So, I've been thinking about how to get some more business and one of the thoughts I had was to provide a discount to a client who referred me to somone else (and obvioulsy purchased a cake or cupcakes).

Has anyone does this? If so, how did it work - did you get a good response? What sort of discount did you give? 10% off the next order? $5 off?

I want to branch out, but I also don't want to sell out, you know? I appreciate those who have supported me, and are fans of my webpage - but I also don't want to 'hound' them.

Is there every a time where marketing can go too far?

TIA

wow...note to self - reread posts before hitting the 'submit' button...sorry for the spelling errors!

Yes i have seen others mention they do this. Indydebi has posted how she used to do it, i'm sure she'll pop in and fill you in.

Thanks! I would like Indydebi to be my mentor...is that allowed? LOL...she's so good and I always look at her responses. (highest of complements to you Indydebi if you see this message!)

I tried the search engine, but the search engine never really works for me-I'm still trying to work my way through this website. I'll try it again and see if I can find something by being more specific.

Thanks again!

Yes, I have been giving referral credits for 30 years. It turns every single one of your customers into a salesman for your business.

Simple process: Alice sends Betty to me. Betty spends $400 on a cake. Alice earns 5% or $20 toward her own cake. Since I did catering, it REALLY was an incentive to them. If Betty bought a $3000 catering package, Alice earned $150 toward her cake/catering.

one bride sent me 3 friends and she earned a free wedding cake. She sent me $9000 in business, so you bet your butt I did her wedding cake for free!!

I had no complicated system for keeping track. It was practically an honor system. I'd send Alice an email telling her how much she'd earned and when she was ready to order, she'd just tell me "I have $20 in credit with you." I kept tracked of used credits just by applying them to their invoice and if there was ever a question, I could look up old invoices. But that never became an issue.

I started doing a referral discount because of Indydebi In a new place it's been really popular.
Thanks Debi

I think I'm going to try it! It can't hurt anything, so why not??

Thanks for your responses!

Referral credits are wonderful! They work really well!