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hey whats up everybody. i was just wondering if any of you offer incentives for referals. for example offering real estate brokers a percentage of your sales or the “pennies from heaven” program where customers can earn credit towards their next bill for each referal who ends up booking a job. any feedback would be much appreciated!
Anyone that refers a new customer to us gets a coupon for 10% of the first job for that new customer. The coupon can be used towards their next cleaning, or if they want cash, they can send it back to us and we’ll send them a check (have only had about 5 people do that in 5 years). Coupon expires after 1 year of date of service for new customer, but for a good customer we may extend it. For realtors, any customer they refer gets 10% off their total bill. We don’t send them referral coupons unless they refer a personal friend. Kind of unethical for them to receive money for referring work their clients need done. We do discount cleaning of realtors own homes even more as a way to show them our work/results so they will feel comfortable referring us. We probably average 2 realtor client jobs a week.
Welcome Evan!
I have found that my customers don’t need an incentive to brag about their “new” carpet cleaning friend. They seem to go out of their way to tell their friends. I will sometimes suprise my outstanding repeat “referal” customers with a big discount or a free-bee. For example: Today I cleaned the traffic area in a MBR for a customer that I’ve done over $2000 worth of work in her home in the last 4 years. She has also told countless friends about our service. When I was done in her home today, she asked “how much do I owe you”? I said “This ones on the house, you do a lot for my business and I really appreciate that.” She was thrilled!! What goes around, comes around.I have been building my bussiness by word of mouth and have come to the same conculsion they just love to tell there friends and familys Just make sure you always do an awsome job, they are putting there reputation with yours.
Patthanks guys. its good to hear that you can be successful without using incentives; but being fresh out of the gates i guess i’m just looking for a way to “jump start” things.
We have created a progam called “Pennies From Heaven”. After a customer’s first cleaning – we send them a personalized Pennies from Heaven card that is “pre-loaded” with $10.00. The card comes with a letter that explains our program. The money in the customers Pennies from Heaven account is cash that they can use towards the purchase of our goods and services. If they share us (not refer) with their friends, and their friends book an appointment with us, we add $10.00 to their Pennies from Heaven account.
We have promoted this program in newsletters, on the web site, and even ran a contest this summer where we gave away a $59.00 iPod shuffle. Since starting the program 8 months ago, we have received over 100 new customer referrals. The iPod shuffle giveaway gave us 25 new referrals.
Another way we promote referrals is to give our customers their receipt in a portfolio – similar to the one that you get when checking out of a hotel. Inside the portfolio we include a “New Customer Gift Card” which they can give to a friend. We include some verbage inside the portfolio that says – “Serving you today has been my pleasure and I sinderely hope you are delighted with the work that I have done. If for any reason you would not be excited to recommend me or my company to your friends, please let us know”. The technician signs and dates the document and gives the customer the package. This gives the customer something tangible with real value to give to their friends, and re-affirms our commitment to quality. It has worked well for us.
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