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2 Tips to get more Repeat Business and Referrals

If you are like most builders, you are probably not that keen on finding new business and making sales. You like building, right?

Your best prospects for new sales are often associates, friends, and family of the people that have recently used your services.

Your prospects typically trust their friends and because your happy customer is raving about the service he has received from you, he is practically making your next sale for you.

Can you imagine what your building business would be like if you got as many top-notch clients specifically wanting to work with you and who would be prepared to pay a good price all without spending a cent on advertising or marketing?

Here is my prediction of what would happen:

• You would only work with clients of your choice. No more building for difficult clients.
• You would be able to pay your team more and attract “the best” tradespeople out there.
• You would get more leads and improve your conversion rate.

Here are my top (very low cost) ideas that will ensure you get more referrals and repeat business:

#1 Add More Value

When you have completed the renovation or building project, you can do a couple of things most builders don’t do very well.

They get the house or room professionally cleaned including the windows. Clients absolutely love this and always comment how delighted they are about that. This strategy will only cost a few hundred dollars, which is a small amount in comparison to the size of the project, and the rewards over time are huge.

Question: How much is a hot referral worth to your businesses?

When you know this figure, you will see how beneficial this strategy can be for you.

The builder then has a meeting with the client where they agree that the job is complete and the client signs off.

#2 Do Something Unexpected & Get Great Testimonials

When you have completed a project, the client is happy and has signed the job off, send a gift box by courier within 24 hours and a thank you card to your client. This box contains all sorts of yummy stuff you can’t buy at a supermarket. The cost is about $100.

At the same time send a questionnaire to the client by post.

This questionnaire asks the client for feedback and also reminds her of the things that were done that are not the norm.

For example ask: “Did we leave your house clean and tidy”? “Would you recommend us to your friends”?

Then ask for permission to use the replies for our marketing purposes and they always say “yes”.

As you can imagine the feedback is typically extremely positive and if there are areas that need attention the builder can address it right away and get even more bonus points for being pro-active.

Include a self-addressed envelope to make it really easy for the client to send the questionnaire back.

Once the questionnaire is received, send a quick thank you card with a couple of movie tickets to the clients. Also, include 2 fridge magnets and ask them to give them to a couple of friends who might need a builder sometime in the future.

The chances of anyone making a recommendation goes up hugely if the referrer has made a positive written comment about your business.

This method may seem quite complicated, but once you have done it a few times and have systemised it, it is easy, works like clockwork to get you more referral business and is very low cost compared to any other marketing.

Action Exercise:

How could you get clients and customers to positively recommend your business?