Episode 2035 – Outsource Your Referral Generation (Pete Dabbelt)

G4's four pillars: (1) a standalone thank-you gift within 7 days of install, (2) a review-capture mobile app with automated follow-up, (3) a long-term referral program, and (4) long-term nurture via email, text and print.

About 40% of all referrals come in AFTER one year, so a long-term program that keeps showing up matters far more than a one-time ask.

Reward the behavior, not the sale: pay the referrer for every issued/run appointment (e.g. $25-500 based on average ticket) even if it doesn't close; this drives 6x more referrals than paying only on the win.

Referred leads close around 50%+, so more high-quality at-bats plus a fake-check mailer (clear envelope, personalized) plus a quarterly prize contest (cruise, Apple Watch, TV) keeps the program alive every month.

A full year is ~30 touchpoints: 24 emails (two/month), 4 quarterly print newsletters, the thank-you gift, and the check letter; pricing runs $39-89 per completed job, then $2/customer/year to renew the print piece.

The ROI math: at a $17K average sale and 100 jobs, spending ~$8,900 (or ~$12K over five years) needs only a couple of returning/referred deals to pay off; ~20% raw referrals typically come off 100 customers over time.

The review app texts a link that drops the homeowner straight onto Google (bypassing login), streams the review to the website, and falls back to Facebook/BBB; combined with the gift, clients see roughly 4-7 of 10 jobs reviewed.