A job you are working on is going wonderfully and the customer is thrilled. So now what? It is important to ensure that you cultivate that relationship and find ways to turn their satisfaction into referrals to grow your business with jobs for their friends, family, neighbors, and through online recommendations. But let’s be honest, sometimes asking for referrals is awkward! And the trend online is people are more willing to spend the time to complain when they are unhappy, yet not take the same time (or less) to provide a great business with a referral when it’s so well deserved. Therefore, spending some time focusing on getting referrals from your customers is crucial for the longevity of your business. It is good to always remind yourself and your team that trust is crucial when people are hiring for jobs at their homes or work places, and that customers will get the trust they need to hire you from hearing high quality referrals from previous customers.
Read below for 5 tips on capturing the best referrals:
1: Timing Is Everything
One of the biggest mistakes many business owners make is asking for a referral at the end of a project. At this stage your relationship with the customer has ended and they are mostly thinking about having to finish paying for the service. A more opportune time might be about 80% towards the end of the project. This timing allows the client to already be very pleased with your excellent work, but they still may feel they owe you that referral so you will finish as strong as you started. Read your client’s actions and find the best time to bring up the request for a referral when they have complemented a specific part of your work that they are excited about. Lead the request by mirroring back to them their own wording, (i.e. “I really love how you are always on time every morning to begin the work before the afternoon rain comes.” – “Thank you so much. We do pride ourselves on our punctuality. Do you think you would have a moment today to fill out this ________ so other customers will know that’s one of our strengths?”). Sometimes even omitting the word “referral” will make a customer feel like it’s not a big commitment to take a few moments to tell everyone how they feel about you.
2: Reach Out To Customers And Offer Incentives
With an average of 83% of people relying on the opinions of their family and friends to make purchasing decisions, this is a market you can’t forget about when you move on to the next job. However, if you didn’t have the opportunity to ask for a referral before the job ended consider reaching out and offering something later on such as a “Refer a Friend” discount on a second project to a previous customer who follows through on providing you with a written referral. Make sure to only offer the amount of discounts your business can manage.
3: Offer Multiple Options For Customers To Provide You With A Referral
Make it easy! While sending a quick email with your Google Business link is great for some referrals, not everyone wants to go through the process of signing on to some of the common referral websites (Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, YELP, Google My Business, Thumbtack, etc) with a username and password, or giving out some of their personal information just to give you a referral. This will turn some people away even if they loved your service and would likely recommend you. Take some time during your off-season to create and print a postcard (or form) that you keep on hand with you when you are on a job site so people can fill it out for you for when that perfect time to ask arises. Include pre-printed information and questions on the card/form so their referral information is related to your business and what you want them to write about. Always remember to offer to keep people’s names anonymous if they prefer, but you can suggest a good compromise would be to use their first name and last name initial (John C.) only. This gives validity to your referral and increases it’s value to a higher level for potential new customers instead of listing it as “anonymous” while also protecting the privacy of nervous clients. In addition, a final way to offer another option to capture a high quality referral is to ask the current customer if you may add their name and phone number to your private Referral List for future clients who still prefer to call previous clients for verbal referrals for jobs you have done on similar projects.
4: Referral Appreciation
If your customer refers your business to a friend, or writes you a great review on a social media or blog site, send a token of your appreciation. Depending upon how much of a referral process the customer provided, you can choose different levels of appreciation gifts. For a comment on a Facebook post you might just send an email saying thank you. However, you might send a gift card to a favorite local coffee shop if a customer calls their neighbor and says, “You must use this landscaper I just hired, they were amazing! Here is their phone number.” Remember to do these follow-ups as soon as you are aware of the referral.
5: Ask More Than Once
If you know that a customer is someone who would provide a high quality referral, don’t be afraid to ask more than once. If they say no in person you might have just caught them at a bad time. Follow up a few more times with an email, phone call, or postcard mailer asking for a referral. Remember to include your thanks when you are asking and to “humanize” the experience. You don’t want them to just remember that they loved the paver color they chose, but you want them to remember your name and to remember that your hard working employees make their living based on ensuring future clients and future projects. Make sure you include a sentence or two saying how appreciative you are that they are taking the time to do this for you, and how each referral helps support the work you and your team pride yourselves on.
Finally
Whether it’s marketing support, website audits, or design support, Central is the right partner for your business. Our highly experienced Marketing team has decades of experience to help you identify best-practices and implement initiatives that deliver results. We’re ready to help you grow!