Good or Bad Marketing?

[JamieChallenger]

I am going to send an email to all my past and current clients to ask them to tell people about how i helped them.

Word of mouth is said to be the best form of advertising.

I am going to call it some sort of an affiliate programme and say i will pay £50 for every confirmed booking passed on by them.

I am not sure how to word it and i am not sure if this will make me look despirate for work! Thoughts please.

Any advice on the matter would be welcome. above all i want to remain profesional.

Thanks

Jamie

 

[debbidoo]

Call it a customer reward scheme and give it a name. The letter is announcing the "launch" so as long as you use "we're excited about our launch" language rather than "I'm desperate for work" language, you won't look desperate.

Customer loyalty schemes are pretty commonplace, especially in the service industry, so I don't think it will look desperate at all

Make sure you're explicit about the terms and conditions, though. You don't want to pay out a load of £50s when the referrals don't convert into paid invoices. So something like "if you refer someone and they place an order and pay the invoice, you get £50". Otherwise you might end up with a load of dummy referrals that cost you a fortune and come to nothing

Hope this helps

Debs

 

[JamieChallenger]

Thanks Debbidoo,

I like the sound of that.

I think the terms will be clear when the client pays i will relese the mone. but i know what you mean.

Actually i could pay when i receive a booking deposit. that might be more of an incentive.

 

[Hogrill]

Instead of offering money could you offer an hours training or some advice which would normally cost them more than £50 but probably cost you a lot less.

The thing about cash apart from the accounting side is its got to come from somewhere either through less profit or passing the cost on to the customer and then maybe making you uncompetitive.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Instead of offering money could you offer an hours training or some advice which would normally cost them more than £50 but probably cost you a lot less.

Or you could hold a special training session for your clients and let them attend free if they bring someone along.

(you won't get paid, but you get a chance to showcase your training)

Steve

 

[JamieChallenger]

Interesting.

I just wonder about how big an incentive it is to say:

"an hours free training or 1 free place on your next course" (this may be in a couple of years time for some of them)

I dont mind if the admin is more than usual. I have done sales before and its all about "can i be bothered"

Does that make sense?

 

[Hogrill]

I'm not against the cash option but the appeal of this can also be impacted by who your customers are.

If you deal a lot with councils, government bodies and large corporations they can have rules forbidding people accepting incentives.

Also may be worth timing the offer if possible with information on a new course due to legislation just introduced. This gives the existing clients something to consider attending even if the incentive isn't of interest.

 

[mikelaluz]

Hi Jamie

Just slightly off topic. As you are clearly an expert in your field I think you could add a number of prospects by offering A Free Report in exchange for email details. Alot of free reports can be worthless but in your line their perceived value could be quite high.

If you link this to an autoresponder you can then send details of courses etc at set intervals after the initial download.

Regards
Mike

 

[JamieChallenger]

I am not 100% sure of what you mean.

Report?

 

[capsule01]

I would recommend offering a free services rather than giving away money.

If you have a good relationship with you clients you could ask them each to send your details or some form of marketing literature to 5 people they know who could benefit from your service.

the way in with this could be:

1. ask existing clients if they are happy with your service
2. if yes why? if no why not?...
3. then ask if they know X number of people that could also benefit in the same way they have from your services.
4. then ask them to submit their details onto a simple web form, or manually to you...

done.

 

[JamieChallenger]

sounds good capsule01

but will people do it with no incentive.

People are so busy!

 

[mikelaluz]

Hi Jamie

By report I meant a definitive guide. E.G. 'Everything You Need To Know About Fire Safetey' for HR Managers' or something you know they would want to download.

Regards

Mike

 

[JamieChallenger]

I see yes that makes sense.

Somthing that is related to my service in some way. Thanks mikeluz.

I do think that would sound better and would be better for me...

 

[youbetcha1018]

Sounds great. I think it will work. Thanks.

 

[capsule01]

sounds good capsule01

but will people do it with no incentive.

People are so busy!

People are busy true, so make it quick and easy for them. Tell them you have made it easy for them.

maybe try my approach on 50 clients, if it doesn't work, then try the incentive route.

I would much rather be told about a good service from a peer because its good, rather then because of an incentive.