How to grow your home service business by asking for referrals

If you want to grow your home service business, requesting referrals is a key practice to implement. Referrals are not only a cost-effective way to acquire new customers, but they also come with a higher level of trust and credibility, as they are often recommended by someone the potential customer already knows and trusts.

The importance of referrals for a home service business

Asking for referrals is an important part of growing a home service business. Referrals are a powerful form of marketing because they come from satisfied customers who have already had a positive experience with your business.

When a customer refers a friend or family member to your business, it carries weight, as the referral is a personal endorsement from someone they trust.

In addition, acquiring new customers through referrals is often more cost-effective than traditional forms of marketing.

It's a win-win situation as a satisfied customer will be more likely to refer their friends and family, and at the same time, the business gets a new customer that is already pre-qualified.

Referral marketing can also help to improve customer retention, as satisfied customers are more likely to continue doing business with you, as they trust you and have already had a positive experience.

Asking for referrals is an important part of growing a home service business. It helps to acquire new customers at a low cost, improve customer retention, and strengthen customer loyalty.

How to ask for referrals

As mentioned, asking for referrals is a critical part of growing a home service business. It can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the type of service provided, and the target audience. Here are a few tips on how home service businesses can ask for referrals:

• Provide excellent service: The key to getting referrals is to provide excellent service that exceeds customers' expectations. When customers are happy with the service they received, they are more likely to refer others.
• Ask directly: Sometimes, the simplest approach is the best. After a job is completed, ask the customer if they know of anyone who could benefit from your services.
• Use referral cards: Create referral cards that can be given to customers. It can be an easy way for them to refer friends and family, and at the same time, it can also serve as a reminder for them to refer your business to others.
• Offer incentives: Consider offering incentives for customers who refer new business. This could be in the form of discounts or other special offers.

• Make it easy for customers to refer: Make sure to have an easy referral process in place, include referral links on your website and provide customers with your business contact information.
• Follow up with referred customers: Make sure to follow up with referred customers and let them know that they were referred by a satisfied customer. This will make them more likely to become a customer themselves.
  

By following these tips, home service businesses can effectively ask for referrals, which can lead to new customers, improve customer retention and strengthen customer loyalty.

How to create a referral program as a home service business

Creating a referral program is a great way for home service businesses to grow their customer base and increase revenue. Here are some steps to help you create a referral program for your home service business:

Define the goal: Clearly define the goal of your referral program, for example, increase revenue, improve customer retention, or acquire new customers.

Identify your target audience: Identify your target audience. Who is most likely to refer others to your business?

Decide on incentives: Decide on the incentives you will offer to customers who refer others to your business. It can be discounts, a monetary reward, or a special offer.

Create a referral program: Create a referral program. This can be done manually or by using software. Make sure to include a referral link, and a referral form that customers can use to refer others to your business.

Promote the program: Promote the referral program to existing customers and make it easy for them to refer others to your business. You can use email, social media, or in-person promotions.

Track and measure: Track and measure the results of your referral program. Monitor the number of referrals, conversion rate and revenue generated from referrals.

Reward and recognize: Reward and recognize customers who refer new business to your home service business. It will help to show them that you appreciate their efforts and encourage them to refer more business.

By following these steps, you can create a referral program that will help your home service business to acquire new customers, improve customer retention, and increase revenue. Additionally, a referral program can have a positive effect on customer loyalty, as they can feel proud of referring a business that they trust and are satisfied with.

Home service request for referral script

Here is a script that can be used by a home cleaning company when asking for referrals:

"Hello [customer name], I hope you are having a great day. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for choosing our company to take care of your cleaning needs. We appreciate your business and are grateful for the opportunity to serve you.

We pride ourselves on providing excellent service and are always looking for ways to improve. One way we do this is by growing our customer base through referrals from satisfied customers like yourself.

If you know of anyone who could benefit from our services, please don't hesitate to pass along our contact information. As a token of our appreciation, we would like to offer you a [discount/special offer] for each referral you provide us with.

Once again, thank you for your business, and if you have any questions or need any further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're always happy to help.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to hearing from your referrals!"

It's important to mention that the script should be tailored to the company's specific tone and brand, and the discount or special offer mentioned should be something that is feasible for the company to offer, and motivating enough for the customer to refer others. It's also important to make sure the script is delivered in a friendly, sincere, and professional manner, and also give the customer an easy way to refer others like a referral card or an online form.

Ready to grow your home service business?

Follow these simple steps to create a referral program and get the word out to your customers. Make sure your CSR’s and technicians understand the referral program and promote it whenever they are finishing up a job. When they are collecting payment from a satisfied customer is a great time to ask for that referral and leave a link to your referral program on every invoice. Field Service Management software, such as Kickserv has professional invoice templates where you can include a link to your referral program.