Networking

[SoFLGal]

I'll just chime in with my two cents here. This is how I work my referrals list. I add people by word of mouth. I keep notes on each service provider. If I get more than one complaint than they get removed from my list. The way I see it is if you are paying to be on someones list than they are no better or no worse than say someone that you might just pick out of the phone book. The people on my list know that they better do a good job for my clients or they're not going to get any more work/referrals from me. I don't pay them anything and they don't pay me anything. I would never refer to someone for pay. My name is on the line and I feel that it reflects badly on me if I give out a name of someone that doesn't provide excellent service.

[ECBS]

You would never refer someone for pay but many folks are flat broke out there. All the post was saying was an introduction if someone knew someone was looking for this kind of service. I am sure that the interested party would check into the service etc.

I dont care if all post about this are deleted etc. somehow the whole point of the amount of posts here that talk about people out of work etc has been overlooked & I sure didnt see the harm in someone getting paid for letting us know of an opportunity with a name introduction ??? Guess its just me?

I had no idea that this forum was just for one particular use & could not be utilized for anything else. Did I read every line of the rules & guidelines no I will be honest, seems kinda silly to me that people would be so uptight about it but you are right there are other forums that would be more open to people offering a possible source of extra income while helping their own.

I had posted ideas of networking etc that I thought people were interested in but had to be careful not to upset the rules & out of that came a job for myself & another member here so I am glad that wasn't deleted. Maybe a good idea to embrace any fair idea that can help people in this sad economy here.

No Biggie.

[angelfish]

Let's move on then.

[kbuild]

Originally Posted by ECBS

You would never refer someone for pay but many folks are flat broke out there. All the post was saying was an introduction if someone knew someone was looking for this kind of service. I am sure that the interested party would check into the service etc.

I dont care if all post about this are deleted etc. somehow the whole point of the amount of posts here that talk about people out of work etc has been overlooked & I sure didnt see the harm in someone getting paid for letting us know of an opportunity with a name introduction ??? Guess its just me?

I had no idea that this forum was just for one particular use & could not be utilized for anything else. Did I read every line of the rules & guidelines no I will be honest, seems kinda silly to me that people would be so uptight about it but you are right there are other forums that would be more open to people offering a possible source of extra income while helping their own.

I had posted ideas of networking etc that I thought people were interested in but had to be careful not to upset the rules & out of that came a job for myself & another member here so I am glad that wasn't deleted. Maybe a good idea to embrace any fair idea that can help people in this sad economy here.

No Biggie.

ECBS, from meeting you and doing work with you, paying people for referrals you will not need to do. Number One it is kinda shady. Number Two is we are in the middle of the worst recession I have seen down here since the moratorium. I agree One hundred percent with SoFlGal. If you do quality work (which you do) and offer affordable prices and have good character (which you do) you will not need to send refferal money.

Give it some time, you will do just fine.

[ECBS]

Not shady at all. You see this everyday on TV in many many different companies offering money back if you refer someone etc. I bet many here have done this many many times. I saw this on one of the Barter sites while looking up the Barter company that you & I discussed. They offer $$ for referring someone to them. I would like to see someone chime in who has done this themselves. I am sure that I have done this in the past & received a gift card for it or something.......exact same idea.

I have always offered even our current clients a referral program & some have taken advantage of the savings. We discounted their services by the same percent as we offer others. The time we spend doing sales are well worth paying back a percentage to someone who does that leg work for me by introducing us or referring us.

I have been in my business for about 14 years now & we have done different things year in & year out to spark growth in our business. This is just another idea that we will use.

[ECBS]

Referral Programs are all over the web ( everywhere ). The more I look it up online the more I see this being done in industries from A-Z. Which makes me scratch my head even more over the poor feedback that it has received here. My idea is nothing new, but I think it is a good one for our local economy & our business for sure. Wish me well & here is to a prosperous new year for everyone.

Here is an insurance company that does it well. I just did a quick search & this came up....

While many people refer others to us because of our service we want to make referring a person fun and exciting for you. Apart from that, we want to thank you for your referrals as referrals are the life blood of our business. So here is how our simple referral program works:

Ways To Win:

1st Chance Gift Card:
Take several referral cards and hand them out to friends and family (please print your name on the back of each one). For every three people that come in and allow us to quote his or her insurance we will give you a $10.00 gas card or $10.00 Wal-Mart gift card.
2nd Chance Gift Certificate:
At the END OF THE MONTH we enter each referring parties name into a drawing (i.e., one entry for every three referrals). We DRAW among all referring parties for a $30.00 gift certificate to the place of your choice!!!!
3rd Chance JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS GRAND DRAWING:
ANNUAL DRAWING for total number of entries entered into the monthly drawings. This drawing works the same way as the MONTHLY drawing; but it includes your total entries over the course of the entire year. The time frame for the annual drawing is January 1 - December

Entreprenuer website article http://www.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurextra/article57414.html

[tommy-105]

Originally Posted by ECBS

Referral Programs are all over the web ( everywhere ). The more I look it up online the more I see this being done in industries from A-Z. Which makes me scratch my head even more over the poor feedback that it has received here. My idea is nothing new, but I think it is a good one for our local economy & our business for sure. Wish me well & here is to a prosperous new year for everyone.

Here is an insurance company that does it well. I just did a quick search & this came up....

While many people refer others to us because of our service we want to make referring a person fun and exciting for you. Apart from that, we want to thank you for your referrals as referrals are the life blood of our business. So here is how our simple referral program works:

Ways To Win:

1st Chance Gift Card:
Take several referral cards and hand them out to friends and family (please print your name on the back of each one). For every three people that come in and allow us to quote his or her insurance we will give you a $10.00 gas card or $10.00 Wal-Mart gift card.
2nd Chance Gift Certificate:
At the END OF THE MONTH we enter each referring parties name into a drawing (i.e., one entry for every three referrals). We DRAW among all referring parties for a $30.00 gift certificate to the place of your choice!!!!
3rd Chance JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS GRAND DRAWING:
ANNUAL DRAWING for total number of entries entered into the monthly drawings. This drawing works the same way as the MONTHLY drawing; but it includes your total entries over the course of the entire year. The time frame for the annual drawing is January 1 - December

Entreprenuer website article business - Referral Incentives: The Gift for Giving

ECBS, The first rule of the Terms Of Service (TOS) is that members can not have any advertising in their posts. The reason for this is most likely to prevent competition with the Google ads seen on each page. (where I'm assuming city-data draws considerable revenue for Advameg, Inc. )



As far as referrals... IMO, It has to be above board to prevent it from being "shady". The new contact has to know that the program exist.

I used to work for a contractor (back in NY) who paid for referrals from local lumber yard and hardware store employees. He got plenty of work from them. To bad he didn't have a clue about what he was doing. The homeowners never knew about the pay offs. It was a lot worse than just being shady.

[ECBS]

I am with all the companies that offer this program & agree its a good idea. Our company is very good at what we do & has been for a long time so I am very confident utilizing a Referral Rewards Program.

I think that the post is starting to just go in circles, the only thing I dont get is why it got any negative reaction, when this form of marketing is used by so many from Doctors ,insurance co., realtors & service business owners around the country. A quick search online & you see what I am talking about.

If the post violated terms here than that is a different thing & that was that. Their board , their rules, .....