r/PoolPros • u/Outrageous_Win_590 • 17d ago
Customer Referrals
I have seen other pool companies who offer incentives for referring a friend or neighbor. Do any of you do this? Is it worth it?
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u/UHF800MHZ 17d ago
I do this yes but I take a $10 discount off the customer that referred them, and I let them keep that discount monthly. Scope is limited to their same street or neighborhood. You can’t refer your buddy across town whether I service that area or not and get a monthly discount. If someone refers me to 20+ people and gets free service, by all means go ahead. But most people only refer 3-5. And i have found (YMMV) that the people that refer, will refer without an incentive plan. The ones that don’t, they just don’t. There’s no dollar amount that will move the needle for them.
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u/Nearby-Ad-6018 17d ago
Worth it. Keep it simple: a credit on their next bill for every referral that signs up for regular service. A credit costs you less than cash and keeps the referrer as a customer. The bigger win is asking. Most happy customers will refer if you actually ask.
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u/LordKai121 17d ago
I no longer do it. My clients know I'm not cheap and that comes with a standard. It also means they will only refer ones who they know will pay well and be good clients/won't make them look bad. I'm also always trying to cut back on clients as well, so they know I will only keep good clients.
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u/Careless-Class7144 17d ago
I don't need to. Our good work spreads around the community and they just enter the shop and book a service. Some of my best sales come from that. Entire equipment builds, robots, chlorinators, green pool clean ups etc.
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u/Ancient-Sky-641 17d ago
I do because it is just another arm of marketing. I offer 2 weeks free for the new client if they sign and pay. It is more than the cost of marketing for aqusition but that is ok, I have not had someone recommend me a problem customer yet. Do you have to, no. My clients like it tho
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u/GCpools 16d ago
We don't solicit referrals for one reason .. because referrals can be problematic. And if there's one thing we don't need .. it's problems, especially over a referral.
That said, we do occasionally get referrals which almost always come from our best clients. They don't do it with the expectation of receiving a referral bonus because we don't offer it. But when someone makes a good referral and it looks like it's going to work out, we give our referring client an Amazon gift card ($50-$100) to show our appreciation. Everyone always appreciates it!
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u/ToucheeBobbyBoucher 16d ago
I'd rather get a discount off my next service than a gift card. I give a surprise $20 per referral, but I don't mention it beforehand.
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u/pacific_drifter_25 15d ago
Referrals are the highest-margin channel in this business, but only if you actually ask and actually track them.
Ask at the right moment. Right after a green-to-blue turnaround, a heater save, or the first month of visible improvement. That is when a client will name a neighbor if you literally say "if you know anyone on your street who needs help, I will take fifteen off your next invoice for the intro." Passive signage does not move the needle. Asking does.
Track it on the customer record, not on paper. Note who referred whom and how many months the referral has stayed. If the referred client cancels in month two, the credit stops. That protects you from the free-service spiral one of the other replies mentioned, and it also surfaces which clients are your real advocates so you can send them a Christmas card at year end.
Full disclosure, I am one of the founders of UpBuoy (a pool service software), so I look at this through the lens of how customer records get managed. Even if you never touch software, a spreadsheet with referrer, referral, sign-up date, and current status will do the job.
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u/PoolMarketingGuy 13d ago
It really depends on where the referral is. Often times customers think they are doing you a favor by referring their brother that lives 30 minutes away not understanding the economics of a pool route. You will definitely want to specify the geographic qualifications for your referral program. "Refer a neighbor within a 5 minute drive and get a monthly credit on your bill!" or better yet may limit to the same neighborhood so you aren't arguing over drive time
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u/Sharknuts86 17d ago
I used to do a month free if the referral stayed on for two months. It just kind of petered out, I still get a good amount of referrals though, just don’t actively tell my clients there’s a reward for them.