Hi All,

I'm sure I'll find information on this topic after I post this......

Does anyone have a referral reward program for your clients? In the past, I built my business mostly on referrals, and now that I'm in a new town and starting over, I'm considering this idea of a means to encourage new clients to send there friends.

Any suggestions? If you have offered a referral program, did it work? Pros and Cons?

Thanks,
Liz

Hi Liz,

Referrals are the key to our success in this and most professions. It was over two years ago that I found out that my spa was spending about $35,000 per year on advertising/marketing with very little, IF ANY, return. I know that there had to be a better way and I set out on a mission to make our spa and especially my personal clientele grow by referrals.

The problem was that our referral programs are passive where we just hope that our clients enjoyed their experience enough so that they would tell others about us. Oh, and "IF" you happen to refer some one to me I'll give you $10 off on your next facial/appointment...or something like that.

Fortunately for me one of my best friends happened to be a top consultant/coach for businesses specifically looking to generate more referrals. He and I started working together on my spa and in just about a year and half from when we started my schedule had improved to the point where I've cut back to only 3 days at the spa and only see clients 2 of those days...OH and I raised my prices due to demand :-)

There was nothing like this in the spa industry and there are so many solo practitioners that need to have and know how to generate more referral business. So, if I could do it, any one can! We created a manual just for that purpose. It is so simple and it takes you step by step on how to start generating referrals today! And this thing is beautiful.

Bottom line, it has to do with managing your "database" and focusing your time and energy on the correct people that you know. The most important aspect is not to be passive about letting people know that you want and work by referrals. We have a ton of things that will get your clients, friends and family members to start bragging about you.

Here is one thing you can do right now! We give gourmet chocolate lip balms (http://www.chocolips.us/chocolips-store.html) to our clients when they leave the spa. The key is not so much the lip balm as it is the perceived value and what is attached to the lip balm. We have these little cards that are tied to the lip balms that say, "Here's Taking Care Of Your Lips, So You Can Tell Others About Us!" Little things like that, consistently, over a short period of time, really stand out and engage the client's brain to start looking for referrals to send you, me and anyone that applies these tools. SO COOL AND EASY!!! The problem is that it seems too easy and therefore people just put it off and say, "Well it can't be that easy!" I'm here to personally vouch and say, it really is. If you'd like more info on the Referral Manual just send an email to coaching@spaenrichmentgroup.com. You also get a free hour of coaching if you end up getting the manual.

Good luck!


Aleks V.

Aleks, When will your website be up?