[derek west]

been reading the referal threads with interest, all have there place.
anyway, ive come up with this, see what ya think

clean a customers house. after the clean you tell them they can recieve a cheque back for 10% of the clean if they refer a friend (must be a payed job)within 1 month of the date of there clean, hand them a certificate stating this, pencil in the date and leave it at that.
sorry if someones allready written this idea in a thread and ive not read it.
anyway
thoughts please.
constructive critisysm is welcome, or better still, some tweaks on the idea as i'm definately gonna give it ago.
derek

[daysdeepclean]

Maybe the more cynical customer will think you inflate your prices to cover the 10%.

I still think that if you've genuinely made your customer satisfied and happy, they'll recommend you anyhow! We had an TV aerial fitted by a guy who came out on Christmas Eve and was thoroughly professional, courtious and reasonably priced. I waxed lyrical about him and his services to friends and I wouldn't expect a penny from him!

Good luck with it Derek, if it works then I'll be the first to follow in your foot steps!!!

[derek west]

i thought like you colin, do a crackin job and the work will flood in, everyone of my custys have said we'll deffo reco. and yes i get a few but no where near as many as i thought i would get.
they refer you but they don't push it, tempt them with a few quid and watch them turn into double glazing sales reps, thats the theory anyhoo.

i'll let ya know how it goes.

derek

[daysdeepclean]

You'll never know 'til you try! If you were offering me 10% of say, £60. I'd pop my roller boots on and start knocking on them doors like a Jehova's Witness mate!

You said something a while back about having a sales rep knocking door to door! I didn't think that was such a bad idea... If they were payed by commission 7% of the sale You save yourself 3%

[clinton]

You could even pay a rep lets say or a few weeks to go door knocking

It just takes time to build things up and as i was saying up to 8 years ago with y pages you would get at least 4 or 5 jobs aweek from it so the referals and repeats were far greater.

[Mike Halliday]

A  good door-knocker/salesmen will want to be earning at least £200 a day.

so if  you want to pay them 7% you need to doing £2300 of work a day :

if you want to give them 10% back and want them to believe you haven't just upped the price be honest tell them why you can give a referral reward.


something like this.......

"Mrs Smith like every successful business we have to advertise to attract new customers. Last years I spent £3700 on the yellow pages and advertising in the local Gazette. this worked out at £20 for every new customer we gained. I'm sure you'll agree this is money I'd prefer give to people like you than some big company like the Yellow Pages. so recommend  me to your friends and I'll give you that £20"

this might sound a bit waffley but when you are chatting over a cup of tea in the customers kitchen, it can be explained quite well.

this is like all referral payments or special offers.  if you tell them why you pay them money or give them a special offer they will believe it

[derek west]

good point mike, i'll use that.
does that mean your saying the idea has a chance?
derek

[Mike Halliday]

make it a self addressed postcard with  everything explained, then all they need to do is put their friends name & Tel number on it and stick it in a postbox.

or

a card with their name and date on, they give it to a freind. this freind  then they hands it to you when you've cleaned  their carpets, then you give this freind there own card for them to give to another friend........... and so it continues

[derek west]

like it like it,
what about multiples, i'm fine giving them 10% for every referal so if they refer 10 people theyve got there money back.

bit worried about £300 jobs refering £50 jobs though. i suppose its swings and roundabouts, and it should balance itsself out. can but try.
derek

[daysdeepclean]

Mike,

I was thinking more along the lines of getting a reliable student in the holidays for a week or even doing it yourself if you have the time... Not some tw*t in a next suit and nasty aftershave smarming custys into a corner! 

£200 a day Maybe on another planet :

[Mike Halliday]

18yrs ago I worked in direct sales the doorknockers were earning £600 a week and the good sales reps earned silly money ( I could give amounts but you wouldn't believe them)

if you want to employ a student that's OK, pay them £3 and a ham sandwich but don't expect them to bring in much work

doorknocking is a professional occupation (so is sales) why would any one work for you who pays peanuts when they could work for other companies and get paid real money

[derek west]

ive decided to extend the referal reward to 6 months rather than a month.

just think a month is to quick, if a friend wants there carpets done but aint got the money there and then, then i could lose a referal.
derek

[richy27]

As far as referal reward schemes i offer a £10 m &s voucher for each referal i think offering a perscentage off the clean may work too but in my opinion it will lead to probs if you go back in the future this way tou are still governing your price and not being driven down by those dreaded words thats more than last time.

Plus its simple i send a thankyou letter with a few referal cards so they can pass on to there freinds and family once they have written there name on the top as soon as have completed the clean at their referal i send the  voucher right away.

I also run a completely separate business and offering a percentage off never seemed to work people love a gift plus the M & S vouchers get sent in a nice card direct to them

ps i have one litle old lady has already racked up 6 she is saving for next XMAS

But this is just my opinion one works for some some dif ways work for others

[derek west]

lets hope M&S are still around next xmas for the old ladies sake
derek

[richy27]

its ok will resort to lidl vouchers lol

[derek west]

£5 lidl voucher!
that will feed a family of 5 for 3 months,
derek

[richy27]

they could even buy a lobster had one last weekend gave poops all week

[derek west]

richard
in responce to your earlier post, i'm not knocking a percentage off the price, the price is fixed and won't change next year. what i am doing is offering a percentage back (at a later date) if i get a referred job, so its pretty much the same as what your doing with the vouchers. and like mike says, as long as we explain what and why we can, then i can't see any problems. just need to knock up some referal cards so i can try it out on tuesday.
derek
derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I think it's too sales pitched and long winded.

IMO we are trying to fill our diary so you either need more customers or more work at the same house.

You could offer this when quoting

Have 3 carpets cleaned and in 6 months I will come back and clean the walkways for free, this will increase your average spend.

Or (as I keep harping on about a referal card system)

On one side offer £5 off cleaning for a friend and also £5 to the original customer in M&S or Aldi vouchers (no money passed on so they think that you haven't added it on the bill)

Referals can come in at funny times so putting an expiry date may work against you.

Shaun

[clinton]

Lobster!!