Discounts, Referrals, And Tips…
Steve,
Good afternoon. Thanks for the gift points and recommending SendOutCards. I’m normally very skeptical of MLM companies but this appears different and I can see definite benefits for our window washing company. We did a follow-up call to a lady concerning an estimate and she mentioned they got the card and it was “cute”.
Anyway we would like to send out more cards but obviously need to join. May we request your Sponser ID?
One other question. I was thinking of modifying one of your flyers and adding a coupon. I know you don’t tend to recommend companies in the beginning do so and I don’t want to make our service about price. I hear of many companies offering deals though. Not like deals such as “20 windows for $199″. Even though it may bring business I can see many problems. I had in mind offering a certain dollar amount off or referral discount since we tend to add a little extra into bid anyways. Good idea or should we just continue putting name out there “as is” and be patient?
We need more customers like the house I did yesterday. I was a little quicker this time around. I don’t want to be at customers house too long but she didn’t seem worried about time. I gave her a $286 estimate but she said that’s not enough, and gave me $350. She felt bad that she had let her windows go for 8 years since last cleaning, but said I did a better job by far than anyone in the past. She wants us back every 6 months. While I was there her sister-in-law stopped by and she told her about us and gave her our card. She asked for more cards to give to some her friends.
Take care.
Josh
My Reply:
Hi Josh,
It’s good to hear from you. I feel exactly the same way about mlm companies. Too many scam companies out there. But I’m a firm believer in greeting card sending, so Send Out Cards is the perfect fit for this. It’s hard to get excited about overpriced vitamins or soap, but I can definitely get excited about a product that’ll build my business. 
I can tell you this: If you get in the habit of sending greeting cards regularly to your customers, you will grow your business. Absolutely. And you will not only get direct business from your customers, but regular greeting card sending makes it much easier for you when it comes to follow up. If they don’t hear from you for a few months or a year and you call them out of the blue, you almost have to sell your service all over again. But if you keep the wheels greased so to speak throughout the year by sending a few cards to your customers, you don’t have to sell anything when you follow up. It just makes it easier for them to say “yeah, come on over and do our windows”.
And the other thing sending greeting cards does is lead to plenty of customer referrals. So overall it’s an excellent strategy to use if you want to grow your window cleaning business.
Sure…here’s the link to visit: http://www.sendoutcards.com/19402. If you have any questions about send out cards, please let me know. I use the service all the time. I send greeting cards to folks who purchase my window cleaning program and to folks who purchase my software program. So it’s a service I wholeheartedly believe in.
As far as coupons go, it’s definitely worth a test for sure. I don’t think you’ll hurt yourself by offering a $20 coupon for a referral or something similar. Actually what I would recommend you do is if you sign up for send out cards, you can send customers a nice thank you card along with a referral fee in the form of a $10 gift card to starbucks. Any idea how many referrals you’ll receive when word gets out that you do something like this? A lot. I mean how many other windows cleaners do this? Very few.
The only problem though with either the above or providing a direct referral fee/discount is tracking it. It could get a bit cumbersome tracking this. It may not be so bad now early on in your business, but once you start growing your business, it could get kind of overwhelming. But I would do it for now for sure.
Very cool on receiving $350 yesterday. Not bad getting a $64 discount. And doubly cool on securing her as a 6 month customer.
And that’s exactly how your business will grow. I’m referring to the sister in law. When you get out there and start working consistently, word of mouth will work in your favor big time. Plus people will be seeing your yard sign and you’ll just be getting so much exposure. It really works. It might take a little push to get it up off the ground, but once you got it rolling, get ready for some serious growth. I’m excited for you. That’s fantastic when you have happy customers and you have people asking for more of your business cards. Love it.
If I can help in any way, please let me know. Take care for now and have a great afternoon.
Regards,
Steve
Notes: Send out Cards recently made a change where folks can now sign up for free as a retail customer. Previously there was a fee to become a retail customer. So now no one has any excuses on not being able to incorporate regular card sending into the marketing mix. It’s the perfect way to grow your business the way it needs to be grown.
