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Getting referrals without running a referral scheme

Getting found 6 min read

Referrals are the work that arrives already trusting you, and paying for them usually ruins them. What to do instead, and what a recommendation runs into.

Somebody gave your name to a neighbor last month and you have no idea who it was. It is the best work you get, because it arrives already half sold and nobody haggles.

It is also the part of the business with nothing written down against it. So the usual advice appears, which is to run a referral scheme, and for a one-person trade that is often the wrong move.

What a referral costs the person making it

Nothing changes hands, but it is not free. The person recommending you is putting their own judgement in front of a neighbor, a sister, a guy at work. If you turn up late or the price moves, they hear about it at the next barbecue.

So instead of asking how to reward somebody for recommending you, ask how to make recommending you a safe thing to do.

Turn up when you said. Charge what you quoted. Answer the phone. A recommendation is a bet on your behavior, and the only way to get more of them is to be a safer bet.

Why a formal scheme goes wrong for one person

The scheme sounds tidy. Money off for the person who sends somebody, cards in the drawer, a note on the invoice.

Three things go wrong with it. It turns a favor into a transaction, and the moment there is money attached the recommendation stops sounding like an opinion and starts sounding like a sales pitch, which is exactly the quality you were trading on. It creates admin, because somebody has to track who sent whom and apply the credit, and that somebody is you at eleven at night. And it puts a price on something that people were doing anyway, which means you now pay for referrals you were getting for nothing.

There is a fourth, quieter one. Any scheme that pays for words has to be kept well away from your reviews, because the platforms have rules about incentives and the listing carrying the risk is yours.

You can still thank people, as long as the thank you comes after, unannounced, and is not the reason they did it.

Be describable in one sentence

A referral is one sentence said in a driveway. "Call the guy who did our roof, he is in Castle Rock, he was good."

If you cannot be summarized that way, the sentence does not get said. This is what goes wrong for owners who do six things. The neighbor asks who did the bathroom, and the answer that comes out is vague, and vague does not travel.

Pick the sentence you want people saying about you. A trade, an area, and one thing that is true. Then say it that way yourself, on the phone and on the van, until it is the version other people use.

Give them something to hand over

The referral happens when you are not there. It is a conversation over a fence, and at the end of it somebody has to produce a number.

Make that easy. A card in the kitchen drawer still works, because it can be photographed and sent in a text. Your name and number on the invoice they kept. A magnet on the fridge for anybody whose job involves a furnace or a breaker box.

The failure is ordinary and it is not the customer's fault. They meant to pass your details on and could not find them, and by the time they did the neighbor had rung somebody else.

The search that happens right after your name is passed

Assume your name gets typed into a phone within the hour. It nearly always does, even when the recommendation was warm.

What comes back decides whether the referral turns into a call. A listing with the right trade, the right area, hours that are true, and photographs of work you actually did will confirm what the neighbor said. Nothing at all, or an old listing with the wrong number, undoes it.

This is the one technical thing on the list, and it is worth an hour, because a referral goes through a search before it reaches your phone.

Ask once, out loud, at the end of a job that went well

You are allowed to ask. Most owners never do, and the reason is that asking feels like begging, which it is not.

One line, at the end, while you are packing up. "If anyone asks, I would appreciate the mention." That is the whole thing. No card pressed into a hand, no follow up text, no reminder next month.

Then, if somebody does send you work, tell them. A short message saying their neighbor called and you appreciated it costs nothing and is the only reward the arrangement needs. If you want to do more than that, do it later and do it unannounced, so it reads as thanks rather than payment.

Other trades are the biggest source and the least worked

The people best placed to recommend you are the ones already standing in the house. The electrician who finds a plumbing problem. The painter who sees rotten boards. The agent with a settlement in ten days and a list of things to fix.

Nothing formal is needed and nothing formal is wise. Send work to two or three people whose work you would put your own name to, before asking anything back. Tell the customer why you are sending them. Then, when one of them asks who you would use, you are the answer that comes to mind.

Be careful with who you attach yourself to. A trade you refer badly comes back on you exactly the way it comes back on the customer who recommended you.

What to check before you expect referrals to arrive

Run through this once. Most of it is an hour of your evening.

Questions people ask

Should I pay people for referrals?

You can, and for some arrangements between businesses it is normal and worth writing down. Between you and a domestic customer it usually costs you more than it earns, because it turns a favor into a transaction and puts admin on your evenings.

Is it rude to ask a customer for a referral?

Not if you ask once, at the end, and then leave it. It gets uncomfortable when it is repeated, or when it arrives by text a week later attached to an offer.

How do I know where my referrals are coming from?

Ask every new caller how they heard about you and write the answer down. It takes four seconds and it is the only data you will ever have on this.

What do I do with a referral I do not want?

Say so early and hand it to somebody who does want it. A fast, plain no protects the person who recommended you far better than a slow yes and a job you resent.

Do I need a website if all my work comes from word of mouth?

You need to be findable and confirmable. That can be a well kept listing on its own. A site earns its keep once people are asking questions before they call, or when you want to be found by people nobody sent.

How long does it take for referrals to start?

Longer than you would like, and it is not steady. Word of mouth builds behind you rather than in front of you, which is why it is worth having something else bringing work in while it does.

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