What is your Referral Program?

[Daphne]

This new search tool really gets the better of me. I know people have described their referral programs before in other posts. But can we do it again, or can someone refer me to old posts?

I have nixed the idea before, but now I am wondering if there is a referral program out there that would work for me.

Do you mind describing yours here?

Thanks to All!!

 

[gina68]

well, i've changed mine a couple of times but what i do now is i offer a $10 discount to the person who referred in a family member or a friend. sometimes i'll give $10 off to the person who came in as well but not always. i think it's a good idea to thank some one for sending you business, how you thank them is really up to you. i have a couple of people who have sent me clients but they themselves don't actually get massages from me. usually for them i'll get a $10 gift card to panera bread or starbucks as a thanks.

 

[prairiewife]

I found some threads that you may find useful.

http://www.massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3132&highlight=referral+rewards

http://www.massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1491&highlight=referral+rewards

http://www.massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1480&highlight=referral+rewards

http://www.massageplanet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1182&highlight=referral+rewards

 

[vance1167]

(Masthera, Thanks for finding those! What did you decide to do with your referral program? The added time?)

I want to come up with something for clients who make referrals as a thank you, and not necessarily a way for them to get free massages.

I am thinking of creating a "refer so many clients and receive a discount or something" for the stylists at the salon I rent space at.

But for clients, I think I want something different. Alot of the people who refer (or who have bought several GC for friends) are already on my maint. plan, so I really don't want to give free massages or more discounts to them.

To those that do give free massages or discounts as a reward, do you put a time limit on your offer? I can imagine that the stylists would just not find time to come in and then I'd owe all of them quite a few freebies.

I really want to create something that will work when I am booked several weeks out.

But sending a thank you seems boring after a while. With the first couple of thank you notes, I'd feel good on the receiving end but then I'd just feel like it's a formality and not particularly genuine.

Are there anymore programs or ideas out there?

Thanks!

 

[Your Next Ex Wife]

Anita,

Glad I could help you with the links.
With replacing a lot of the old links - I have gotten pretty good with the search function. 8)

I am still trying to work out something permanent. For now I just mail out a thank you postcard. I don't want a ton of referrals since I am trying to keep my business pretty small for now. A few here and there - are good, but I don't want to start up something and then have too much to handle. I want to wait till after I have an office not in my home.

The second link I posted in the other post - discussion with macalla - really made me re-think things.

But for clients, I think I want something different. Alot of the people who refer (or who have bought several GC for friends) are already on my maint. plan, so I really don't want to give free massages or more discounts to them.

Exactly my dilemma. My rates are low and I offer the MPs which 95% of my clients are on. So I don't want to cut myself short. It is not a regular discount since it is based off referrals, but it is still something on top of an already great offer.
Prices in the area overall have gone up - I was at the top of the scale at $65 an hour but now things have increased to $70-$75 per hour. I thought about a price increase, but I think that I will wait till I have more overhead with an out of home office and just let everyone benefit from "no rent" for now.

I still ask some clients (who have gotten me a lot of business referrals) if they would like to be my "body" for when I want to try out new techniques. I just explain to them that it will not be like their usual appointment, but that they will still get something out of it and I will have a "body" to practice on. Win - Win there.

I have looked into other things - like discounts on bulk gift certificates for movies or restaurants - but that is just too expensive for me right now.

I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

 

[Isha]

I'll have to check our referral program, sadly, it's not used very much. Gonna have to go over that! Hmmmm. Anyway, I believe it's 10% off to the referred and 20% off to the original client AFTER the referred has been in.

Steph!

 

[jeff1953]

Hi Anita,

In the past we have used a system where we gifted our top ten referrers with gift certificates for dinner for two at a nice restaurant in the area. You could do this on a schedule, depending on how many clients you have who refer, and how many people they refer. Maybe every six months you could figure out your ten.

Instead of the top ten, you could reward any client after they referr 5 new clients with a $50 dollar gift certificate to a nice restaurant. You can often talk a restaurant into a discount for buying gift certificates in bulk. They want new clients also.

Another idea that has worked is rewarding referrals with a gift certificate to a local movie theater. You can sometimes purchase movie tickets in bulk at a discount. You could probably send out a movie ticket for every referral. I know I would love to get that, since I go to the movies a lot.

If you can, think up gifts that are interesting, so that your clients end up telling people about the gift itself. If the gift takes them into the public, like the movie theater or a restaurant, there is a bigger chance that they will proudly say that they are using your gift.

I hope that helps!

P.S. There are a some more referral reward ideas on this page on my site. It is free info.
http://www.massage-marketing-tips.com/massage-referrals.html

 

[smilebeth24]

In the past we have used a system where we gifted our top ten referrers with gift certificates for dinner for two at a nice restaurant in the area. You could do this on a schedule, depending on how many clients you have who refer, and how many people they refer. Maybe every six months you could figure out your ten.

Yes, I think something along these lines. I do advertise in the local daily, I have a business sign out front, and I have a listing in the yellow pages. But referrals are another form of advertising and I want to create something more as a thank you for the advertising rather than "if you refer I'll give you something you want for free." I don't necessarily even want to mention a rewards program, but just give thank you gifts to my referring clients when they aren't really expecting it. I think if I do this quarterly it won't seem completely obvious, but it will be frequent enough for my clients to feel appreciated.

So now I can think of creative thank you gifts to give.

Thanks!

 

[WOOT65]

If you give such a generous gift to your clients, $50 for a restaurant, even if you get a discount for bulk purchases, cant you only claim $15 per person for a gift tax deduction?? Or am I thinking of something else??


Christine

 

[walksideways]

When we did that gift of $50 for our top ten referrers, we had lots of clients, and a pretty big business, and those ten contributed thousands of dollars each to our income. So we felt like it was worth doing at the time. We really did feel very grateful to this amazing group of people.

You are right Christine, we could not wright off the $50 from our taxes. I believe the maximum value you can wright off as a business gift is $25.

Anita. I understand better now. I think unexpected gifts are a great idea.

Are you crafty at all? Maybe some handmade aromatherapy bath salts would make nice gifts? Maybe you could barter massage with a crafty friend for gifts for your clients.

 

[Samantha Boyle]

another idea...

I share a new location with a few other MTs who are newer than I am, and I'm trying to find ways to help them build their businesses, as well as getting the word out about the new location in general.

Here's my idea: to have pre-printed, pre-stamped postcards at the front desk that we can ask our clients to take with them to mail to friends about our studio. Advaneforum.xxxes: it's already stamped (which is convenient, and it has worth -- not as likely to get thrown away?), clients won't feel like they're putting their friends on a telemarketing list by giving away addresses (which they're not likely to have with them anyway), and it gives the recipient a visual reminder -- maybe it will end up on their fridge. I would also have a place on the card for the MT's name and for the client's name so the recipient knows it came from their friend. It shouldn't cost too much, and is definitely more targeted than a blanket mailing to the ZIP code.

Has anyone else done this? Any thoughts?

 

[AhManDuh]

I LOVE the idea of trying out new techniques on referring clients at no charge. They get some good work for free and you get referrals, practice, and feedback. Can't go wrong there!

What I currently do is, for every new client that someone refers to me, the person who sent them to me gets 20 mins of extra time. They can save those 20 mins up and come in for a complimentary hour if they want. To redeem the single 20 min chunks, they have to let me know they'd like to do that when making the appt; that way I can budget the proper time. And I also give $5 off to the person they referred in.

The only problem is, I've had few takers. I have a few regular clients (some see me every couple months, others see me every couple weeks, and one sees me twice a week), so I know I'm not doing anything wrong, per se, because they keep coming back, but I haven't had many takers on the referral thing. They all know about it, as of their first appt. And that first appt is the only time I say anything, because I don't want to come off as a hard sell or as though I'm hard up for clients or anything. I'd just like to find out why this referral rewards program hasn't taken off as much as I thought. Maybe I simply need to wait longer for the real referral business to start coming in? I dunno. I've been in private practice for a year and a half.

Maybe I'll start with that new techniques thing...that really sounds like a winner!

Thanks for letting me ramble

 

[muhammad q]

I started a referral program this year; for every person a client refers (who books and comes in for their first appt) I give the client 10 mins of massage time. I made cards like you find in coffee shops so I just mark out a 10 min circle. They can bank it for use the additional increments. However, do you think that purchasing gift certificates should also count in this program? It is a paid referral I guess. I have some clients who are starting to buy several GCs. Should I just award the minutes for non-GC referred people?

 

[xenic]

What I currently do is, for every new client that someone refers to me, the person who sent them to me gets 20 mins of extra time. They can save those 20 mins up and come in for a complimentary hour if they want. To redeem the single 20 min chunks, they have to let me know they'd like to do that when making the appt; that way I can budget the proper time. And I also give $5 off to the person they referred in.

I give 30 minutes of extra time for every new client that someone refers to me and at times this has worked extremely well. I had one woman who sent me her sister, her aunt, and at least 4-5 other clients on top of that and several of them became regular clients.

 

[Pedy123]

What I do, is if a person refers me and that person comes in, I tell the person that refered me they'll get $5 off a massage. It's not a lot but, maybe somewhere down in the future, I'll raise it.
Happy Posting!

Heather

 

[SunniDays]

I have a couple...

"Frequent Rub Club", after 5 massages, their 6th is free (this is limited to an hour massage though, so if they have a 90 minute one, they just pay the difference and if all they get are 30 minute massages, well, they get a 30 minute massage free).

For clients that refer someone, the first client, 25% off, second, 50% and third is free (depending on the timeline, if they send me 3 new clients in a year, or even less time, then I will follow my "system").

I had also printed cards up for clients to pass out to people and it was like a coupon, where the new client would get $10 off their first session, and they would put the name of the referring client on the card and I would give them a credit for their next massage, but no one ever used them.

 

[Ichigo3343]

I am trying to figure out a referral program myself, BUT I just wanted to tell you this....

I'll never forget the time I referred a friend to my dentist, which was a VERY large office with lots of patients. Within 2 weeks, I received a hand-written letter thanking me from the dentist himself, with 2 tickets to the movie theater. I really appreciated how personal it was and I actually used the tix that week!

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hey runz....

Maybe your friend was a gold mine for the dentist. hee hee hee

I give $10 credit for every referal. But after reviewing this thread, I think I may mix it up a bit.

For Moms day, I am thinking of having a drawing for everyone who buys a gift certificate. Buy a 30 min, enter once, buy a 60 min, enter twice, buy a 90 min and enter 3 times. For the drawing, I could do a dinner and a movie thing, two tickets to the theater and $25 for whatever restaurant they would like.

I may even advertise this.....hmmm....

Christine

 

[Vincent]

Great Lakes,

That's an excellent idea for the drawing. If I had enough patients, I'd prob do it myself!!

 

[shaken & stirred]

YogaLMT:

I LOVE your postcard idea. Have you tried it out? It sounds like a great idea! You are marketing to a targeted audience for basically the price of poseforum.xxxe! You could even include some sort of coupon/discount.