Paying for referrals

D

data farm 26

Been here a while
Location
the raft
I'm starting up a new biz and strategizing in different ways. One idea I've had is to pay customers cash for any referrals that lead to work, or donate to charity in their name or credit towards their friends work. Is this weird?

When I started my first biz I used things like thumbtack, home advisor and google ads to get leads. That was a part of getting the initial momentum, but I'd rather give the cash to people in the community as opposed to these apps and GOOGLE! Thoughts?

I have some other more holistic things cooking up as far as getting new clients, but I want to give it a shot in the arm with some spending perhaps.
 
Instead of cash payment, I'd do discount off of invoices for reviews or following you social media (if you are going to use social media to market).

I'd pay for referrals from other home service providers...like the lawn mowers, realtors, even plumbers and electricians working on houses see trees that need managed.

I like the idea of contributing to a charity for customer referrals. Maybe list 3-4 local options and let them direct it where they want it to go...I'd do drastically different things like a pet shelter, city mission, and local youth sports for example. Or is there a local park where you can partner and plant trees...maybe 1 (small) tree for every 10 referrals, for example???
 
Great ideas! Thank you! Why no cash though? Is it sleazy or something? I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it myself. But I do like your ideas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ATH
data farm 26 said:
Great ideas! Thank you! Why no cash though? Is it sleazy or something? I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it myself. But I do like your ideas.
Click to expand...
Nothing "wrong" with cash for referrals. I'm just thinking if it is $xx off invoice (which I did when I thought I wanted followers on FB and it worked) vs here's $xx it's easier to manage. They'll subscribe/follow/comment as they are paying an invoice instead of trying to remember to do it later and now you need to stop back and catch them at home to give $xx. Also rewards paying customers instead of just any random referrals. Maybe offer the option and see which people prefer.
 
data farm 26 said:
Cash doesn't exist.
Click to expand...
Coming in that's, in theory, good. Going out that's bad.

I record everything because, among others:
1) my primary goal in doing taxes is not go to jail.
2) if I want to value the business accurately, it needs to be recorded
3) one day I may want to collect social security (not that I'm sure it will be there in 20 years, but anyhow....). Gotta pay now to play then.
 
Big truck signs, a basic website and stellar work makes for a lot of advertising.


Your local Nextdoor and local area Facebook groups can be great target marketing.


New areas take time to break into.

When people are stoked as we leave, thanking us for everthing, if I'm trying to get any new, quality, I'll say "Tell your friends, we will make them just as happy".
 
I agree, I have gotten tons of 'free' referrals in the past with the old biz and hopefully will in this new venture as well. But I was thinking offering some incentive would give folks some extra motivation to pass around the phone number.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ATH
I feel that desire to build some steam up fast, but a watched pot never boils. I am in a similar boat, trying to drum up new clients for a business that has never advertised in over 35 years. I was thinking about getting us on Angi and Thumbtack, but what I have seen from them so far seems to be a lot of tiny jobs. I understand not wanting to give big corpos the money, but I am curious if it how well you felt it worked before to get the ball rolling in the right direction? I know we are operating at opposite ends of the spectrum, but I can certainly extrapolate some info from your experiences.
 
I would be less hesitant to give dollars to those guys if I felt it would actually bear fruit. I spent some money on google adwords when I was slow a few years ago and I would have been better off to light the money on fire lol. Thumbtack was actually pretty good when I first started, it was like $3 to reach out to a prospective client. Now they charge up to $100 per lead and it's less quality (based on what I've seen in the last few weeks.)
 
data farm 26 said:
I would be less hesitant to give dollars to those guys if I felt it would actually bear fruit. I spent some money on google adwords when I was slow a few years ago and I would have been better off to light the money on fire lol. Thumbtack was actually pretty good when I first started, it was like $3 to reach out to a prospective client. Now they charge up to $100 per lead and it's less quality (based on what I've seen in the last few weeks.)
Click to expand...
That’s what I’m seeing over here too; leads that don’t seem worth it. You ever use Angi? Wondering if they’re any better?
 
I haven't used angi. afaik home advisor morphed into angi. The og homeadvisor was not a good one even back in the day so if it's anything similar I would avoid!
 
So, if these lead generation sites have been mostly shitty for you guys, I'm curious as to what specifically made it so? I'm gonna venture a guess and say that they almost exclusively get tire kickers looking for the lowest price, but expecting top level work? And mostly really small jobs anyway?
 
Matias said:
So, if these lead generation sites have been mostly shitty for you guys, I'm curious as to what specifically made it so? I'm gonna venture a guess and say that they almost exclusively get tire kickers looking for the lowest price, but expecting top level work? And mostly really small jobs anyway?
Click to expand...
I got a lot or removal referrals when specifying (multiple times) that we didn't want those. Took 10-15 of calls every time to get it credited back.

Then, yes, tire kickers.

But the worst was when I'd get a referral, call right away and they'd act like it was a spam call. Me: "Hi, you submitted a request for a quote through Home Advisor. I'd be happy to schedule a time to look at your tree with you.". "Oh, no, I didn't think that's what it was... I don't want anyone coming out". They wouldn't credit those back. So I dropped them.

Angi kinda advertises like service providers can quote over the phone. (How often do you get the call "how much to prune a tree?"....that's all of the referrals)

As I think back, there was one on going client I got from HA. Probably 8 years worth of service. It was hard to get them to pay in 2024. Then they never paid last year...I didn't send them a reminder, but they called so I figured we'd try again. They didn't call this year. If they did I suppose I would have helped if they paid 2025 invoice and prepaid 2026. Not necessarily HA/Angi fault...but maybe reflective of the clientele???
 
Plus, I'm already scheduled at least 2 months out from people who know they want us doing their work. I don't have time for tire kickers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom