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- [00:01]
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All right, let's keep the wheels spinning here. This is part three of a five part special series designed to help you have the best season ever. So far this week, we've talked about charging the right price, making more from the customers you already have. Now let me ask you this. What if your next 10 customers didn't come from ads? It didn't come from door knocking, but came directly from people already paying you. Because if you're not leveraging referrals, you're leaving one of the easiest growth opportunities on the table.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Yardbook, the All in one CRM for your lawn care business. And as an exclusive partner of this podcast, you can get started today and begin simplifying your business and maximizing your profits. Sign up now@yardbook.com the link is in. The show notes Time now for Profits with Paycheck, an essential podcast for you in the green industry who are looking to unlock the full potential of your business business. Hosted by John Pajac, your certified financial coach, the show features in depth discussions with successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders and industry experts, providing practical advice and proven strategies on financial planning, operations, marketing and sales. Profits with Paycheck has valuable insights and action steps that you can implement today for creating long term success. Now here's John Pajak.
- [01:32]
A
Welcome back to Profits with Pajak, the podcast where we talk about business strategies and financial insights for the green industry. I'm your host, John Pajak, and if you've been following along this week, you're starting to see a pattern. Day one, we talked about pricing. Day two, we talked about increasing your average ticket. And today we're taking the next step. We're going to talk about how your current customers can actually help you grow your business. Now here's the reality. Most business owners say they want referrals, but they don't have a system for getting them. They hope it happens and they assume happy customers will talk. And then they wait. And sometimes it does happen, but it's inconsistent, it's unpredictable, and it's nowhere near its full potential. You see, referrals are not something you wait for. They're something you create. So let me show you what we do. You know, we have a simple referral program. If an existing client refers us to someone and that person signs up for our services, the referring client gets a $50 gift card. And then the new client also gets a bonus. Depending on what we're doing, they get to choose, you know, choose your own adventure. Maybe you get a gift card, maybe you get a free service. You know, we let them pick it so that they feel very rewarded. So now you've created a situation, a situation where the new customer feels like they're getting a good deal, the referring customer feels appreciated and rewarded, and your business gains a new client. It's a win, win, win. Now, let's break down why this is so effective. Number one, the trust is already built. Now, this is not a cold lead. This isn't someone who's skeptical of your services. They're coming in with confidence because someone they trust already uses you. Number two, you know, your close rate goes up. You're not convincing them from scratch. You're confirming what they already believe. And number three, you know, your cost to acquire that customer is more predictable. You're not guessing with ad spend. You know exactly what it costs to gain that customer. And, you know, be, trust me, when it comes to marketing, we got it. We kind of have a lot of things dialed in, but it could still have its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys. You know, sometimes we get a client, it only cost us 40 bucks. Sometimes we get a client, it cost us 112. You know, and if I could consistently say, hey, if. If you give us a referral, I'm going to give you $50. And then I get a bonus for the person that actually signs up. That's really predictable. It's very repeatable. Now, you think about how different this is from running ads. You know, with. With the ads, you're spending the money up front. You hope it works. You're gonna deal with tire kickers, but with referrals, you reward the results. You know, think of your client as like a mini salesperson. You know, they're speaking your praises. They're the ones going out there and be like, hey, you know, Jan, I. You know, I'm just so happy with the guy I've gotten, you know, taking care of my lawn. You know, I think you would be good with it, too. You know, I know you said you got a bunch of dandelions in the lawn or, you know, the guy that's cutting your lawn right now, he's not so dependable. You know, this guy's really on it. You know, he does a really nice job. And, you know, every time you come over for, you know, to come over for coffee or something, you're always complimenting on my lawn. And this is the guy I use, so maybe you should give him a call. You know, that's. That's the kind of thing, you know, it's they talk you up naturally. And the thing is, when you get that referral, because they talk you up, you know, you get warmer leads and you could build stronger relationships at the same time because you have a commonality. You could be like, oh, yeah, you know. You know Deborah, who's the one that referred you. Oh, yeah, you know, we've been taking care of her place for like, four years. And, you know, oh, I love her little dog, you know, Hammy. Hammy's so funny. And then, you know, it just. It naturally builds rapport. It talks about things. You know, we all know something about our clients that, you know, maybe you do, maybe you don't. I know most of my clients, and I could have relatable stories, so when they do refer them to me, it's just like, oh, hey, nice to meet you. Oh, yeah, we have a common. Common ground to stand on here. But, you know, here's what I've seen over time. You know, when you implement a referral system correctly, something interesting happens. Your customers start paying attention. They notice their lawnmower, and they notice their lawn mower. Man, that keeps sounding like more. More M O R E. But anyway, they, you know, if you mention that you have a referral system, you could be like, you know, you could earn $50, $50, gift cards, as many as you want. You know, if you. If somebody you refer. Starts to. Starts with us as a. In a program, you know, they. Then they start to talk about your service a little bit more, and they become advocates for your business, because now they've got a reason to. It's not just, hey, you make my lawn look good, and I'm happy about it now. It's like, ooh, there's some incentive there. You know, I've got a client that's been with us for a long time, and we used to just give her a free service for every person that would. She referred us to. After a very short amount of time, she already had a full season paid up. And she was starting to get into, like, the next season. And it was like she basically had two seasons on the docket already. And she. It was like, not as motivating for her. You know, she's like, well, I'll just refer somebody when, you know, in two years. You know, she was just kind of joking about. I said, you know, do you. What do you like better? Do you like Visa or Amazon gift cards better? And she was like, oh, wait, what's this? And she turned into one of our biggest advocates. You know, each year, I easily give her, you know, $200 worth of gift cards just because she refers people to us. And she's become one of my best salespersons. That's not actually on the on the payroll, but, you know, she does get quite a few gift cards. So the thing is, when you give your clients a reason to talk about you and a reason to even recommend you, it doesn't come from just wishing and hoping. It comes because you have a system in place. Back when I was getting my lawn care business off the ground, I was juggling routes, invoices and customer notes with paper and prayers. It was chaos. Until I found Yardbook. Yardbook gave me the structure. It helped me track chemicals, route efficiently, invoice faster, and most importantly, it helped me grow a profitable business. If you're tired of duct taping your systems Together, go to yardbook.com and sign up for free. And if you're ready to go premium, use promo code paycheck to get your first 30 days on me.
- [08:45]
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Are you mowing lawns, running crews, and still wondering where all the money went? You're not alone. Naylor Taliaferro of LCR Media has been there. And that's exactly why he created Profit Accelerator Live. Join Naylor and expert speakers John Pajak and Eric Triplett for two powerful days of hands on workshops designed specifically for lawn care and landscaping business owners in Richmond, Virginia, June 26th and 27th. This isn't a conference where you'll sit in the back and take notes. You'll leave with an actual business plan in hand, knowing exactly what to charge, how to manage your time, and how to attract better customers. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or fellow business owner or free. With our two for one special. Tickets are just $299, but right now you can bring a partner or fellow business owner free. With our 2 for 1 special, only 75 spots are available and they will fill up fast. Use the link in the show description or go to profitacceleratorlive.com to secure your spot today. Put more money in the bank and more time in your schedule with Profit Accelerator Live.
- [09:58]
A
Now let's connect this to what we've already learned about. We've already talked about this week. You know, day one we fixed pricing. Day two, we increased the value of each customer. Now on day three, we're going to use some those same customers to help us grow. And now you're starting to build with, you know, you're starting to build that Momentum. And I want you to stop thinking about. Marketing is something you have to constantly feed with money and start thinking about it as something your business can generate internally. Your best marketing asset is the customer you already have. Now, if you don't have a referral program in place, just start simple. It doesn't have to be complicated. There's just a clear reward, a clear process, and clear communication. And I mean, it is super, super easy. I mean, you could literally just send out an email or a text thread or whatever you want to do, but just say, hey, we are giving away a free service. We are giving away a gift card. We are giving away free swag. You know, like what? You know, you want a T shirt, you want, you want some shoes that have your name on them? I don't know, you know, just whatever it is, it could be anything. You know, you can find out what your interests, your customers interests are and say, hey, listen, you, you know, hey, you know Tiffany likes crocheting. Hey, Tiffany, I got this really cool crochet kit and there's these little bobble things I saw. I thought you might like these. You know, I'll get you a whole kit of them. You know, that, that's. That goes a little bit deeper. You got to really know your clients. But I mean, let your imagination roll here, okay? If you can't technically afford right now and you're nervous about it, just offer a free service. Because it's. If one service is, especially with recurring services, mowing, fertilization, weed control, whatever, whatever it might be, dog poop, pickup, stuff like that, when you could just do a service for free, that's huge. And that's how we started out, you know, giving away free services until, you know, she just had two years of free services stacked up. But anyway, let me get back to the, the point here. All you got to do is just make it easy for your customers to refer you. You know, just say, hey, listen, I will give you this. All you have to do is find a neighbor or somebody that's in our service area, refer them to us, and if they sign up, you will get a bonus. You'll get this said bonus. Just keep it simple, you know, and obviously make it worth their while too. You know, if it's like, hey, here's a, a Burger King, you know, coupon. Most people are like, great. I get those in the mail all the time. I don't really need that. I got an app. I could just download the app and get a free fry, you know, but whatever it is, just make it worth your while. So here's your action step for today. Ask yourself if one of my best customers wanted to refer me today, what would that look like? And if the answer is unclear, there's your opportunity. You know, always don't look at problems as problems. Look at them as opportunities. And like, oh, boom, light bulb just went off. I can do this. I can fix this. I can make this happen. Now, you know, look at the system that we're building here. Your pricing is dialed in, your customers are more valuable and your customers are bringing in more customers. And we're not done yet. Tomorrow we're gonna be talking about something that most business owners completely overlook, and it's costing them more money every single year. But we'll hold off until tomorrow. We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna, trust me, this is gonna be the one thing that kind of brings a whole nother aspect to this process here. So as always, I'm glad that you listened. I hope you're enjoying this mini series and if you are, just drop us and drop us a profits with paycheckmail.com. you know, the links are in the show notes. All the cool things are right there. So we'll see you tomorrow. As always, God bless. Keep pushing through and we'll catch you on the next one. Thank you once again for listening. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with fellow business owners. Your support means the world to me and helps keep the show going strong. I want to give a special shout out to our friends at Yardbook. Their continued support has been instrumental in bringing this podcast to you week after week. If you haven't checked them out yet, visit yardbook.com and see how they can give you the tools to streamline and manage your lawn care business. Also, don't forget to explore the resources and upcoming events that I've collected just for you in the show notes. These are curated to help you stay ahead in your business with the latest tips, tools and networking opportunities. Whether it's a new tool, an insightful article, or an event you don't want to miss, I've got you covered. Until next time, keep pushing through and God bless. Sam.