Do you reward referrals?

[Ryan]

Just curious to know others might handle referrals? I am doing  $10.00 offf their next 60 min. massage and I just found out the other girl (MT) here rewards her clients with $5.00 off their next service.  I am wondering if I am giving too much or she not giving enough?Just curious to know what else others might be doing for referrals.  

 

[forgiven490]

I have a line on my intake form that says:"whom may I thank for your referral"  I then send the client a thank you card and offer $10 off. I think it's all up to you, $5 or $10, regardless it's nice to offer a discount for referrals.

 

[Eh-Lee]

I suppose the reward you offer would depend on how much you want the client who is being referred, as opposed to how much you need the money you are 'giving back' to the client making the referral.  If you REALLY wanted referrals, you might even offer more than $10 - after all, a referral could end up bringing you a new client for $50 a week for the next five years.  Trouble is, you never know ;-)I would say that, to put the decision on a firm business basis, work out how much extra you would make from someome who is referred (the profit on a session multiplied by the average number of sessions a referred person books), and decide what proportion of that extra you want to pass on to the referrer.  Some businesses use loss-leaders, to increase market share at the expense of profitability in the short-term - your business might be very small, and your most important driver might be to grow, rather than to make any money.  In this case, you might offer a free massage to anyone who refers someone who goes on to book more than one session.  Some businesses even pay people cash to refer other people.  It is all up to you, and how valuable referrals are to your business at this point.Just a few ideas.  I am thinking of offering a free session to someone who refers someone else who books for more than one session myself, to grow a little.

 

[pat z]

I was thinking of offering a coupon for 5-15 additional minutes for referrals.  Most of the time if I try to give my regular clients discounts they don't want them.    Everyone can use more time! I think that referrals should be rewarded.  It is nice to recognize the person for the referral.  Clients love to help out.

 

[DAMIAN]

Do you reward referrals?

BJB-LMP,I don't tell the referring client who came in, unless I get permission from the client that was referred.  I just explain that I reward clients for referrals and is it ok to state their name with the reward.  No one has ever said no.  Also, sometimes I reward referring clients with something different.  For example, recently my therapist and I shared some techniques.  We needed a "body" so I asked one of my clients that has done a lot of "talk" for my business.  I had her come in on a day between her regular appointments (verified with her that it was ok to discuss her history with my therapist).  She got a nice 2 hour massage from it.