There are pros and cons to using service coupons. While they can drive new customers to your business or even encourage equipment upgrades, some techs are hesitant to use them because they may ultimately lead to lower profit. Have service coupons worked for you? Industry pros share their insights.
"Has anyone had success with coupons? I’m trying to come up with three coupons for a landing-page and direct mail.
The way I look at it is that if you bought a pool route, you would pay 10X or 12X monthly earnings for each customer — so why not offer coupons with deals that break even or even a loss? This is to get your foot in the door."
—Rod Bartruff
Blue Frog Pool Care | Spring, Texas
“[Coupons] don’t work, and they attract the wrong kind of customer. In my opinion, you won’t get hired for $50. You’ll just give money away on jobs you would have gotten anyway. I had a coupon I used to offer years ago. I realized they hired us for us. The coupon was just a bonus, and we lost money as a result of offering it.”
“We did a $30,000 postcard mailer with a coupon on it with no expiration date. We continued to see them show up for years. People said they put it on their refrigerators. Would you throw away $100? Make sure you code coupons, so you know the response based on the time of year you send them out.”
—Larry Wagner
LA Pools, Inc. | Hatboro, Pa.
[In response to success with direct mail.]
“The best way to get direct response is to get on social media and convert attention into sales and new client acquisitions.
Get on Facebook and go live with a quick video of your operations this week. Pick a day you’ve got some pretty good content. Around the holiday season, with a toy or food drive, and film it. Make it heartfelt. Then, watch your phone ring solid off the hook through the new year.
Don’t push for the sale upfront. Romance your audience, give something and then close with value.”
—Ryan Johnson
“We send out 10% off green to cleans, acid washes and deck sealing (paver sand and seal, deck painting) and nothing else. Those all have the highest markup. They work well for us. We end up landing about 15 jobs on just that for about 2,000 sent out, and about 50 to 100 calls from the 2,000 sent out for either service, renovation or repair.”
“When it comes to promotion, any strategy you deploy should be based on your goals. For example, if you have capacity, a good retention rate and good margins, why would you NOT offer an incentive? One free week works great to attract new clients. Likewise, if you have low capacity for new clients, focus on promoting higher ticket items like heaters, equipment pads, etc.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but discounts and incentives are 100% necessary to increase conversion rates.”
—Karl Hagberg
marketmypoolcompany.com | Red Bank, N.J.
