What first impression do you give customers? New hires? Vendors?

So-called “raving fans” are a huge asset to our businesses! (Watch Scott talk about the book “Raving Fans.”)

How can we make the most of our referrals?

Obviously, we have to ask for referrals. We know you make a quality portable building — and now your customer knows too. Ask them if they know anyone who needs a building. Mention the neighbor who watched your delivery from his yard. Ask your customer to mention your business to their friends.

Keep asking. Your customer is impressed with you moved their building into their yard, that you didn’t ruin their landscaping, and that the building is nice and level. When you’ve made a happy customer, it’s a great time to ask for a referral — maybe while you’re still standing in their yard! You can also send a mailer a few months down the road, asking how they’re liking their building. Ask for referrals then as well.  If a mailer is too expensive, give them a call.

Give an incentive. A cash incentive might work. So might a gift certificate to a local restaurant, movie tickets or a gas card. Offer an entry in a drawing for a bigger prize — a big-screen TV, a playhouse, etc. — for each referral given. Make your customers “walking advertisements” for you by giving them a tote bag with your logo and information. Customers love “free” stuff!

While you’re asking … Check with your customer to see if they would like to write/record a testimonial for your business that you can use in advertisements and on your website. Even a 30-second video shot in the customer’s backyard with a cell phone is better than nothing — and those are easy to share on YouTube and Facebook.

The most important part of this referral-based lead-generation process is … manage those leads and follow up on all of them! The worst thing you can do is put in the work to get referrals and then let them waste away untouched.

When do you ask for referrals? How do you incentivize customers who give referrals?

Watch for my related note in the February “Corner Post.”

In your experience, why do customers want to Rent-to-Own instead of pay cash or finance their building?

We want to say a BIG THANKS to those who made it. (To the rest of you, we hope you’ll come next year!)

Here are some photos of what happened this week!

What was the best part about the Open House?

What obstacles do you see in the way to achieving your goals? How can you improve your chances of meeting goals you set?

Everyone at BLI Rentals wishes you a merry Christmas!

Photo from http://ksmainstreet.kansascommerce.com

We are getting really excited about having dealers visit on Jan. 9-10 for the Open House event.

And we have BIG NEWS! We had the opportunity to have the Open House in a historic Emporia venue — and we took it! So now please join us in the Emporia Granada Theatre at 807 Commercial St. in Emporia, Kan.

The Granada was built in 1929 for $350,000 (that’s more than $4 million in today’s currency!). At the time, it was one of the largest movie theaters in Kansas. It closed in 1982 and was put on the National Register of Historic Places. In recent years, it has been fully restored.

Not only will you enjoy the theater for our training sessions, we think you’ll also love the theater’s next-door neighbors — the Sweet Granada, a chocolate cafe, as well as the Granada Coffee Company. We’ll be providing some yummy treats from the Sweet Granada, and all the coffee served at the event will be from the Granada Coffee Company. Don’t be surprised if you want to stop in to these shops to take some goodies home.

We think you will truly love this venue! For more photos of the Granada, click here.

An updated Open House Information Packet is available on the home page of the Dealer’s Area of www.blirentals.com.

*We apologize for the error in our publication. This poll wasn’t available on Nov. 5 as printed. We’re glad you found it! Thank you for answering!

Some might be thinking, “Didn’t they just have an Open House in May?” The answer is, “Yes, we did!”

Because May seemed to be a busy time for our dealers, we wanted to plan our next Open House for a more convenient time.

In October, we conducted a survey to find out when to have our next Open House, and for most, January was the best month, so we’ve been in a rush to plan our next meeting.

We have discussed how the last Open House went, gone over your Evaluation Forms from it, and really tried to make this year’s event even better! We want this experience to be worth your valuable time.

This year, we will have more training from BLI’s CEO Scott Strahm, as well as plenty of time for networking and idea-sharing with your peers — especially during a Q&A session with a panel of BLI dealers. Another new addition to the schedule is an awards ceremony.

Last year, we were a host site for the Chick-fil-A Leadercast in an effort to provide dealers with a full day of training from world-renown leaders. This year, we’re taking a different approach. We hand-picked two great video sessions from the 2011 Global Leadership Summit, one from pastor and leadership author Bill Hybels, and another from author and leadership consultant Dr. Henry Cloud.

We are hoping for another great turnout of dealers this year, especially since — with your help — we’ll be celebrating our 10th “birthday”! There will be plenty of good training, networking, and — of course — food!

More information will be coming soon via an information packet. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us!

How else can we make this year’s Open House better?

Even if you don’t plan to be here for the Open House, we’d still love to have your best shots! Send those to dealers (at) blirentals (dot) com.

Have you been caught off-guard this December? Are your sales slowing down? What can you do to be more productive or see more volume?