Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous. This is episode number 288 with the amazing 6-Figure Mentor Dallas Travers.

Dallas Travers [0:08]
Hi, this is Dallas Travers and you are listening to Heart Cells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:15]
I’m so looking forward to the conversation with Dallas today. She has helped coaches go from 5-figure chaos to 6-figure freedom with her 6-figure nest method. And her clients have had their first 5-figure days, first 6-figure years, and first 6-figure launches, all with confidence and clarity because they finally have a plan that feels good and the tools to follow through. So let’s dive-in in figuring out today if you are maybe solving the wrong problem, and Dallas is sharing her amazing referral system that will help you to create outstanding results. So let’s dive right in. While I am so super excited to have you on the show today. Dallas, welcome.

Dallas Travers [1:03]
Thank you for having me. I’m excited.

Christine Schlonski [1:06]
Yeah. And I just love your work, right? You’re so heart-centered and you help coaches to really get to that next level. So I was just wondering, because you had a very interesting journey of how you found the business you are in right now, coming through the very creative part where you actually taught actors, how to get more booked without feeling like slimy, sleazy, weird, and you discovered that coaches of actors have a lot in common. I would also guess they’re both very creative and heart-centered. So what made you decide to go for this amazing business you’re in right now?

Dallas Travers [1:47]
That’s such a good question. I find often, especially for those of us who are heart-centered, we’re on this ongoing journey of learning, right. And so often, our businesses really reflect our own personal evolution. So I had been working with actors for a number of years, 10, 12 years, something like that, and really enjoyed working with the clients. What I began to enjoy less and less was the entertainment industry. In particular, like needing to know certain, like needing to know what shows got nominated for Emmys. Last year I was a new mom, we didn’t even have a television. So that was starting to feel misaligned. But also this really fun thing started to happen, which was when other coaches saw what I had created in my work with actors.

Dallas Travers [2:39]
So they just started reaching out to me to ask me if first, it would be like a little coffee date right to pick my brain, and then they would just ask if they would mentor them and they could hire me. So I ended up very organically having this almost a side hustle, right of coaching practice. We’re serving other coaches and then I just that work really lit me up because Christine, it reflected me how much I had learned, learned as an entrepreneur as a coach, working with this new market. So the time just came to say goodbye to the actors, so that could go all-in serving coaches. But you’re right, they are so similar. They both, you know, I believe that actors, the majority of them go into performing because that is their platform for healing through storytelling, and that’s exactly what coaches strive to do, as well as help people heal through the inner work and through setting and accomplishing goals. So there’s such a crossover between what I love most about both audiences.

Christine Schlonski [3:49]
Yeah, that’s so beautiful. And you know, every time I have a coffee date, or like a discovery session, or whatever you want to call it. For me, it’s so important to figure out what this person is doing in the world? And now when that lights me up, I definitely want to work with them. So I’m quite sure you experience something that’s the same when you see the beautiful work people do in the world. It just feels so natural to support them with your gifts. Right?

Dallas Travers [4:19]
Right. Yeah, that’s a good point.

Christine Schlonski [4:21]
Yeah. And I love how you said how organically that worked. So probably most people are thinking like, well, good for Dallas. What could I do like nobody comes my way like I’m maybe, I’m a new coach or I’ve been coaching for a while, but you know, getting those leads into the door just feels like a big hassle. And you know, it’s feast and famine and it’s, it’s not really working. So what kind of advice can you give people to get started?

Dallas Travers [4:53]
Yeah, that’s such a good question. So let’s just set the record straight, right. When I say organically that worked. What I meant was, oh, suddenly I had like three clients, which was enough to show, to reveal to me this new path forward. So do not be fooled everyone, I didn’t suddenly have this massive waitlist full masterminds just because I snapped my fingers again. But it was enough for me to light me up and reveal this new path.

Christine Schlonski [5:24]
Well, thank you for sharing that. I think that’s so important because oftentimes, we see other people and we see their success and we wonder like, why like what’s holding us back? Why are we not where they are or where they appear to be? And that can be intimidating too and you know, a lot of people just procrastinate and try to figure it out, seeing other people succeed and then wondering what’s wrong with them?

Dallas Travers [5:51]
Right and often because of that, thinking, I see this so often with coaches in particular with that thinking I wonder what’s wrong with me? What are they doing that I’m not? They end up solving the wrong problems. We just had that. And then I promise I’ll get back to your question. But we just had that massive revelation in my business. Literally yesterday. I love it when that happens, right? It’s perfect timing for this conversation, where I’ve been very frustrated with our Facebook ads strategy. And yesterday, I suddenly realized, oh, no wonder you’re frustrated. You keep solving the wrong problem. So I get answers to this problem we’ve been having with ads, and still, nothing changes. It’s because it’s not the real problem. So I love that you bring that up. Because often when we focus on what’s wrong with me, I’m comparing myself to that other person. We try to find the new magic pill, right or take on this brand new initiative. And if you are someone who struggles to have a steady flow of leads if your client roster is not full, rather than looking at what else should I do, a better question to ask is where can I go deeper?

Christine Schlonski [7:07]
Juicy.

Dallas Travers [7:09]
Yeah, let’s talk about that because it is related to your question. What I find, and it’s different for all of us, but I’ll use my own experience. This was early on in my business working with actors, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I literally like it’s embarrassing, but I went to the FedEx Office and had really bad photocopies of flyers made and I would put them in coffee shops. That was my marketing strategy, which didn’t work by the way. Except for this one time. So I ended up getting my first client, I call them my accidental client because he was probably like, so rock bottom, he thought, well, why not try this? I mean, just try.

Christine Schlonski [7:52]
You know what I love about the story, even though what you casually mentioned didn’t work? Well, you took action, right? And you corrected along the way you didn’t sit on your couch. And you did not wait for the pizza guy to deliver your dream and went out and you took action. And I think that’s important, right? Because often, oftentimes, and you know, but these friends have faded out of my circle of friends, who are just talking and talking and talking and talking about what they would love to accomplish, and nothing ever happens. And so even though it was maybe not the best strategy, you came up with one, you put it in action, and you’ve got your first client from it. So I want to acknowledge that step.

Dallas Travers [8:36]
Thank you for reflecting on that back. That’s such a perfect reframe. But here’s what happened. I had one client so there’s no way I would not deliver right. So I gave it my all; he saw great results very quickly and referred to every other actor who was in his acting class. So I went from zero clients to one and one to 22.

Christine Schlonski [9:01]
With one of the marketing strategy that didn’t work

Dallas Travers [9:03]
With one crappy marketing strategy.

Christine Schlonski [9:07]
That is so cool. Okay, wow.

Dallas Travers [9:08]
Fast waiting, like 35 days, right? After I got this one client, it was kind of bananas. But here’s what I learned from that. And this is what I want everyone to take away. Number one, pay attention to what’s working, and then go deeper. So from that lesson I saw, oh, word of mouth marketing works for me. So how can I take that idea and build a structure around it, so that I’m not just crossing my fingers and hoping that referrals come in? I can actually generate them whenever I need them. And that was a game-changer. That was my very first business before I was even coaching actors. But I applied that to my business when I was coaching actors and I applied that to my business when I coach coaches, and it’s just been my tried and true method, which is it’s funny because I think a lot of us tell me if you relate to this, but a lot of us can assume that referrals, they just happen by chance, and we hope that they do and we can’t, there’s not much we can do to bring them in, right, we can ask them we’re not in charge of when people send people our way. But that’s limited thinking there is a way to actually turn the water faucet on when you need it. So that’s what I’m talking about here. Like what works well, how can I take that further? Instead of printing out more flyers? I guess that worked well, too, but we’re not going back there.

Christine Schlonski [10:41]
Yeah, no, no, no, we’re not but I just felt like how we were able to look at it in a different way. Even though you added the referral piece, it wouldn’t have happened was that first claim. So what I would love to talk about and you know if you can share about this, like how can people start to ask for referrals in a powerful way? And here’s what I’m seeing, especially with coaches. So a lot of coaches work one on one, right? They, especially when they start out, they don’t have their online programs yet, which you know, can be more automated and then obviously has an official price point. But when you work with someone, one on one, or in a small group setting your price point changes, right? How can you get a referral where that natural thing like, oh, that’s really great. Like how much is it, it doesn’t happen before they come to the conversation with you?

Dallas Travers [11:40]
It’s such an interesting question because I don’t hear that feedback often, if ever.

Christine Schlonski [11:46]
Okay.

Dallas Travers [11:47]
So I wonder and I’d love to just share a little bit. We can go as deep into it as you want of this my referral strategy, but I first want to address your question. I don’t know how often you’ve seen this but I think a mistake a lot of coaches, in particular, make is we get kind of cagey about the price point, right. And all of our own money stuff comes up and we put it on the lead of the client, the referral ambassador. And so and then it almost turns into a bit of a game that we’re playing instead of really practicing transparency, right, and authenticity. So, again, this doesn’t happen often. But when someone asks, How much does it cost, even if the worst is when it’s an email, right? And you’re like, oh, you’re just price shopping. And I can make up a whole story about that, or I can answer the question.

Dallas Travers [12:43]
So I always just, there’s no shame in this game. Here’s the price, but I don’t leave it there. Right. Oh, that sounds great. How much is it? Right? I will have to afford to focus on that conversation. So let’s just say it’s 497. I’m just making this number up. Right? Oh, well, the program is 497 a month. And what I love most about it is my clients see results X, Y, and Z right away. So now, what we’re, what they heard was an I’m not like, oh, well, it depends. And we need to talk first. And we don’t need to get to pricing yet, because now you’re just avoiding my question, right? They heard the price, but they also heard the benefits. And what we’re focusing on is the benefit, because that’s the last thing I said instead of the price. So that’s been my strategy. But again, it hasn’t come up very often. For me, and I wonder if that’s part of how I structure my referral requests.

Christine Schlonski [13:41]
Yeah, but then let’s dive into that because, well, from my experience, and what my clients are also asking me is like, you know, you tell someone about an amazing experience and you tell them well, yeah, I think that coach would be a perfect fit for you. And then usually, they kind of want to know like, okay, what’s involved like. What will I be getting when I start engaging with that person? So if it’s a one on one coaching and it might be a higher price, it could also be that you are cutting off the referral. Because if you cannot share the benefits and your ambassadors just saying, well, it’s really amazing. And it’s x amount of money that could all already like finishing the referral, moving forward.

Dallas Travers [14:26]
Yeah, you’re right, it could. And part of my strategy relies on volume, more than just really lasering in on individual referral ambassadors. So let’s go. Let’s go into it a little bit, and then just come back to this question and make sure that we’ve answered it.

Christine Schlonski [14:43]
Yeah, awesome.

Dallas Travers [14:44]
Um, so the first thing that I recommend, there’s a whole system and this is something that I do teach my clients but when it comes to requesting referrals, I want to drill down to that piece and the most important step is what I call creating a cause. So, having urgency and specificity in your request so that your referral ambassadors don’t just think, oh, of course, I’ll recommend you when someone explicitly asks me if I know a coach with your expertise, right as it is I related to my hairdresser, right? I love sending her referrals, but I don’t like walking into the grocery store and just telling people about her. If people compliment my hair and ask me, who does it I will tell them happily. So we want to kind of ignite our referral ambassadors through buying an idea.

Christine Schlonski [15:38]
I love that idea. Yeah.

Dallas Travers [15:40]
Right. So that’s just focusing on a timeframe. I’ll kind of make it up here that the cause can be anything at all, the cause can be guessed what this month I am focusing on bringing in 6 more clients. That’s a cause, it could be this month I turned 43. And so I want to celebrate by gifting some coaching sessions. I got a pet turtle, it really doesn’t matter. But it’s just interesting to have that specificity as a justification if you will for your request. So that’s the first piece like what is the reason that right now you’re asking and right now someone should take action. Right? So here’s the reason and here’s my timeframe. Right? My intention is to bring in 6 new clients before July 30. So now I need to act. Right? It’s not just something I can save for a maybe when. The second piece is to make the make taking action. So super easy, that in some ways, it’s actually easier to refer than to no, I haven’t. Does that make sense?

Christine Schlonski [16:55]
Totally. The question is, how do you do this?

Dallas Travers [16:58]
Yeah, so let’s just pretend I’m asking you, right. So, Christine, I got a pet turtle. And I want to celebrate, I’ve got four spots open on my private client roster, and it would be awesome to fill them. So what I’d like to do is give a dozen discovery sessions this month too, let’s pretend I’m a health coach for women, right? To middle-aged women who just don’t feel like themselves like they used to. Right. So now like, here’s exactly who I serve.

Christine Schlonski [17:38]
Yes.

Dallas Travers [17:38]
Right. I’m also gifting coaching sessions. So my model for discovery sessions is you actually coach in that model. That’s how you help people really get enlisted to working with you. And so I have a reason why I’m asking. I’m doing it this month. Here’s who I help. So far, so good. Then I just say something like, here’s where you come in. I’m, I would love to know if you know, of 1 to 3 women who you think could really benefit from a conversation with me. If you can, how open would you be too, either introducing the two of us, right or sending, sending a text message however you want people to communicate, right inviting, inviting them to check out my, my sales page, my website, I have found what converts the best is having people send an email introduction. And then you know, if you’re open to it, great, if not, no sweat. My goal is to finish these 12 free sessions before the end of the month. So just let me know either way.

Christine Schlonski [18:51]
Yeah. And you would do that in a conversation. You would not send an email to your tribe.

Dallas Travers [18:56]
I usually do it through email. I usually do. through email. Yeah. So then people are yes, no or maybe right the people who are yeses, I send them cut and paste language. Right? Great. Here is the exact language that you can use, you can edit it to match your voice, copy and paste it, send it along. Let me know if you have trouble and I’ll check in next week to see how it’s going. So we have a member of the 6-figure coach club this week who she’s kind of freaking out because she has 60 discovery sessions on her calendar in the next 45 days or something, just by following this model. I think sometimes we can complicate marketing, right and think we need a fancy funnel or to host a webinar or all of this hullabaloo. When really we just need to get good at asking.

Christine Schlonski [19:52]
This is so so juicy, you know, time with you just flies and I’m so happy we do have another conversation. Because I want to take that further, like what the language can you use to make it really juicy for someone who wants to support you, who wants to take action, who’s obviously happy with the results you help them to get. So that’s really, really cool. But I also want people to connect with you. So I’ve put all the links on the show notes, and you are bringing us an amazing, amazing gift that ties in so beautifully. To then actually when you have those sessions to conduct them in a way and it’s called “Flawless Free Sessions”. Can you tell us what people are getting when they go and sign up to get your wonderful gift?

Dallas Travers [20:43]
Sure. “Flawless Free Sessions” is a roadmap to help coaches get clients without selling, right? You’re not a coach because you love selling your coach because you want to help people. So often when those leads come in those sales conversations can go sideways, which is embarrassing, right because it feels inauthentic, but also really frustrating. So I have a formula that really relies on coaching skills in order to easily enroll clients without them feeling like you’ve suddenly that it’s a bait and switch or you feeling like some sort of sales robot, so the “Flawless Free Sessions” is my roadmap that I use for discovery sessions.

Christine Schlonski [21:26]
Awesome. And you know, with all the success you have, I would encourage people to get that right away not to wait. But to really check that out because this can determine the next success in your next session with your client. Right? Because then you have that system where you actually can feel amazing while speaking to your client. Right? So my clients too, they have this feeling. Oh my goodness, am I gonna feel like a sleazy or will I come across salesy or am I gonna stammer on my words? But this is helping them as it says flawless. It goes through in a beautiful way.

Dallas Travers [22:08]
Yeah, or a mistake I see so many coaches make is they just chicken out at the end, right? Because the session was so great and they don’t want to ruin the energy. So they hardly even invite the client to take things further. So, my students now say that because of this formula, they look forward to sales conversations, which is a little bit of a mini-miracle in my book because most coaches don’t like selling so

Christine Schlonski [22:33]
Yeah, yeah, totally agree. Like, you know, when I coach with people, they go from hating sales or being totally afraid of understanding what this could be fun, and then practicing and then saying, oh, my goodness, this is fun. And I got paid. I got paid for it. Can you imagine? Yes. So that’s the beauty of it. So hop on over and check out the “Flawless Free Sessions”. Yeah, I would also love to know Gorgeous, how is this going? So you can always reach out via email, ask questions or, you know, let us know, when you use it, what came out of it and just send an email to info@christineschlonski.com. Well, I am so so excited Dallas that we will be speaking soon for our next interview. And thank you so much for sharing this wisdom with us today. It’s really, really exciting.

Dallas Travers [23:28]
You’re welcome. I’ll see you soon.

Christine Schlonski [23:30]
I cannot agree more this Dallas. Oftentimes, we make our life so much more difficult. Instead of just asking our amazing clients who have gotten results to give us referrals to become our ambassadors, and why we touched a lot in this episode, we are going deeper in the next one, where Dallas actually shares a script you can use to ask your email list for referrals and I’m really excited to share this insight with you hop on over to christineschlonski.com find the podcast tab. This is episode number 288. You will have the transcripts, the show notes, and all the resources as well as all the links that lead to Dallas. I highly recommend you connect and check out her amazing work and get a “Flawless Free Session”. So you have a simple solution to get clients without selling.

Christine Schlonski [24:26]
And make sure once you’re over there, you sign up for The Empowerment Notes. That’s empowerment right into your inbox, where I do share tips, strategies, insights I usually do not share on social media. And in addition, I’m going to put in the resource section, link to The Heart Centered Lead Generation Summit experience where you can get insights of 40 amazing experts sharing their advice on how to get leads in a way that’s organic, paid, and partnerships, so you will get a ton of inspiration of how you can tap into a lead magnet system for yourself. Thank you so much for tuning in. Make sure you check out the next episode, “How To Get Referrals With Ease”, and have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world and I’m saying bye for now.