Referral Program, One Step Closer

Mike Finley

We're one step closer on the way to getting our official referral program underway.

The basic idea is to see if we can stimulate more of our customers to be proactive in referring us to their friends, neighbors and relatives through the use of an official referral coupon. I got the roughs for the referral coupons today and attached them for you to see.

Basically at the end of a job along with the other things we leave the customer, they will get a couple of these coupons and an explanation of how it works. If they choose they can pass along a coupon to somebody that will save them up to $500, and they get a $100 gas card for being nice. So the idea is they get a reward and they look like a good guy by giving their friend a discount. There is a place on the coupon for the giver to sign their name and the discount is $250 on a project over $5000.00 or $500 on a project over $10,000. I had the designer put a serial number at the top of the coupons to make them look more official.

I'll start tracking the results and see if our referrals go up as a result of this. Hopefully they will. It will be interesting to see how people react to it, if they do at all.

Grumpy

I don't like the "Word of mouth is our best form of advertising. By our previous customers referring us to you we are able to save on our advertising costs and can pass these savings along to you in the form of this special referral coupon and discount. "

Also I printed that out, and though I know this is a low res image, I'd change that font. It is hard to read. Perhaps white. I know we talked about colors before, and you said you choose them for the reason of invoking an emotional response, but it's just plain hard to read IMO.

Was there a difference between each coupon, or are you going to provide multiple coupons to each customer?


Edit: removed question about serial number after re-reading your post.

RobertCDF

Wow Mike, I like that idea alot better than just stuff written on a biz card. Way to go on picking a gas card too, I think that is something that everyone is real worried about right now. And will give some incentive to push thier neighbors a little harder to give you a call.

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Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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Grumpy

Mike what will you do if a customer calls you and says... "You did my upstairs bathroom, and I have this letter here saying you will give me $100 if I give this $500 coupon to one of my neighbor's. Is that right? Well I want you to do my downstairs bathroom too, but I want the $600 discount."

I suppose that you've nothing to lose by giving him the $600 discount. Since if he did refer you to someone you'd be out the $600 anyways. Do you generally have 5% in all your contracts for negotiation?

jmic

I know I'm getting old and my eyesight is failing me so I put my glasses on and it still looks to me like Referral is spelled wrong. Anyways hopefully people will see past the fact that it's a gimmick and one way or another they're gonna be paying for that discount in thier job some how or another. Just my thoughts.

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Joe

Mike Finley

What would you suggest? This is still a rough draft so I'm open to suggestions.

The coupons are just printed 2 to a page is all is why you see 2 of them.

Well, the simple answer is we would probably just pass on doing the job if they were looking like they were going to be nothing but trouble. On the other hand I would have no problem cutting a repeat customer some sort of deal as long as it was win/win. We don't carry a percentage in our quotes for negotiation. For a longer answer I'll post in the hard hat zone.

dougchips

Mike, I am in the process getting approved to offer in home financing. The company that I am dealing with has a big issue with "gift" and referral bonus'. Have you had any problems yet?

Mike Finley

I'm not really undestanding what you mean, can you elaborate a bit?

Grumpy

I don't know, as I was posting I was trying to think of a suggestion... I suppose it's better than nothing I really don't know. I just know from a consumer point of view that means nothing to me.

Chris G

I would skip the discount to the future customer, I don't think people will believe you aren't just going to mark up the job to cover it. Not your intention to do that I know, but that's what people will believe.

And offer some other options to the $100 gas card. Make it a "your choice of" sort of thing. $100 HD gift certificate. 10 movie passes. Day at the spa. Use these gift certificates to elevate your brand perception. For example giving away a afteroon at a top notch spa in your area will set you so far apart form anyone else in your area. It also shows you understand ALL the parties involved in a reno, and your understanding of customer needs and wants extends beyond just swinging a hammer.

And it will get you talked about.

Grumpy

Instead of a spa, how about a free hotel stay for 3 days at some nice hotel in the area which has a pool and in house spa and other nice facilities. This way they can use that hotel while you are doing your demo work.

Just a thought.

UnitedMA

Great idea! We do gift cards for customers who refer business to us. Over half of our business comes from repeat customers or referrals, so it really does help! Great job with the coupons