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So, how do you promote/encourage referrals?
Cash reward?
Thank-you gift?
Free hour or two on next job?
Percent discount on next job?
X amount off of next job?
How do you ask/prompt for referrals?
Put a referral statement on your invoices?
Put it on your business cards?
” ” yellowpages?
” ” display ads?
Tell your current customer? Everyday or at invoice time?
Just some thoughts to help get the ball rollng.
Pi
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I'm just curious what everyone has found to be the best source of lead generation other than word of mouth.
I've abandoned my phone book ad, and I'm considering advertising on a local radio station catering to a senior audience. Does anyone have experience with this or is there a better place to spend my dollar.
*The removal of lead from paint is a misguided attempt to assure that the generation known as X would be the last lead generation. What these regulators have failed to recognize is that the problem is lead in pencils. Grade school children, who have small hands, are given huge pencils as somebody's idea of a joke. Not only are these pencils too big, they lack erasers, so that these kids cannot even afford to make a single mistake without the risk of academic failure. But the lack of erasers is a far greater problem, because these kids will chew on the blunt end of the pencil, which lacking the protection of an eraser, will cause lead poisioning and permanent brain damage.
*Perhaps Toolbear could shed some light on this subject. While he does not exactly generate lead, (years of effort by numerous alchemist failed to turn lead into gold) he does liberiate it from boat bottoms in the form of paint dust. Babe you didn't personaly experience these eraserless pencils did you?Joe
*Ryan,When I first started out, I was kept pretty busy by just four houses in one block (with an occasional job elsewhere) for most of four years. But that started to slow up, and I put an ad in the paper for a while (directory of services in the classifieds). That generated a LOT of phone calls and a couple of jobs. Then, finally, after five years, I suddenly have people calling saying that they were referred by one of those first four customers. Don't know how helpful any of that is...FWIWRich Beckman
*The best place to spend your marketing dollar is on past customers, let them know you are still around, with a letter or a phone call. Also let them know the range of your services, you would be surprised at the number of people you did a deck for that think that's all you do and contact someone else for that kitchen remodel.Get a referral program going that encourages past customers to get your name out. The cheapest lead is one that comes from a past customer, that lead is already half sold on you from what they have heard. It is preferrable to work on referral leads first, before going to media ads where leads are usually of poorer quality and cost more.
*So, how do you promote/encourage referrals? Cash reward? Thank-you gift? Free hour or two on next job? Percent discount on next job? X amount off of next job?How do you ask/prompt for referrals? Put a referral statement on your invoices? Put it on your business cards? " " yellowpages? " " display ads? Tell your current customer? Everyday or at invoice time?Just some thoughts to help get the ball rollng.Pi
*PiRemodel - one thing I do is ask for a letter at the end of most jobs. I put the letter in my portfollio with the pictures of that job. When I sit down with a new customer and we leaf through the portfollio, they see the letters interspersed. Lots of folks stop and read them. It's amazing how many folks write exactly what you would hope for, "...good listener, craftsman, honest, pleasure to work with..."The other thing about getting a letter is it gives the job a punctuation mark, for you and the customer. You are saying, "I am done. What do you think?" It almost forces them to reflect on the overall quality of your work and service, and gives them the chance to voice any small disappointments - or forget them. This second point is off topic for this thread, but it came to mind. - jb
*This disscussion seems to be about two subjects,lead poisoning and lead generating as in getting customer leads from advertising. As to lead poisoning, when I was a kid during the depression some cigarettes came wrapped in lead foil, we kids saved this stuff played with it, chewed it etc., also they had toy soldiers made of lead which kids played with and chewed on, also they had lead BBs and we would use our mouth for an ammo pouch. I had worlds of contact with this stuff and had no brain damage (I hope)Nowadays government wackoes have everyone running scared about rooms that were painted years ago with lead paint which was about all they had and which we all lived with(of course we didn't chew on the walls back then.)I wonder if some who say their brain damage is caused from lead would still be brain damaged if lead never existed.
*Well, as to the lead generation (referrrals) if I told you I'd have to kill you, and since I like you guys and gals, I'm not going to tell you. But I did find that going to JLC's CBTC about two years ago and attending some of the marketing seminars really started me thinking on this. And then I bought a copy of "Guerilla Marketing" by Levinson , and that set the old coffee grinder milling again. (It's hard to think because I used to be brilliant before suffering from lead poisoning from sanding sailboats in my misbegotten yute).A three fold brochure.A distinctive logo.save your money-forget the yellow pages.Welcome Wagon was great when it was a local person and they were introducing me to local homeowners--now they suck big time and they're a bigger waste than Jello Pages.A list of references, personalized on your wordprocessor.A presentation book.Absolutely have to call back and go to the customer and follow thru, because you never know when the small job will turn in to the big one.and the giant killer: Develop a relationship with the person or organization that sees your potential customers on a regular basis---cause guess what , they're referring someone--it's just not you !As to the lead generation:Gee, Arrow !we're always the last ones to recognize our own symptoms, but just think how smart you'd 've been if you hadn't eaten that duck with the crunchy pellets in it !