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Do You Ask Customers for Referrals?


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Perhaps one of the best forms of marketing is old fashion word-of-mouth. When a customer comes in saying they were recommended by a friend or neighbor, our job is half done. The referral from another customer is sometimes more powerful than advertising. We make sure that we thank the person making the referral and send them a thank you card.

 

What we don’t do is ask existing customers for referral names or ask customers to send us new customers. Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel as long as we do our job right, provide world class customer service and create that memorable experience for our customers, this is all that is needed.

 

Does anyone actively ask customers for referrals or ask customers to talk to friends and neighbors about your shop? If so, how do approach a customer?

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

We offer free conventional oil change for every referral (or equivalent cost towards synthetic etc.). I have one customer who in three years has never paid for an oil change. Has been worth its weight in (black) gold for us! We have a great rapport with our customers and a rep as an honest shop with great prices. We do not do any advertising. The joke around here is we could never imagine what we do if we did advertise. We have more than we can handle most weeks and its all word of mouth. A counter guy at a local Auto Zone is a customer and here refers their customers here regularly as does a customer we have who works at Advance Auto.

Most times - networking doesn't cost a thing and if you have someone referring to you that is someone who is trusted and well liked - it just adds weight to their recommendation.

We have several instances where an entire extended family comes here and they just keep spreading the news! Also, have all the neighbors on one particular local street who all come here for work. Its pretty funny on a Saturday morning when they all show up for oil changes, etc. and it's like a block party in the office.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I made referral cards and put the customers name on the back of them. New customers get $20 off first visit and customer who referred them gets $20 off their next visit. Its been working pretty good so far.

I was wondering, do you actually require the cards be presented, or do you let it slide if a customer comes in without the card, but mentions it?

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I made referral cards and put the customers name on the back of them. New customers get $20 off first visit and customer who referred them gets $20 off their next visit. Its been working pretty good so far.

 

I was wondering, do you actually require the cards be presented, or do you let it slide if a customer comes in without the card, but mentions it?

Definitely let it slide IMO! What if the customer took a card but referred more then 1 person?

This is a good thing, not something to be strict about.

Maybe you could even say "We usually want the card to be presented, but we'll give you the discount anyways." You just keep looking better and better to the new customer.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         1 comment
      Have I got your attention? Great.
      Let me start by saying that I believe in giving praise when deserved and letting employees know when they dropped the ball. However, the truth is that no one enjoys being reprimanded or told they messed up.  
      The question is, what is the appropriate balance between the right amount of praise and the right amount of critical feedback? According to studies done by Harvard Business School, the ratio of praise to critical feedback should be about 6:1 – Six praises for every critical feedback. I am not sure if I agree with that.
      From personal experience, I would recommend a lot more praise. The exact ratio doesn’t matter. What’s important is that before you consider giving critical feedback, ensure you have given that employee a lot of recent praise. If not, whatever you are trying to get through to an employee, will fall on deaf ears.
      When you do have to give critical feedback, remember a few things:
      Focus on the issue or behavior; never attack the person, and remain calm in your actions and words Ask the employee for feedback, their side of the story Speak to the employee in private Address the issue soon after it happens; never wait Don’t rely on second-hand information; it’s always better if you have experienced the situation yourself that you want to correct Have an open discussion and find things that both of you can agree upon Have an action plan moving forward that the employee can take ownership of Use the experience as a learning tool Make sure you bring up positive attributes about them Remember, you don’t want the employee to be angry or upset with you; you want them to reflect on the situation and what can be improved. One last thing. Everyone makes mistakes. We need to be mindful of this.
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