comes out. All right, we covered C, C, recovered A, now S. Okay, sell and serve. This is the one where most people cringe. This is the one where people start, you know, I don't want to sell. I don't want to talk about products.

19:48I don't want to be sleazy. This is where you and I had a few differences of the being. I felt like you were much more hotter on the sell and I had the more Australian perspective. Like, go easy, go easy. Yeah, and I think my perspective was informed by the fact that my dad was in sales for decades and he sold cars for a living. He was one of the best selling, best salesmen at the dealership for over 10 years straight. He was, I think, the best salesman in the East Coast of the US. What he taught me is a perspective that most people don't have when it comes to sales. And you got to start thinking about sales as you being a consultant.

20:20And the goal of sales is not for you to convince people or to force people to buy anything. Your job is to help people make a decision. That's it. Your job is to make sure that they know what to do next. So if that decision is not to buy, you're still doing your job because they're not meant for your product or service. It's better for you to do that than for them to buy it and they regret it and there's chargebacks and people are disgruntled and Google reviews all negative. You don't want that, okay? Well, your job is to make a decision, a decision that serves your customer. I want to reiterate that your audience, the people that you are putting this content out in the world, this is not a business.

20:58Followers are not customers. You have to make sure that you understand that there are people out there and there's people that you transact with And there's different levels to the people that you work with in your business. There's the people that are at the top of the funnel, meaning the people that first time they ever heard of you, they've seen a reel of yours, they saw an ad, they saw you speak on stage at an event. That's one level. But there's another level, somebody who's been spending money with you for years. That's a solid customer. So you need to treat these levels differently. I've seen too many entrepreneurs spend years building an audience and making almost no money because they've stopped at attention.

21:38They're like, okay, I got people's attention. They're interested in what I have, but they never make an offer. They never have anything to sell to them. They just hope that they can do something with this audience one day. Revenue solves all your business problems, right? If you feel overworked, guess what? Revenue allows you to hire people, okay? It allows you to relieve yourself of some of the duties that you shouldn't be doing. And revenue comes along with the fact that you need to sell. Okay. Revenue doesn't come magically. You have to just get comfortable with selling. Do you think people get stuck on, I have to build an audience to a certain size before it's appropriate to start selling?

22:16Or is that really just a fear of like, they're actually uncomfortable with making those offers, getting to that point where, okay, now I actually have to sell. And so maybe the idea of, oh, I need to get a bigger audience and need to get a bigger audience is really just that fear playing out. My answer to that question is what happened 15 years ago? Did every business go out of business because they didn't have an audience? No, they had customers, right? An audience is something that has been created through social media, through the internet. And now there's no gatekeepers with media, which is great.

22:47And it's a great way for you to get exposure. And it's a great way for you to have free ads, basically free awareness. But what you have to understand is that you still need a system to attract your ideal customer and you need a system for them to understand if the decision of buying with you or consuming your product or service is right for them so that they can become a customer. This is called a sales transaction. You need to have that part of the equation. And a lot of people just neglect it. They're just like, they're going to go my website and buy it. No, there's got to be some part where you actually sell it to them.

23:18Is that the sales conversation, like a DM, an email? Like what does that look like? Can it look different for any, for different businesses? A thousand percent. So some businesses like to do like a regular webinar where they run a webinar once a month and add value in that webinar, help answer questions, coach a little bit, and then present their product and service. We did this with our software company, Webinar Ninja. We had a webinar software that sold our software using our software and selling that software on that webinar. So it's very, very meta, yeah. But the point here is that we didn't just, the fact that people are just gonna buy on the website.