Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Angela Brown, Savvy Cleaner

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads

A discounted customer promised me leads but didn’t follow through, now what? Recommendations and referrals for cleaning jobs is an important part of the business.

What can you do to avoid lowballing your rates as a house cleaner? Protect your cleaning business and follow this advice when offering introductory rates.

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Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.

A Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Women ChattingA discounted customer promised me leads but never gave them to me. What do I do? We have a house cleaner that asked this question..

I booked a cleaning job at a set price that I’m now realizing is definitely too low for the work that I’m doing. I set it low because she promised she had friends and family that she could send me as referrals. But after eight months she has yet to produce those customers for me.

I want to ask her for a raise, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Can you please give me some advice on what to do without causing friction between us?”

This is a Tough Situation

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Two Women ChattingSo, this is a tough situation because lots of times people are trained to ask us for a discount by promising things either they do intend, or they don’t intend to deliver. Now whether she intended to give you referrals, who know.  However, you’re eight months in and she hasn’t given you those referrals. Either she doesn’t like your work or she’s not comfortable giving you referrals, or maybe she doesn’t have any friends.

So, from here on out, moving forward, you are going to put results based on those referrals. So, you get to the customer’s house and the customer says, they’re a prospect at this time, “Oh if you’ll give me a discount, I’ll send you lots of my friends and family as referrals.”

And you say, “Oh great, I’m super excited and I would love all of the referrals that you can send my way after“. There’s the caveat – “After I have proven myself to you as a house cleaner because I don’t want to promise things that I can’t deliver unless I can prove to you that I can deliver them. Is that fair?”

And they’ll say, “Yes, that’s fair.” “Okay, great. So, let’s take the referral thing off the table, and let’s focus right now on you and me. I’m here to do a service. Here’s what I’m able to provide for you at this price.”

You Just Removed That Whole Objection

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Two Women Greeting Each OtherSo, what you did is you just removed that whole objection.  You got rid of it because it doesn’t apply in this situation. Now, if she has friends that she’s going to give you as a referral, you want them to be neighbors. That’s the next caveat.

Your referrals must live in this neighborhood because this is where you work. If you’re giving her a discount upfront and it’s for a referral that lives a thousand miles away, she can say, “Well, I gave you the referral.”

Well, yes, technically she did, but you can’t work that referral because they live a thousand miles away. So, it has to be a referral in this neighborhood after you have proven yourself as a house cleaner. 

Only Give Discounts After They Have Been a Customer for a While

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Gloved Hands Opening Envelope of Gift CertificateThe next thing is after the customer has hired you for three months or more, then, you can give you them a $50 gift card or $35 or whatever it is for your business. A gift card that they can either apply to their cleaning, or they can give away as a gift to someone else.

So you’re going to give them value, whatever that is after this is based on results after that person that they referred to you has hired you because we want them to give you a referral.

Then that person never hires you, and they’re expecting some kind of a discount or they’re expecting some kind of a bird dog fee, which is a referral fee. So, it has to be based on results. 

You Have to Create Boundaries

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Group of People ChattingWhat you’re doing right up front is you’re creating boundaries because if somebody says, “Oh, I’ll give you all my friends and family.” What happens is they turn around to their friends and family if they do refer you and say, “Oh, use this line, she’ll give you a severely discounted price”.

But you gave her a reduced price from here on out because she was going to give you some referrals, which she never gave you? So, it’s weird. It has to be very cut and dry, and it has to be based on results.

What Do You Do Now?

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Confused Man with Cleaning SuppliesThe next thing is what do you do now. So, what you do now is when you go into a customer’s house, if you do offer introductory prices, which are not discounts.

“I’m offering you an introductory price as we start this business relationship/ Typically after three months, the price goes up, okay?  So, for three months, we have a chance at an introductory price where you get to test my services and see if I’m the right house cleaner for you.”

“During that time, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied completely with all the work.” So, there’s no risk to you whatsoever. 

You’re Removing the Risk

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Woman Looking at PhoneWhat you’re doing is you’re removing the risk. You’re inviting yourself into their home. “Please, will you hire me?” But you told them on day one, the prices are going up. Now, in my company, we have a renewal contract that renews at the end of every year.

And I tell them, “I can guarantee this price that I’m giving you today. If you sign this today and you agree to it,  I can guarantee you this price for one year, from the date that you signed it. And so, if you decide to go with my service, I will not raise your rate for one year. At the end of the year, your price goes up. And at the end of that year, both of us will decide if we’re still a good fit for each other.”

People Like the One Year Contract Renewal

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Woman Cleaning StovetopSo, what happens is leading up to that year, people are like, “Oh my goodness, I’ve got three months left on the contract. How much more is it going to cost?” It’s never a lot. It’s usually between three and 5% of an increase, but every single year your rate goes up.

As you have already been with this client for eight months you would go back to her and I’d say, “Hey, listen, you told me when I first started working here that you had friends and family that you would like to refer to me, and right now I have one opening on my schedule. Who would you recommend that you know, and I’ve been offering you this discount? And we all know that at the end of the year, my rates go up.

And so I wanted to make sure that while you’re still on the discounted rate, you kept your end of the bargain. Because you’ve been on this discounted rate based on the referrals and recommendations you are going to send them. So, I’m ready right now. I have an opening in my schedule. What does that look like? Who is that?”

Ask Them About Their Referrals

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, Woman with Pen and NotepadAsk her about the referral. And she might say, “Well, let me do that right now.” Maybe she forgot. Maybe she’s been too busy, or she made new friends in the last year. However, it’s going to come down to you as a business owner, being very crystal clear about your terms. Because if you don’t have your terms and you’re not clear about them, there will be no customers.

Not all customers are this way, but there will be customers that take advantage of you, and often times it’s not intentional. Often times it’s because you are unsure of your business policies, which can also makes them unsure.

And because you don’t know what’s supposed to happen next, neither do they. And so, it’s not often that they’re trying to rip you off, but they don’t know what they’re supposed to do next either.

There Has to Be a Deadline on Referrals

Discounted Customer Promised Me Leads, NeighborhoodSo, if someone says, “I would like to give you ratings and reviews or recommendations or referrals“. Or whatever it is that they’re promising, there has to be a deadline on that.

Great. Can I count on that today? Is that something you can give me today? Is that something you can do while I’m standing here right now? In fact, I have a pen and paper in my hand. I could actually write down their names and phone numbers right now.

Hey, because you’re pulling up your phone, is there any chance you could give them a call or text them right now, and let them know that I’m at your house and that I’m coming over, or I’m on my way over or I’m in the neighborhood and can swing by and do a walkthrough. Is that something you could do right now?”

And so, what happens is you’re tagging them down to the promises they’ve made. And so whatever it is, it has to be clear and it has to be in agreement of both of you so you both know what it is you’re promising, and you can both keep your end of the bargain price. 000 Savvy Cleaner Spacer Bar 2020Resources

These good karma links connect you to Amazon.com and affiliated sites that offer products or services that relate to today’s show. 

Referrals Without Feeling Awkward – Dan Lok – https://youtu.be/aTEshO51kY4 

Pricing for Profit: How to Command Higher Prices for Your Products and Services – https://amzn.to/2tmSZly 

The Best Service is No Service: How to Liberate Your Customers from Customer Service, Keep Them Happy, and Control Costs – https://amzn.to/2RUZFB4 

How to Price Effectively: A Guide for Managers and Entrepreneurs – https://amzn.to/36NuSKw 

How to Start Your Own House Cleaning Company: Go from start-up to payday in one week – https://amzn.to/31j2lLT 

How to Price Your Cleaning Services – https://amzn.to/36RjBsA?

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