Referral program

[steampro]

Even though most of our work comes from referrals already, Im just now getting a referral program up and going. I had some pretty nice $20 off referral cards made up from Tony Gillihan http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt96 ... MPLE_2.jpg for customers to give out to there friends and whoever. So what do you give as a referral reward? Cash? A percentage of the referred job? Gift certificate? I keep thinking something like $20 cash for a referral. That or a $20 off gift certificate per referral, I just think someone may be a little more motivated to get you some jobs if they could make a little $$$ rather than a discount.

What do some of you use as a reward thats been effective?

 

[Hoody]

A thank you.

 

[bob vawter]

a good job is enough

 

[BLewis]

We are very much in the business of building our client base. So we use basically Howard's referral program. Give the client that refers 10% of whatever the job comes to. This helps to build the base faster with clients you want, we send them a certificate for the referral and then a thank you card from SOC. They can use certificate to count toward future cleanings or send it back for payment.

Kinda like the VCP part of BNI, you have established visibility and credibility and hopefully profitability with a prior client and this will help you to get referrals. We probably average one per new client, however some become Whoppers or Whales and give you 4-5. Take good care of these!!!

 

[steampro]

Good idea, give them the choice. By the way, I met a local carpet retailer that was irritated that the guy he had been referring jobs to charged him full price when asked to clean his show room carpet (I guess a simple "thank you" wasnt good enough for him) Anyways, he started referring me jobs and once in a while I stop in and give his showroom a free cleaning. Ive been getting referrals from him for about five years now. Should he have referred me based on the quality of my work? Probably, but had I not given him a deal, he probably would have forgotten about us. Well worth the hour of my time once a year or so if you ask me.

Thanks for the input Billy!

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Take my advice. I did really nice referral cards. I noticed once I started the program my referrals actually went down. I quit the program and now just send a thank you card and my referrals are back up. Just do great work and always acknowledge any referrals you get. If the job is real nice, you might want to do a gift certificat to a local restaurant etc.

 

[Hoody]

I delt with howards program for 5 years or so. At first people loved it, but as time went on they cared less about it. They appreciated the work, the service. We delt with a lot of high end clients, they cared more about the great servive, as they
were giving their word that we were great. Make them look stupid one time, and you lose them forever. To a lot of people; their word is more important than chump change.

 

[-JB-]

business cards 3 to a job.

been working for 20 years now....


for me. :mrgreen:


(insert someone asking how many trucks I/we run question .........here.)


one and lovin it, so save yore breath. :wink:

 

[Brian R]

Hoody is right. If you do great work and mention that you would like their referrals...that is usually enough. The "great work" part is huge and that is also customer service, not just a pretty carpet.

When someone refers a company to a friend and that comopany does a great job for the friend, you have just paid that person more than you ever could with a gift card.

I refer out companies all the time, and it makes me fee great when that company does a great job for them.
I keep them on my team for the next time.

More and more people are becoming business oriented and understand this. That customer that you are wanting a referral from probably has a small company or works for one and can use your service as an "add on" to whatever they are doing.
It's a people thing.

 

[J Scott W]

I don't live on an island in the Caribean, but I do have a free report on how I got my clients to refer me when I was starting my business. It worked great for 25 years.

I'll send the report free to anyone who emails me and requests it. ScottW@Bridgepoint.com