Contractor Marketing: How to Ask for (and get) Referrals

One of the most effective contractor marketing strategies is word of mouth marketing. This includes getting your customers to refer others to you. If you do a great job and have great customer service, then your past customers will be happy to refer their friends and family to your business. But how often do you actually see those referrals come in?

Probably not too often. That’s why it’s a great idea to focus on getting referrals in your contractor marketing strategy. And here are a few ways to ask for (and actually get) referrals.

1. Create an incentive program.

The first step to getting referrals is by doing a great job with your current customers and always offering incredible customer service. The second step is to offer some kind of incentive. Sure, people will want to refer you if they loved working with you, but offering something in return will increase the chances that they will send referrals your way.

There are many different types of incentives you can offer. Discounts off of future services are a great way to incentivize customers to refer people your way while also ensuring they’ll continue to be returning customers.

Cash incentives, or offering a percentage of what their referral pays, is another great incentive to get customers to send people your way.

2. Simply ask.

When you’re finishing up a project is the perfect time to ask a customer if they would refer you to their friends and family. Your service is fresh in their minds, and if they’re happy (only ask if you know they’re happy), they’ll have no problem referring your business.

Other ideas are to include an ask at the bottom of all emails, direct mail, or invoicing.

3. Thank customers who’ve sent referrals.

Pay attention when someone refers a new customer and send them a card or personalized email. This will make them feel special and be more likely to refer more people to you in the future.

Getting referrals to your business doesn’t have to be difficult. Do great work and treat your customers right and they’ll be happy to send referrals your way. All you have to do is put a program in place to ask for them consistently!