Getting More Business
Through Proactive Referral Programs
I suppose you realize that if you could get all the referrals you need, then you wouldn’t need to hire a marketing company. And ironically, that’s exactly my goal for you, and every decent pool builder. If you do your marketing properly…
You should be getting so much business from referrals and your website that you shouldn’t have to spend any money on advertising.
Referrals are by far the best leads you could ever hope for, because they typically have:
- Higher likelihood of choosing you
- Faster / shorter sales cycle
- Less likely to haggle on price
So before you spend a bunch of money on “advertising,” perhaps you should consider investing in your REFERRAL systems first! Scroll down the page for a closer look at these two programs:
- The “Proactive Referrals” Training Program
- The “Custom Thank You Cards” programs
“Proactive Referrals” Training Program
Rare is the pool designer that consistently and proactively works with his clients to promote a maximum number of referrals. That’s why we created this well-orchestrated system for each of your sales reps to follow, to ensure that you consistently get:
- More referrals
- More testimonials
- Fewer unhappy customers
- Better quality management information
- Powerful “evidence” to help you close more referral and non-referral business alike
Training, Custom Forms, & Custom Gift Set-up $497
Custom “Thank You” Card Programs
With this amazing program, you can send out an unlimited number of real, personal, professional custom greeting cards to all of your customers and prospects. We’re not talking about those cheap and cheesy “electronic greeting cards” that more often than not, contain some sort of spam message or virus. Instead, we’re talking about a very real physical card that is signed by you (or by your sales reps, whichever you prefer), and sent through the US mail.
The message in the card and the addresses on the envelope are printed in your choice of a “standard handwriting” font, or in the sales rep’s actual “handwriting font.” The card is printed on high quality, full color high-gloss card stock and mailed automatically for you.
We can design a set of customized “Thank You” cards for each of your sales reps, to include your company name, logo, phone number, URL, plus a photo of the sales rep. Or you can design your own. Then the sales rep (or a receptionist or sales administrator) can insert your personal message ELECTRONICALLY on the inside of the card.
To see exactly HOW and WHY this program works so well,
Click the “PLAY” button to check out this short little video:
You can sign-up on-line for this program
at MYM Austin “Send Out” Cards.
Custom Card Design $49 each
Customized to include your company name, logo, phone number, URL, plus an overlaid photo of the sales rep.
“Hands-Off” card program $3.00 per card plus postage
You just tell us who you want the card to go to, and we will process it for you.
“Retail” Card Program $1.47 per card plus postage
You (or an administrator) can process the cards on-line from any computer with an internet connection. Requires a $97 set-up fee.
NOTE - The “personalized handwriting font” is not available with the retail card program.
You can sign-up on-line for this program
at MYM Austin “Send Out” Cards.
“Wholesale” Card Program $0.97 per card plus postage
The wholesale program will pay for itself in the long-run. It also allows you to create an on-line font based on your own personal handwriting.
You (or an administrator) can process the cards on-line from any computer with an internet connection. Requires a $298 set-up fee.
You can sign-up on-line for this program
at MYM Austin’s “Send Out” Cards.
Additional custom-handwriting fonts $25.00 each
One custom handwriting font is free. Buying additional fonts allows you to customize for each sales person. Available only with the wholesale program.
Here’s Why Pool Builders
Should Pay Extra Attention
To Their Referral Process Today…
If you’re a well-established company, and you’re doing good work, then roughly half of your business should be coming from referrals.

Contrary to popular belief, the best way to get referrals is not “to ask for them.” And it’s not by bribing them with a $200 referral check either. Not that these methods don’t work; they do. But what’s far more effective is to create a spectacular experience for your client, such that they fall in love with you and become a raving fan. When you go beyond their expectations, and build a sincere and trusting relationship where none existed before, your clients are likely to become downright evangelical about you. And that’s what we want.
In all my travels, I’ve found but a scarce few pool sales reps that fully understand and embrace this concept. These rare gems will reach into their own pockets and buy thoughtful gifts for their clients at various intervals throughout the building process, and beyond. And they get a ton of referrals.
Alas, these are the rare gems in pool sales. What about the other 99.9% of sales people who aren’t so proactively inclined? Here’s what we’ve done to make this process of “winning the heart of the customer” somewhat more methodical and reliable for our clients.
First, we set up a policy that says “The sales person must perform a final walk-through with the homeowner when the job is complete.” (Sounds simple, right? I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that in the United States, if your sales people are currently doing this, they are in the minority.)
Next, we script exactly what the sales rep is supposed to do in this meeting:
- Tour the finished pool with the homeowner. Make sure everything is to their liking.
- If they’re disappointed with anything, you’d better address it now. (That doesn’t mean you have to “fix” it; that just means you have to figure out a way to make them happy with the end results.) Remember that these people are like a growing branch on a young tree. If they like you, they’ll steadily “reach out” and tell dozens of people all about you. And if you don’t address their concerns, they’ll tell dozens of people about that too. For years to come….
- If appropriate, give them the manuals for the pool equipment (unless your service person normally does this at your “pool school”).
- Hand them a short & simple half-page survey that captures how they feel about the end results. The bottom half is blank so they can write any additional comments or testimonials – good or bad. Hand them the paper and a pen and say, “Could you take just a minute to let us know how you felt about this project? If we ever have someone unhappy with the work we did, the owner wants to know about it.”
- Then excuse yourself for a moment, go out to your truck and bring in the thoughtful gift you picked out just for them. (Personally, to keep things simple, I recommend a pair of “Fat Towels” from www.FatTowel.com – tastefully and subtly embroidered with your logo. Keep a few cases of these on hand, and your sales reps will never have an excuse for not visiting the homeowner when the pool is finished.) If the homeowner was disappointed about anything, your thoughtful gift should help soften the blow a little.
- Now take a photo of the happy couple out there by the pool. Ideally, they should still have your gift towels tucked under their arms.
The “personalized thank you cards” program is another no-brainer of an idea to help salespeople bolster their relationships with their customers, and generate more referrals. (This program can also be quite useful to reach out to those prospects who have “gone into hiding” since your last sales meeting with them.) And for those salespeople who are still too distracted or undisciplined to send out their own thank you cards on a regular basis, we have a system to automate that for you too.
Of course, there’s more you can do to proactively generate referrals, including “ask for them” and/or offer bribes in the form of referral checks. But that’s what everybody does. You can put yourself ahead of the pack with the “thank you program” and “the personalized thank you cards.”
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©2007 to 2012 Brett Lloyd Abbott / MYM Austin Inc.