If you're a moving company owner looking to grow your business and drive more revenue, affiliate programs hold the key.
“The market has slowed down, but our bookings are continuing to go up. Our affiliates, word of mouth and repeat business, is now our highest source of new business,” says Wade Swikle. The CEO of 2 College Brothers Moving has grown his company's revenue 4X in just four years, largely on the back of referral leads.
And he certainly didn’t get there by winging it. Today, we’re peeling back the curtain on how experts like Wade are building a powerful, profitable affiliate program.
| 👉 Learn how Wade achieved 2X more profits and reached $6M in revenue while expanding to four locations with help from SmartMoving. Read the case study here. |
1. Find the right partners
The key to building a profitable affiliate program for any moving business is to find the right partners. But if you’re building your program from scratch, where do you even begin?
The best affiliates to work with are those that have the same ideal customer base. For example, a real estate agent who works with clients moving to or from your service area. With a natural audience overlap, you can generate leads that are much more likely to convert into paying customers.
Here are some ways to start finding the right partners:
- Identify companies or individuals that have audiences that match your ideal customer base. Think real estate agents, property managers, leasing companies, relocation consultants, and more.
- Reach out to potential affiliates through personalized emails or calls to establish a connection and explain the benefits of partnering.
- Offer incentives such as commissions, exclusive discounts, or special promotions to motivate them to actively promote your services.
This initial step may be the most time consuming, but it’s worth it.
Once you’ve done your initial list building, use your morning sales huddles to assign someone in the team to reach out to your potential affiliate partners. To stay on top of it, use your CRM to track email opens from potential partners and determine the best next steps for engaging with them.
| 👉 Starting your affiliate program from scratch? Don’t miss these 9 simple steps to building a powerful referral machine for your moving business. |
2. Make it easy for them to send you leads
Getting the partnership is one thing. But transforming that partner into a powerful source of referral leads is an entirely different ball game.
The key is to make it as easy as possible for your affiliates to promote their services and send in more leads. To start, consider providing them with:
- Clear instructions and guidelines on how to promote their services effectively.
- A dedicated landing page explaining the full benefits of the referral program.
- Gentle reminders including the link to your referral page, info on how quick the process is, and a reminder of the benefits in every email.
For example, Wade and the team at 2 College Brothers created a targeted Referral Program page that explains their tiered point system to potential partners and offers 1,000 points free whenever a new affiliate partner signs up.
This super shareable landing page contains all the key details and incentives, making it easy to share their referral program benefits via email, SMS, or even social media DM.
From there, affiliates can easily submit leads via a dedicated affiliate portal created just for them. Partners can access their portal anytime via mobile, tablet, or PC and instantly see all the past leads that they’ve submitted with a status of Won or Lost.
3. Track and measure your performance
You know instinctively that bookings are often twice as high when they come from a trusted referral source or repeat customer. But how can you track the hard ROI on your affiliate partnerships?
Adjust your reporting and tracking systems to see how effectively your referral partners are driving leads and sales for the business. Here are a few tips to help you nail it:
- Use tracking and reporting tools to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as leads generated and sales made through your affiliate program.
- Analyze the data to identify which affiliate partners are driving the most results.
- Make data-driven decisions about which partners to prioritize, and consider dropping those that are not performing well.
With a clear view of who your VIP affiliates are, you can go the extra mile to nurture those relationships. For example, expert movers like Wade partner with local gifting companies to send fun edible gifts to top partners, as well as any high-priority new partners he wants to get in front of.
“By monitoring these KPIs, we can make data-driven decisions about which affiliate partners to prioritize and which ones to drop. This helped us maximize the return on investment for our affiliate program,” explains Wade.
Make referrals your #1 lead source
Modern movers shouldn’t be beholden to pricey PPC budgets or endless mailing campaigns. By leaning into your affiliate network, you can increase your profits, while actively expanding into new locations and revenue streams.
But first, you’ve got to find the right partners, make it easy for them to send you leads, and create a system for measuring your performance and identifying which partnerships are bringing you the best results.
With a powerful CRM, dedicated Affiliate Portal, and robust reporting tools, SmartMoving gives you everything you need to build and scale your affiliate program.
Find out why SmartMoving is the smartest move you’ll ever make. Learn more with a free personalized demo.
