Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Aquakleen Restoration Services on October 15, 2008, 03:32:39 pm
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Hi all,
How many people on here use a referal system where you reward people for spreading the word about you? What is the success rate? What system do you use?
It is something I have never really done before but can see how well it could do!!
Cheers
John
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in theory the referal system sounds really good and i'm seriously thinking about doing one in the near future, only concerns i have are.
i do a fantastic job and get a lot of referals without paying, my customers seem to like telling there friends so payment incentives may have no bearing on the amount of referals i get.
i'll be watching this thread with interest.
lets hope its a good one john and stays on the referal theme.
derek
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Just use plain old word of mouth mate
Have never given an incentive to my clients as they seem to be more than happy to recomend me and thats after nearly 19 years :)
Be good to know what others do mind you.
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took a phone call this afternoon, can you come and clean my lounge carpet ? customer did not even ask for a price, I asked her where she got my number from she said I did a job for her neighbour a couple of months ago. like Derek said do a good job and you will get referals. I must of left a good impression coz the customer is not going to be home when I do the job she is leaving the keys next door . In theory she is letting a complete stranger into her home I must come over trustworthy as well as cleaning carpets well
John
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must admit john, a lot of my customers go out, either to the shop or to walk the dog, never been handed the keys yet but its much the same, ish.
and i do look a bit of a thug so i must come across as a nice guy.
derek
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One of my regular customers goes off to work as soon as I arrive.
Keys left on the mantlepiece for me to lock up after the clean, plus a signed BLANK cheque for me to take and fill in! :D
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I did a little research among my customers some years back regarding rewarding them for refferals. The up shot of it was that they were happy to reccomend, without any incentive, in fact they thought a reward system would put them off reffering me to their friends. They didnt like the idea of being rewarded, they preffered the thought that they were rewarding ME for doing a good job for them.
Dave.
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Doing a good job isn't always enough the customer expects this and dependant on the person you may or may not get a referal depending on what they are like.
A referal system is a way of nudging your customer to tell their friends and family about you, it works for Sky and BT etc and they wouldn't use it otherwise but it takes alot of policing, I did it years ago but found it ate up too much time so dropped it, I still get booked up with work.
Shaun
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Ihave just had these cards done by vista print.
I give a few to each customer. They right their details on the back and give to a friend they cet me to do the work and give me the card, i give them 5 quid off and send £5 note to the name and address on the back of the card!
Simple
Only just started it so can't give feedback on it yet
Cheers Goron
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Simular to what I did perhaps I got lazy (or too busy) nice and easy Goron that's the way to not confuse the issue.
Shaun
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Ihave just had these cards done by vista print.
I give a few to each customer. They right their details on the back and give to a friend they cet me to do the work and give me the card, i give them 5 quid off and send £5 note to the name and address on the back of the card!
Simple
Only just started it so can't give feedback on it yet
Cheers Goron
and just up your prices by £10 :P
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or 20 ;)
I have a referrals scheme, my 2nd attempt at it tbh.. not too successful, like Shaiun says you need to be onthe case all the time, nudging people.
Over the next few months I'm going to make a concerted effort to keep mailing all the customers involved but if it doesn't work out I'll drop it. Before I started doing this around 20% of my business was coming from un-prompted referrals anyway. I just thought it'd be an idea to see if I could up that.
I don't know about anyone else but my stats show that the average job ticket from a referral is higher than anything else, even old customers.
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Keys Left eh , thought it was the norm for long time regs, just checked and ive 19 custys that leave keys in SPECIAL places , 5 have given alarm codes .
Mind you the Gdad has cleaned for these folks for 12 years + B4 I took over .
Got 4 custys that phone just B4 they go on hols and say Clean what you think needs cleaning !!
3 Leave SIGNED blank Cheques !!
This was as much as a shock to me as will be to you s but the Gdad has been trusted so much, recon cause he never OVER charged , mind you he not needed the £ for 15 years.
Ken you live up the road from me wouldn mind a chat 07932 706390 Ricky
R.T
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I think theres a bit of a myth among new starts that think do a good job and your be able to stop advertising after 3 years, if only.
Often customers will recommend you to friends BUT them friends dont actually call you.
I've done countless jobs where the customers over the moon, referals? none. (as far as i know)
Repeats are what I have built up to a useful point, recomends are ALOT less common.
Craig
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Forgot, referals ;D Like others tried a discount system years ago, was a headache, dropped it. Leave extra cards for customers to pass on, nieghbour nouger works better.
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Hi Craig,
around 60% off my biz is reco but the biz has been going bout 30 years but kept small and domestic only other than 2 jobs done once a year, however the price has always been low.
Had custys sayin is that enough ? are you sure ? even get tips off some folks !
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Hi Craig,
around 60% off my biz is reco but the biz has been going bout 30 years but kept small and domestic only other than 2 jobs done once a year, however the price has always been low.
Had custys sayin is that enough ? are you sure ? even get tips off some folks !
Ricky,
If you drop the charge altogether you'll be busy forever and never have to advertise ::)
steve
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Dear Jim, (grovel grovel)
Any chance of a look at your referal system?
shaun_ashmore@lineone.net
Thanks
Shaun
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you will have no chance Shaun then his cover blown ;D ;D ;D ;D :D ;)
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Post it then
address on my website
Shaun
PS I don't care who he or even she is (Jim etta :D) good info is just that, do you know who I am? you'd have to bow if you did!
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you will have no chance Shaun then his cover blown ;D ;D ;D ;D :D ;)
Talking about cover being blown, who is Grant Millar ;)
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Lost on me that one.
Shaun
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It is the owner of James123 website ???
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I don't know who Jim is, but if he had a shave he'd look ten years younger.
With this referral thing, I find it far more productive to develop businesses, local charities/churches and individuals in positions of influence. Just one of these can give you a major return, but needs more work upfront.
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mike
are you saying if you go to a church and ask the vicar to push your business to his flock, you'll give him a fiver per job. sounds good to me and lets face it, cleanliness is next to godliness.
derek
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How many leaflets did you get out Derek? Presume you had those ugly ones printed, with a bit of luck the pink print came off onto the hallway carpets thus creating you loads of work :)
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Derek, we really need a special smiley for your brand of wit.
I'm sure if you slip the Vicar one he will help you out too.
Find out where your Clients congregate, and you will find new ones there. ;)
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I'm sure if you slip the Vicar one he will help you out too.
:o
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Problem is how many people go to church now, they only turn up for Songs Of Praise to get on the tele. If you hang around Scout huts or the Girl Guides you are likely to get arrested.
Looks like the best place and where modern Britain congregates and prays is Tesco. If you have the bottle how about setting up in a Tescos car park with some old carpet and gaining customers that way?
Just get one of those Gazebo thins from B&Q and you are away, millions of customers every hour, be even better if you could over Tesco Club Points, you would not believe what my girlfriend will do for 50 extra points on her card.
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Hang on. I don't mean join the congregation or anything like that. Unless of course you like that sort of thing.
I don't think they would have me anyway. ;D
You can't beat doing free stuff for a local charity that you and your clients have some affinity to. Some of my best work has come from this method and everybody wins.
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I told my girlfriend that I was going to join a dating agency, it would be a good way of meeting new people and therefore get new customers.
She said no :(
I was only going to do it for her, just cannot please some people.
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Develop your 'REFERABILITY'
Dan Sullivan says you need these 4 rerferability habits
1 Show up on time.
2 Do what you say.
3 Finish what you start.
4 Say please and thank you.
simple eh! ;D
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SEO on a site that does not exist ???
Try again ::)