REFERRALS

How do you get to that one in many that is ready to buy?

Always a marketing problem. How do we shape our message and our media to reach that one person in the crowd that is ready to buy now? We can send out coupons in val-pak type mailings. Send out three thousand and hope for a 1% return? Not very economical nor efficient. Or have 1500 door hangers placed in “good” neighborhoods. Billboards? Radio? Newspaper ads? Using “Shot Gun” marketing approaches are rarely effective and very inefficient. Send to many……..hear from few.

Remember the sales pitch from the sales folka frm the lcoal paper, yellow pages and valpak type deals?   ” It may take a few times of doing this before it starts to pay off.” Pay off for whom? Is it really likely that the more times you run an ad the return on investment will increase? Maybe, and just maybe…. slightly but reality says not likely! The more you run this type of program the more money THEY make.

Now let’s look at referral marketing.

Wouldn’t it be great of you could have a full time sales force that is in the right place at the right time to offer your service to a buyer when the buyer is ready to buy?

Read that again and think about what that is saying. Very powerful stuff. So in reality what would that look like?

You are an HVAC contractor. MR. homeowner gets home from work and discovers that the furnace is not working. IT is 40 degrees f. in the house and he knows nothing about furnaces. He checks the breakers and switches and all appears normal. So what does he do next? Look for a coupon? check the newspaper for ads? check the front door for an ad on a door hanger? Of course not.

Most likely the first step people today will take is to go online. So your online presence is vitally important.  The other thing they will remember is that Steve at work mentioned something about a furnace problem and was really happy with the service they got!

He calls Steve and Steve tells him “Oh yeah these guys were great. On time, cleaned up, diagnosed and fixed the problem without running all over town for parts, and affordable too! Let me look here, I think they gave me a coupon for $25 bucks off of a service call for friends. Yeah here it is, just mention that I referred you and give them this code HVAC111 and they will give you the discount. We really like them a lot. Great service!”

” Wow”, says Mr. homeowner, “Steve just referred XYZ HVAC and I saw on their website that they had a lot of testimonials from satisfied clients all over town. Must be the go to guys for furnace problems.” So who does he call?

Your clients are your sale force and they are in the right place at the right time to tell a buyer that is ready to buy that you are the company to buy from. Seems too simple doesn’t it? Well, the concept is simple. But you need to lay the foundation for the concept to work.  More About That in A Future Post.

Most people love to give referrals because it makes them feel good. They are helping a friend and they are helping a business they like. Helping other people makes us feel good.

But you know that. That is why we all operate service businesses right? Right? :~)