I wouldn’t want to risk my reputation on the work of someone that I have no control over their quality, so I would politely decline referrals.
In my opinion, for the scenario you originally described, referring puts your reputation on the line the same way as if it was your 15 employees, except if they do an excellent job you lost out on the large home and could potentially lose your regular customer, so to me its a lose lose. If someone walked up to you on the street and asked if you could do their 200 window house, your pre-existing relationship is not on the line so if you wanna throw the guy a line then no problem.
If she picks her own clown out of the phone book then she will want to schedule you early next year and possibly even at your new higher prices;)
That makes sense to me. I would probably be viewed as a control freek by most people. Also very picky. I spoke with several people on the phone and they all agree that growing your business does involve giving up some of the control. Finding the right people and trusting them to carry the ball and not micro manageing them. Referrals would involve some trust as well.
At the IWCA convention in Reno, Jane Seawright will be speaking. The title of her seminar is, Smart People Hire Smart: How to Make Your Management Life Easier
She is an excellent speaker. Sounds like a seminar for you, Mike. I know I’m making every effort to attend. Hope to see you there.
The most valuable things I ever learned at any IWCA convention were from Jane Seawrights seminar in Arizona a few years back. She was an interesting speaker but the information she provides is SO incredilby valuable. Her seminar can be very eyeopening!!
I have heard her name mentioned a few times before. I think one of her IWCA talks was titled Hire Hard and Manage Easy. You guys aren’t going to give up on me are you? :o
Yeah…right. Unfortunately she cant cross into the U.S. because she is a Mexican citizen…and she was denied her visa (I have no idea why…5000.00 dollars and 4 years into this process, try to do it right, and they still say no), so me being gone for an extended period is rough on her. Its not that she dont trust me, its because we live in T.J. and it gets alittle rough down here. She gets scarred. She needs her window cleaning gangsta to protect her:D
I’m working on it tho. MAN I should have went when it was in San Diego.
I still dont know how much it is to get in every day for the 3 days…do you know?
Okay, is that for all 3 days…those different prices are for different people that will have different roles at the event right? So the price for all 3 days for me, a non member would be 6 hundred something right?
I think they are giving away 5 scholarships this year. Free attendance… Travel and lodging is on you.
Steve from this site won a scholarship a couple of years ago… He can give you some details… And for the scholarship application contact Shelby also from this site. Shes on almost everyday and works at IWCA head quarters.
I disagree. If your relationship with the customer you have been servicing for
who knows how long dumps you because the guy you referred to her friend liked the service(whew), than it is only a matter of time before that client was lost anyway.
It does not make sense AND I have NEVER lost a customer to it.
Referring to other window cleaners is a tricky business. I only refer customers to companies that are really good. You don’t want to refer someone that is going to do a crappy job. This reflects badly on you.
If they’re really good, they might be able to steal the customer AND the customer that referred them. So in this case I wouldn’t do it. You want to help out your customer’s but it’s a big risk, and this is a big job.
It also depends on how good the other company is at marketing and sales. They may present no risk at all. I guess it all depends on the situation.
I only refer jobs that are small or aren’t going to pay well. I only risk losing jobs that I don’t really want anyway.
Who not instead say sure, please tell me about your house…and then give them a sky high price.
If they go for it, cut the lower paying clients who won’t accept higher prices, and repeat. Pretty soon you have a massively profitable little machine in the works.
Thanks Chris. It’s kind of like walking on thin ice. You guys don’t have any thin ice to walk on in Hawaii, do you? Well anyway, my Northern brothers know exactly what I’m talking about.
