[Mike Bosch]

Hi everyone,
First-timer here, so please be gentle! Here's my question:

If you've landed a job from a lead you purchased online, did you ever receive referrals from that lead sometime in the future? For example, the "online" customer told a friend about the great work and the friend decides to hire you. If so, how was your contact with the friend made?

It seems to me that once you make a customer from an online prospect, the natural way that customer would refer a friend is giving him your business card, phone number, email etc instead of sending the friend to the site where he found you. Does that make sense?

How about for repeat business? I think that instead of wondering "Hmmm... what website did I find that awesome roofing contractor on?", I would be more likely to just find the card you gave me and give you a call.

What do you think your customers' behavior might be, what would they prefer and what would YOU prefer?

 

[silvertree]

yes, it happens.

 

[silvertree]

yes, it happens.
And welcome.

 

[DecksEtc]

Not really sure what the point of your questions are.

Referrals from previous customers should come if you do a good job. Where the original lead came from would seem to be irrelevent to me.

 

[Mike Bosch]

Ha ha. You're right. Re-reading my question seems like it doesn't really ask anything. Let me explain why I'm asking and perhaps that will justify the context of my question.

I've been considering the usefulness of having consumers be able to refer contractors to their friends electronically. By this I mean that after I've hired you from a website, I would keep you on my "favorites" list. Then, sometime in the future, if my friend needs the same type of work, what would I do?

Would I (a) find the card or phone number you gave me when you came over or (b) log in to the site I used to find you and click "Send to a Friend" from my "favorites" list. My thoughts are with (a) but I wanted your opinions on it since you know your customers best.

What I want to avoid is your potential customers exiting the site before submitting their info because they don't want to "sign up" for a new site (manage another username / password to remember etc).

Hmmm.. still a little convoluted I think. :sad: So... do you think your customers would do (a) or (b)