Leveraging Customers for Leads
You’ve been littering town with your cheap flyers for weeks now, but what kind of return are you getting for your time? Sure, it doesn’t cost much to print or copy a few thousand of them and send your guys around dropping them off. Do you actually know the real cost of this practice?
I know when I send out a moneymailer ad to expect 10-30 calls. It only takes me 30 minutes including the phone call and time spent copywriting to get it setup. They handle the design side and it’s a reliable source of leads.
But I’m going to try something new this year. I’m going to enlist my 20 best clients in this idea. Midwinter is a pretty bleak and depressing time in the Northeast, but nurseries and florists always have great gifts available. For a few bucks
each, I can put together an attractive forced bulb arrangement and give them out as gifts. Each client will get a small clay pot (costs less than $1 at Ikea) with a daffodil or crocus or anything else about to pop out some blooms. Small gifts are great to give because they show you really appreciate their business. What other lawn guy is doing the same? And then, along with a little note saying thanks for the business, you tell them you’d like to give a similar arrangement to 5 of their friends. All they have to do is send back a form (or fax/email/hand deliver) with the names and addresses of where to send it to.
Unless they are complete hermits, they’ll have many friends to send your way. In your letter to your customer’s friends along with the $3 gift you say you are so and so’s landscaper and are giving this daffodil on behalf of them in appreciation for their great business over the years. Say what you want. This will get you many more qualified referrals than going door to door ever will. Of course, you can also repeat the trick with new customers. Or just send a little to gift to neighbors of existing clients letting them know you’re already taking care of the best looking lawn on the block and since you’re there weekly they’d be a fool not to hire you as well.
As always, leave a comment if you like or hate this idea.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:38 am
This business is very hard if you don’t ask for referrals, but relatively easy when you do. They may not happen immediately, but as you say… people know people and so eventually conversation will come up.
If you do a spectacular job with the project, it’ll come up even more because the homeowners will continuously get complimented on it — and who do they have to thank for it?
That’s right… You…
Leave them some extra business cards to give out.
Donna
Sacramento Landscape Design