9 Steps to Create a Powerful Referral Machine for Your Moving Business

In an industry where reliability is everything, referrals are gold.

According to research, 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know. With a well-planned moving referral program, you can drive more revenue for your business at a fraction of the cost.

In this guide, we’ll share proven steps for creating a referral program that consistently brings you quality moving leads so you can stop putting all your coins in the Google jukebox and start getting better, more profitable jobs.

What are moving referrals and why do they matter?

A moving referral program is a plan for incentivizing partners like real estate agents, property managers, and relocation consultants for referring their customers to your business.

With ad costs soaring, this word-of-mouth marketing is far more valuable than any paid advertising you can do.

Here are some of the benefits of a strong moving referral program:

• Instant know-like-trust factor: Potential customers are much more likely to work with the person who came highly recommended, versus someone who popped up in an ad.
• Higher quality leads: According to the American Marketing Association, referral leads convert 30% better than leads from other channels.
• Lower lead gen costs: Compared to other channels, referrals cost virtually no money out-of-pocket.
  
  

With ad costs up and conversion rates down, movers with a strong referral program can access better leads, lower marketing costs, and healthier margins. When you think about it, it just makes sense.

“Your bookings are a lot of times twice as high when it comes from a trusted referral source or a repeat customer than just a random marketing source,” says Wade Swikle, CEO of 2 College Brothers. “When you build relationships, the price isn’t usually a big deal.”

Despite a cooling market, experts like Wade have been able to keep sales strong by putting referral partners and affiliates at the core of the business.

9 ways to get more moving referrals

No matter where you are in your moving business, getting more referrals can help you reach the next level. But there’s a lot more that goes into it than simply ringing up your local real estate agents.

These nine tactics will help you create a moving referral program that consistently brings you quality business from a variety of referral partners and affiliates.

1. Set a clear referral revenue goal

Always start with the math. Having a specific goal for your referral business will help you follow through on the scripts, forms, emails and all the other nuts-and-bolts that come together to create a well-oiled referral machine.

Let’s say your goal is to get $50,000 in revenue from referrals. The value of your average move is $2,500. In this example, that means you would need 25 referral moves to meet your goal.

Unlike other lead sources where you have to carefully weigh your acquisition costs (for example, cost of Google ads for (pay-per-click) PPC, or printed fliers and mailers for direct mail), you can go straight to figuring out how you’re going to bring those 25 jobs through the door.

In this example, if you’re able to establish even a handful of productive referral partners that each refer roughly five customers per year, you’ve hit your goal.

⚡Pro tip: A moving company with 10 trucks is going to have a very different referral system than a moving company with 100. Choose the referral revenue goal that works for you based on your current lead generation efforts, team structure, and growth strategy.

2. Create your terms and rewards

Referral programs typically offer rewards such as discounts, service upgrades, or special offers to both the referrer and the referred. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. 

Here are four steps to get you started:

• Choose your incentives: Think cash, gift cards, discounts, and more! You can create different incentives for different partners or even lay out a tiered point system to “gamify” the process and offer better incentives at every level. (See examples of each in step 4 below!)
• Clarify the terms: Spell out the fine print. Make it clear that it must be a completed move to qualify for the reward and let affiliates know exactly when the referral fee is paid out. If you’re working on a commission percentage, let partners know in advance if fuel will be excluded from the total cost of the move.
• Set up the backend process: Where will your partners submit their referrals? Make sure you’re ready to collect all incoming referrals via a digital customer portal with a user-friendly web form that connects directly to your moving company CRM.
• Promote your referral program: This could include direct efforts like a personalized email campaign to a target list of potential affiliates (more on that below!), as well as inbound efforts like sharing testimonials from happy referral customers on your blog, website, and social media channels.
  
  

Let folks know you’re always ready for their referrals. Even if your efforts don’t result in an immediate referral every time, each time someone who knows, likes, and trusts you shares their experience with someone else, you benefit from the free word-of-mouth.

Over time, that can lead to increased customer reviews and a major boost in profitable jobs booked.

⚡Pro tip: Just getting started with your referral program? Keep it simple with two core categories: 1) A ‘20/20’ incentive for friends, family, and customer referrals, offering $20 off the move for both the referrer and the referred and 2) a flat rate or commission (for example, 10% commission or $50 depending on which is greater) for B2B partners like realtors.

3. Start building relationships

While real estate professionals and past clients may be the go-to for getting more moving referrals, it’s important to think outside the box about who qualifies as a potential referral partner and how you’ll start cultivating a relationship with them.

“Direct mail used to be our number one source of new business and now it's like four or five on the list with affiliates being number one right now because we did all that business development in the beginning,” says Wade in a recent episode of the Grow Your Moving Company podcast.

Here’s a quick list of some of the top potential moving company affiliates:

• Real estate agents
• Property managers
• Leasing companies
• Relocation consultants
• Professional organizers
• Loan officers
• Mortgage brokers
• Interior designers
• Cleaning services
• Junk removal services
• Storage facilities
• Apartment complexes
• Assisted living facilities
• Restoration specialists
• Flooring companies
• Home improvement stores
  
  

Once you’ve built out a spreadsheet with all the different potential referral partners, you’re ready to start rallying your team around why it’s important to make these connections.

“Every day during our morning sales huddle, we assign someone in the sales team or someone else in our office to reach out to them. So, it's like that compound effect. Over a year, you've reached out to thousands of people. Even if just 10% of those people get back to you, you've still got hundreds of new referral partners you've collected. If you continue to follow up with those people, you can get that rate up much higher,” explains Wade.

He and his team increase their touches with each potential referral partner by adding them to their email list, reaching out via phone, drop-ins, and social media DM to bypass the noise in their inboxes and start making a real connection.

⚡Pro tip: Need to increase your reply rate from potential affiliates? Wade partners with local gifting company C-Sweets to send yummy care packages to his top referral partners, plus any potential new partners he wants to get in front of.

4. Make it super simple to submit a referral

You’re busy. They’re busy. We’re all busy. The best way to get more referrals is to make it as simple as possible to submit them.

Here’s how to build a kink-free referral submission process for leads, partners, and affiliates:

• Create a dedicated landing page: With an easy-to-share landing page containing all the key details and incentives, you can quickly share your referral program with all partners and past customers via email, SMS, or DM.
• Schedule a follow-up campaign: Use your moving company software to automate a series of gentle reminders. In every email, include the link to your referral page, information on how quick the process is, and a reminder of your awesome rewards and benefits.
• Add links to your referral program everywhere: Make sure your affiliate links are easily accessible in your website menu, footer, social media profiles, email signatures, and more. 
  
  

If you have multiple types of referral partners, customize your landing pages to speak directly to the needs of each. For example, this Referral Program page from our friends at Moving Ahead Services features a warm welcome note for friends, family, and team members, along with customized form fields to collect all the key details about the move and the name of the specific affiliate who referred them.

On the B2B side, things can look a little different. This Referral Program page from 2 College Brothers introduces potential partners to the company’s tiered point system and offers 1,000 points free when they sign up.

Remember, no matter who you’re targeting with your referral program, the goal is to make the process as easy and irresistible as possible for referrers to send you business and for you to be able to track it.

⚡Pro tip: Headed to a local business or community event? Why not order a set of business cards with QR codes that go directly to your affiliate link? It’s a great way to kick off your relationship with new partners, while showing them that you’re serious about providing a five-star experience to the people in their community.

5. Get more reviews

You’ve got your incentives mapped out, landing pages set up, and affiliate links visible everywhere. You’re ready to start promoting, right?

Not quite yet. After putting all that effort into creating your referral program and generating your list of potential partners, the last thing you want is to send those valuable leads to a website with 3.5 stars on 12 reviews.

Today, 98% of shoppers say reviews are essential when buying a product or service, 45% won't purchase a product without them, and according to a 2019 report, buyers from the ages of 24-44 expect an average of 150 reviews when comparing services online.

To make the right impression with incoming referral leads, make sure you have at least 150 positive reviews across your:

• Google Business Profile
• Facebook Company Page
• Yelp Business Listing
  
  

For even more of a boost, consider adding your reviews and testimonials in the following places:

• Angi
• Thumbtack
• HomeAdvisor
• Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• Consumer Affairs
• Trustpilot

⚡Pro tip: With a digital online reputation management system, you can track keywords, trends, competitor reviews, and overall customer sentiment across multiple locations and review sites to save you and your team hours per week.

6. Launch your digital campaigns

At the end of the day, getting more referrals is about being both community-minded and creative.

Now that you’ve got the foundations in place, it’s time to start thinking about new ways to maximize your affiliate campaigns. There’s a whole network of people out there who could benefit from sending you business. How can you connect with them? 

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Partner with a local business: For example, during the summer months, you could partner up with everyone’s favorite local ice cream shop to offer a $10 gift card for every referral. For partners willing to give these to you for half off, that’s a $5 cost of referral. You get more business, they get more business. Win. Win.
• Host a lunch and learn: Who doesn’t love a free lunch? Meeting your affiliates face-to-face isn’t just a great way to deepen the connection, it’s also an excellent way to “show” and not just “tell” potential partners about the level of professionalism you provide. 
• Reach out to local bloggers and influencers: Many of these contacts are already familiar with how affiliate partnerships work and can create content that not only wins you quality jobs, but also drives more brand awareness for your business.
• Encourage partners to use local groups to spread the word: Even a single cheerleader on a platform like Nextdoor can help you get tons more referrals. Since these groups are also searchable, your name will come up anytime someone plugs “mover” or “moving” into the search bar.
  
  

Don’t be afraid to color outside the lines with your partner marketing campaigns. Anything that shows a level of effort beyond cold calling and sending an email will have a better chance of getting their attention.

⚡Pro tip: If you’re active in the rental space, set up an automated follow-up campaign for 9-10 months after an apartment move to ask if past customers need your help again and offer a discount off their next move. You can also add language like, “If you want to refer us to a friend, we can give you guys this offer too, or you can keep your same rate.”

7. Always follow up

Did you know that 78% of customers purchase from the first vendor they connect with and not necessarily the one with the lowest price?

As the old saying goes, the fortune is in the follow-up. Working with referrals means having a system in place that’s more than a spreadsheet and a stack of business cards.

In a glance, your lead management system should be able to answer questions like:

• Did this partner or lead open my email?
• Which referral leads are still pending?
• What are the next steps? 
• What sales calls are needed?
  
  

Here are some simple tips to create a seamless process for you, your affiliates, and your incoming leads:

• Create a user-friendly portal with a dedicated link for each affiliate
• Share the link and provide clear instructions for how to use the portal
• Customize templates for top referrers
• Schedule an email to automatically greet each incoming lead
  
  

For your best affiliates, it’s also important to provide regular updates on how each lead is progressing. With a dedicated link for each partner, you not only show that you’re serious about your business, you also make the process of tracking so much easier for you, your affiliates, and your team.

Already a SmartMoving user? In a click, you can see a complete list of won, lost and pending leads per referral source.

Got multiple branches? No problem. SmartMoving will immediately add incoming referral leads to the correct branch anytime an affiliate adds a new contact via your affiliate portal. From there, a customized email template automatically goes out to each lead to make sure they get a warm welcome from your team.

⚡Pro tip: Aim to schedule a call with each new referral partner that comes in. It can be as simple as a one-liner that says: “Hey, let's grab a quick coffee and I'll show you how to use our referral portal.” You can test it for them right then and there, impressing new partners with your dedicated affiliate link and automated emails for all incoming referrals.

8. Offer a five-star client experience

Whether you’re using an all-in-one system like SmartMoving or a spreadsheet and an inbox, providing a five-star experience is the #1 surest way to increase your referral volume. 

Here are some simple tips to help you nail it:

• Ensure every interaction reflects the professionalism of your moving services
• Keep customers and referral partners informed at every stage of the process
• Leverage your network to provide referrals for other services new customers may need
• Show your appreciation for their business with a thank you gift
  
  

If you offer box removal a week or so after the move, that’s a perfect time to hand off your home gift box and ask for a customer referral.

No matter how you plan it, the goal is to blow new customers away with a five-star experience they can’t wait to recommend to friends and family. Do that, and the referrals will take care of themselves.

9. Track your results

Like most things in the moving industry, the strength of your referral management program is directly tied to the strength of your systems and processes.

“The market has slowed down, but our bookings are continuing to go up and I attribute a lot of that to the powerful tools that SmartMoving gives us — from follow-ups to being able to track lead lifecycles, to being able to make decisions on our referral sources and affiliate program. Our affiliates, word of mouth, and repeat business is now our highest source of new business,” says Wade from 2 College Brothers.

In SmartMoving, you get a complete visual snapshot of your lead providers, including the amount of business closed by month and/or location. You also get a dedicated Affiliates dashboard where you can see the number of leads booked and lost, and the average and total revenue per affiliate.

Whether your goal is to do 3 or 30 referral leads per month, with access to the right metrics, you can make the changes you need to get the business you want from your referral program. 

Just be careful not to make too many changes, too soon. A good rule of thumb is to change one thing, let it run for 60 to 90 days, then make adjustments based on those results.

Win more referrals with the all-in-one system built for movers

The best business is the business you don’t have to buy. 

With a streamlined system that brings all your affiliates together under one digital roof, you’ll have everything you need to strike the right balance between new referral business and leads from paid sources like Google Ads.

SmartMoving can help you maintain relationships with referral partners, manage leads, and follow up faster. Book your free demo today to see SmartMoving’s referral management features in action. Or subscribe to our blog for more expert resources to scale and grow your business.