4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Has anyone started a referral program

by sblackburn
3 replies
Hi I was curious if anyone has implemented a referral program with either current clients or businesses that are great power partners for your services?

If you have I would love to know the following:

What % do you pay
Do you pay a % for ongoing monthly services or just up front
Do you use a tracking system or just track by adding the referrer to the account information
Do you use a formal agreement? And if so would you mind sharing a sample ?

Thanks in advance
#program #referral #started
  • Profile picture of the author ImDanHoward
    This is something that I have been thinking about starting...a Street team and then evolve it into pretty much a business for each of my contract employees.

    Pay them 25% if they set an appt and I close.

    and 10% of the ongoing billing of that client.

    Pay them 35% if they close a sale and bring a check

    and 15% of the ongoing billing of that client.


    Those are few thoughts that I have been thinking. They have an opportunity to build passive income, but they are finding you clients and building your passive income also.

    You would need to have a good training system in place to catch them up on the lingo and strategies that are used, so they know what they are talking about.
    Signature

    Helping you go ALL In, in life...so you can L.I.V.E ALL out! Catch your Dreams, don't just chase em'! Click here if you're ready for a New Life and New Dreams?

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5547297].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    We tell most of our clients that we will offer them a referral fee if the refer us business.

    Usually they just want to refer us more business anyways since they are so happy wit the results.

    But we sometimes offer $100 off their monthly service for each person they refer that signs up. Sometimes we offer them a free month for each new client. We have one business that hasn't paid a monthly fee in over 7 months, and we are way cool with that.

    We track it internally.
    Signature

    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5549097].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      One problem here is that you're thinking of A referral program.

      You should really have several because one referral system is not going to suit everyone.

      Here are 3 methods:


      1. Paying for referrals.

      The best people to pay for referrals are sales people who are already talking to business owners every day.

      That could be realtors who sell businesses and the many different sales reps who sell products and services to businesses.

      The great thing about these kinds of referrals is that the person doing the referring doesn't need to know anything about internet marketing.

      They can just tell the business owners they come into contact with about an "internet whiz who'd really great at bringing in real sales for businesses like theirs".

      Most members at offlinebiz.com are paying sales people like this around 10% to 20% of the first fee generated from a paying client.


      2. Free referrals.

      This is not talked about a lot but often the very best centers of influence do NOT want to receive any kind of payment for referrals.

      These are people of high credibility and integrity who are highly regarded by the people who know them.

      They will refer you because they believe your service has genuine value to the people they send to you.

      And that's more than enough for them.

      For these people (who could send you the majority of your best paying clients if you handle them well) you want to have some kind of referral system that makes it easy for them to refer people on to you.

      At offlinebiz.com we have the Offline Gold Client Flood system which includes a prewritten letter and email they can send and there's also a lead generating free report on internet marketing for business that you can supply to them for them to give away (either they can send people to a URL for a free download or they can give people a physical copy).

      Having some kind of paid consultation that they can give people as a free gift from them is also valuable because it makes them look good and establishes the value of your service.


      3. Ask all the business owners you talk to whether they hire you or not.

      There's one line you want to remember: "Where do you keep the names and addresses of all the people you know."

      In some cases they will sit there with you and go through their whole address book or mobile phone giving you referral after referral.

      It's obviously best if they call these people while you're there and recommend you, tell them they've twisted your arm into giving a consultation worth $500 as a gift or something along those lines.


      Always remember that your best paying clients will often come as refferals from another business owner and ask everyone you talk to who they know.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
      Signature
      Old School Copy Like This Is BACK & Converting Like Crazy!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5549461].message }}

Trending Topics