Just the other day one of my best customers, she thinks I’m the best window
cleaner south of Boston, refered me to one of her close friends. The house was
huge. I’d say it was a mansion. I work alone so I couldn’t possibly squeeze her
in before Thanksgiving. So I recommended a guy I like and talk with on the phone
regularly. As I drove away I began to worry. What if my customer and her network
of friends switch to using the other guy. QUESTION? What is the upside and the
downside of referring the competition? Do you do it?
Your worries are silly. So some guy they never met is going to steal
away your happy customer? How? Just because?
I refer jobs I don’t want. There is NO WAY they will get my customer
unless I screw it up with them.
I do it all the time, and with really good customers. You have already built a relationship with her, and if this guy is stand up, he wouldnt do it even if it was handed to him on a platter. Dont stress on it, it should turn out alright.
I agree w/ Tory. If you are using a stand up guy to refer them to it shouldn’t be an issue. It could be work out well for you. Your buddy could end up doing the same for you.
I do it too. I have one guy I give work to but mainly I sub him out for clients I already have a working relationship with. We’ve been on lots of projects together. I’ve seen his work and have total trust in him.
Maybe you two could work together on the mansion before Thanksgiving. That way you earn at least half of the earnings.
You are assuming risk, in my opinion, unless you have an arrangement in place with the guy you’re referring to.
Case in point: If you were my competitor, and you referred a huge mansion to me, you better believe that you would be compromising your existing relationship with your clients that are connected to this newly referred client, since now you are introducing another marketing machine into their window cleaning decision-making mix. At least to some measurable extent.
It’s a risk, no question.
I would have switched my existing clients around, if I could. If I couldn’t, I would have subbed it out to my competitor instead, and kept the lead/client.
Keep the big ones from now on, if they will pay your high prices (which I hope you are charging)
That’s my suggestion.
I agree. Sub it out. Schedule it, bill it, quality-control it. Just don’t clean it (if you can’t).
I would tell your friend/competitor that you have a job YOU will pay him for as a sub. Agree on the price. Tell him he will not bill the customer.
Tell him how much you appreciate that he is trustworthy.
Get him to wear your shirt or at least not his company shirt if you can.
stop reffering if you are loosing business to the same guy 
If the work is subbed out to your competition, then you really dont have much to lose in my opinion (and that may not be worth much), because…
for instance, I will work as a sub if I got nothing to do and help out another window cleaner, but I wont wear my shirts, and I will take the magnets off my truck (if it was lettered, well thats different, but I would not park right in the driveway. I am aware that its his job, and not mine even if I was by myself. I would bill him, and not the customer.
If the job was GIVEN to the customer, well then yeah, that is a big risk and what you and Kevin are saying I see your points…
Maybe I read the question on the first post wrong.:ooops, my bad.
EDIT-
I sure did read it wrong, he said about referring competition.
Just sub out the work to him man. Why give it away?
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I was talking with a friend who is using a marketing guru in the carpet cleaning industry. He has a marketing program that says it’s all about raising the prices, and increasing profits through better marketing. I think Kevin Dubrosky talks about that concept in his material at http://panelessperfection.com/. [/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana][COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I really do not have the personality to be successful at baby sitting a crew of window cleaners. That’s why having too much business and too many referrals is a big problem for me. The word on the street is don’t call Mike he’s to busy. Right now, 10/13/09, I am booked up through Thanksgiving. I think that referring my competition might hurt me in the long run. Raising my prices could be the answer.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[/FONT][/COLOR]
Supply and demand Mike… Our prices go up this time of year and the Spring…
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Chris,[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Are you saying the prices go up and stay up or they go up and down with the demand as the seasonal need for window cleaning fluctuates?[/FONT][/COLOR]
Babysitting does suck, until you take into consideration that if I trip on a rock tomorrow and break both my arms (notice no mention of ladders to keep the WFP guys off my back :D), my income will continue because I can babysit with both my arms in a cast. And because of babysitting I am keeping the work rolling right now, while Im stuck in the office because of vacation obligations. (It’s 49 with wind gusts at 25mph, not a bad day to be stuck in the office)
To me it’s better than paying Aflac;)
I think referring or subbing could come back to bite, my guys selling point is they can carry on an intelligent conversation with customers, so even if Competition removes logos, it will probably come up in conversation what he does the rest of the week.
Yep… Prices are rock bottom the summer and winter.
[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]Is it safe to assume that some of your customers wait for a summer or even a winter cleaning to save a buck? And that keeps the slow months a little bit busier.[/FONT][/COLOR]
“No good deed goes unpunished”.
Mike , you say you don’t want to babysit a crew of window cleaners, but one good guy could increase the amount of work you get done considerably
IMO on a house with storms, 2 guys are more than twice as fast as one guy by himself, more like 2 1/2 to 3 times as fast
As long as you have the work, you could be doing at least twice as much work and even taking insurance and wages etc into account, you would end up well ahead
Also , for the first time in a long time, there are some decent people out there looking for work
ill even chime in on this one mike…
we’re all talking about mike referring business to me… thats what it boils down to. he says he’s afraid of referring me to a woman whose house would come to $1500+ which is great for me… but here are my questions…
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mike will refer another “company” who washes windows with tap water no soap or solution who is to me and from what my experience is a lowballing “s” show but he wont refer a customer to me… yet he will refer other companies like aintjemamas company to use me if they have an extra client in my area they cant get to… wouldnt referring a reputable professional business who would do a comparable job look better in the long run for mike? or just to look like the the better window cleaner would referring a clown be better?
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how can you raise your prices any higher than $23/window for a 12/12 w/storms? i get chased off peoples front steps for charging $15 for the same window…
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if you are booked out until thanksgiving i think its time to expand by getting some employees or start giving your work to a reputable company with a good reputation or sub your work out… but in any of those circumstances it could come back and bite you… you never know what can happen until you get off the sidelines and get in the game… get your hands dirty with some different experiences. i have made some poor decisions in life and in business, its all about figuring it out… i tend to learn the hard way haha looks like you have some decisions to make… btw these are all good problems to have mike…
Hey Nick,
I refered the other guy 4 times and got 2 complaints coming back to me. So I no longer give out his name. Let me address the “getting in the game” comment you made. I had 15 employees working for me back in the 70’s and the 80’s cleaning office buildings and washing windows. I have been a full time sales rep for 4 different multi million dollar cleaning companies. I know all about running crews. Lost many a commission because the American work ethic is slidding down the sh**er. I’m just not up for the headaches and more important the heartaches you guys are willing to deal with. Been there done that.
Oh yeah absolutely…
