A word-of-mouth recommendation is a primary factor behind 20%-50% of all purchasing decisions and roofing is not an exception. Roofing is an investment that people spend time researching to take a final decision, or they need a company for an urgent project on their roof. On both scenarios, a referral from a friend can make the difference on the final decision.
Companies who install a product or offer services that lasts 15 years or longer, absolutely need a solid plan for generating referrals. Setting up a roofing referral program with an easy and fast tool to make your customers refer you can be a game change to your business and GetTheReferral will help you with that.
A referral program is the tool used to organize the company’s referral marketing: the act of spreading the word about a product or service through a business’ existing customers to new potential customers, among other groups of people. To set up your roofing referral program or referral rewards program for your roofing contractor business, you will apply the same principles.
The main reason referral programs work is because they bring the element of trust to your prospect, something that has a lot of value in today's world with many options online. People trust people more than anything else when deciding about a new purchase, sometimes even more than cost or price. According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends, family and colleagues more than any other form of marketing, making the option of using referral marketing a no-brainer, especially when it comes to services like roofing.
To successfully build your roofing referral program, you need a clear goal before you can incorporate new metrics into your business decisions. Only after you have your goals, you can track your referral funnel to get the results you want out of your program. As in any other marketing strategy, you need to set up SMART goals. SMART will respond to:
S: Specific
M: Measurable
A: Achievable
R: Relevant
T: Time-Bound
Referrals can come from outside of the company as far as for the inside teams. Every interaction you have and every relationship you build can cause a positive experience that can be shared with others and inspire your team, clients, and customers to recommend your services to someone, and you end up with a referral. That’s why you need to first include in your company’s roofing referral program your past and current customers, but also the company’s roofer team, sales reps, business partners, influencers, and pretty much anyone that can help with the program.
A good way to show appreciation to the customers who bring you referrals is to reward them with different levels of incentives based on the quality and stage of the referral they send you through your roofing referral program. For example, after a roofing project is completed, offer an incentive if they refer a friend for a roof inspection or someone who is interested in buying a metal roof for their roofing project. Or offer an incentive like a free mug for leaving reviews, a special price for a window replacement or a gift card for any referral that results in a sales appointment (regardless of whether the referral makes a purchase). Then, you can offer a better incentive if the referral closes the deal. This is a great option for businesses that have a long sales cycle such as roofing. When you set up incentives this way, you'll not only get more roofing referrals, it also helps you increase the quality and value of the referrals you receive since incentives are tied to it. The cost of not having a referral program like this might be higher than any investment to a referral program, honestly. It's worth it.
4.1. MAKE IT EASY FOR REFERRAL SOURCES TO REFER YOUR BUSINESS USING A REFERRAL APPThe best way to reach out and keep in touch with your customers is through a referral app for your program, and there are two main reasons for that: In the U.S., 77% of adults own a smartphone. People who own smartphones spend over 80% of their time using apps as opposed to internet browsers (Source: Flurry).
Your roofing business can benefit from having a customer referral app since it will increase their time connecting with your brand, consequently increasing the chances for referrals. You can also use the app to keep your customers up-to-date with their projects with a project status update feature, sending them push notifications every time their project changes the status.
4.2. MAKE A PLAN TO COMMUNICATE AND REACH OUT TO YOUR REFERRAL SOURCES.After your company receives a referral through the program, you need to know exactly what to do with that and when. Create a plan with timelines to call, schedule an appointment to check a roof, send a proposal, and follow up, so your referrals don’t get lost and go look for other roofing services. It’s also important to send the referral status to the Advocates (and reward them correctly with their gift card or whatever else) to keep them accountable and excited about the whole referral process.
An automated rewards system to quickly reward your Advocates is ideal to prompt them to make more referrals. You can tailor your rewards system to best fit your business. With a customer referral program in place, you can see daily results, like reviews, who referred customers to you, etc., right on your dashboard and offer more than one option of payment such as a gift card, bank transfer, virtual debit card, a discount price for something like a window replacement, a free visit by a roofer for a checkup, etc. You increase your chances of having more referrals when you pay rewards easy and fast.
Educating your referral sources include many avenues: it is essential to get your sales team on board with your referral program. You want them to be as comfortable as possible when promoting the referral program to their customers since they will be the fuel to the referral engine for your roofing services. You need to train them, constantly bring the topic on sales meetings and provide incentives for a great referral performance.
For your customers and prospects: your homepage is the hub of most traffic on your business website, that’s why you need to place the campaign for your roofing referral program right there, rather than in a side menu, which will attract the most amount of recognition.
Also, if possible, create videos to explain to people the benefits of becoming and Advocate, how they can submit referrals, reviews, and what they would earn for that.
The 2 stories below show companies that implemented Roofing referral programs and have seen significant improvements on their relationship with customers, besides the amazing results!
Mr. Roofing has been a GTR customer almost since the day they opened their doors. More than a customer, Carlos Rodriguez (Owner and President) is a true advocate of GTR, showing other companies how they can systematize and add value to their referral process and engage with their customers and social audience through a branded app. Read More.
The PRO COMPANIES works with solar, energy and roofing services. Even with their peculiarities, they all have one thing in common: the importance of referrals for their business, as the most reliable and effective marketing strategy. In a market so greatly based of referrals, having a referral branded app helps companies to stay top of mind to increase their customer base. Read More.
Give homeowners a tangible reason to refer your roof replacement or roof repair business to friends, family, and even coworkers by offering a referral reward program that adds value to their relationship with you as a business. And remember that if you don't have a quality roofer doing that work on that residential tile roof, or the flat roof in a commercial property, you won't get new customers through referrals from friends, family, and former customers.
