How to Build a Referral Machine in Your Studio

0:06 Hi, friends. Thank you so much for joining us today for our June, it's June, Walla webinar series. We have Seran Glanfield here today who is gonna be chatting with us about referrals. And this is something that is near and dear to, I'm sure, all of your hearts as boutique fitness studios. I know this is how so many people find out about your businesses, and we are thrilled to dive into kind of the operations, the referral machine behind, this source of new clients. So my name is Laura Munkholm. I am one of the founders here at Walla. For those of you I haven't met, hello. It's so nice to have you here. We host these webinars every month. We have for years. So if you're interested in seeing past sessions after today, you can always, on our website, head over to the resources section. And under webinars, you will see the complete library of everything we've hosted. I already see some of you guys are saying hello in the comment section. Hi, guys.

1:10 Please, everyone else, hop in. Share your name, where you're from, if you'd like what type of studio or what your studio name is. And it definitely helps us as we're framing the conversation today. Just quick housekeeping for us. Obviously, you have this chat section here on the right. If you have questions during the presentation, if you wouldn't mind, please put them into the q and a section. So you'll see there's a q and a button. And when you click on that, it helps me keep everything organized, and I can also mark things as answered as we go. So that way, I know how to, you know, make sure that we're not spending a ton of time on the same question or missing questions. But, also, you can vote questions up. So if you have the same question as someone else, it's helpful. You don't have to ask it twice. Alright. Hello. Hello. Thanks for saying hi. Without further ado, I am excited to introduce you all to Seren.

2:10 Seren is the founder of Spring three and the Thrive Studio community. And especially for those of you who have been in this industry for a while, Seren has been a name out there really as an expert in marketing, driving eyeballs, new people, and long term clients to your businesses, and I've had the pleasure of working with her for many years. Sarah, thanks for being with us today. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad to be here with all of you. I already recognized some names, in the, in the chat. So good to see you. Terry and Danielle and Lisa and Heather, welcome on in. It's so good to have you all here. So much I have to share with you today. So I'm gonna dive on in. But please don't hesitate, like Laura said, to pop your questions in the q and a. And Laura will wave at me madly when that there's something that comes up that I need to clarify. Please don't hesitate. I do this every single week.

3:10 So there's not no. Please, if there's anything that is not clear or anything you'd like more information on, just pop it in the chat. Okay? So for those of you who don't know me, quick background because, I know we've never maybe you never met before. Maybe. I am the founder of Spring Three Studio Business Consulting. I am a coach and consultant exclusively to boutique fitness studios, and I have been doing that since 2013. So I started teaching Pilates in 2008, and, quickly realized there was a big difference between, being a great teacher and being a great business owner. But I was fortunate because my background was in business, and so I was able to help and support, my fellow studio owners and teachers who I saw as being so incredibly talented, as experts in what they did, to be able to help them to build businesses. And they wanted me to continue to do that for them, so I began coaching and consulting.

4:08 And today, I have coached hundreds of studio owners around the world, across The US, Europe, and beyond. And I do that through my Thrive business coaching program. And there is so much talk about when it comes to growing a business. So referrals are one piece of the puzzle, a small piece of the puzzle, actually, but I do think they are so incredibly important. So that's what we're talking about today. And that is, referrals, why I love them as one of your most valuable growth channels. I also wanna talk a little bit about why I see and how I see a lot of referral programs not doing so well. So what are the fails? And then we're gonna I'm gonna take you through step by step designing a campaign that works, the decisions that you need to make, and how to, how to really engage those incredible referral heroes in your business, and then how we can build that system that doesn't just make sure that we get one referral or two referrals, but that actually makes referrals repeatable in a business. Right? So I like it when we build machines, in our business. I like it when we build things that are not just one offs, but actually work on repeat. Okay?

5:17 Now before I dive into all of that, I do wanna give you a quick freebie. I know it's a summer. I know that summer is a time when we do see, things start to get a little bit quieter, so I wanted to quickly share some other ideas with you. Like I said, referrals are one piece of it, but a few other ideas with you for ways that you might be able to shore up your revenue during the summer. So take a quick snap of that QR code and grab that download. There are some really helpful, some summer promotional frameworks in there and some messaging templates for each one. I'm a big fan of being proactive about marketing, especially at the moment we know that we have these downturns. So I wanted to give that little gift to you, from me to you to help make sure that your summer is as strong as ever. So let's talk about referrals and specifically why referrals are your most valuable lead source. Right? And then let's talk a little bit about what's really happening when you leave those referrals to chance. So why do we like referrals? Well, we already know that when we get, clients from other clients that they show up and they already know, that you are someone they can trust. They already know that they probably are gonna like you, because their friend, their best friend raved about you. Right? So they come presold on your studio because someone they trust told them about you.

6:40 They also convert at a higher rate than any other lead source. What we know is when we get a referral, they come with a friend, they come from a friend, they're more much, much more likely to transition from just looking into that long term loyal client for lots of reasons we can talk about. They also stay longer because they arrive with a sense of belonging already. So what we know about retention over the long term is that the more, the sense of belonging that a client has, the more they feel like they're supposed to be where they are, the longer they're going to stay. And that has to do with a lot of feelings around, knowing what to expect, about feeling comfortable, about the expectations they have and those being matched. And so when we get a referral, when we get a word-of-mouth kind of referral, that we know that folks tend to stay longer. When people stay longer, they typically spend more. Right? And we like that too.

7:37 But they also bring shared values. Right? Because when you get a referral from a great client, they have come with a sent a shared sense of value. You already have a client that shares your values, and they're bringing more of their friends in who they also have shared values with. So they love what you love already, which means that they show up already ready more ready than perhaps someone who's never met you before, hasn't come to you through a referral. And perhaps just as important, when you get a referral into your business, that referral is more likely to become a referrer themselves. They were introduced to you from their friends. They're going to also be the ones to refer their friends to you as well. And so we love referred clients. We have said for years and years and years that word-of-mouth marketing is the best marketing, but often, we've had a hard time figuring out exactly how and why it works so well. Right?

8:38 So but we know that those word-of-mouth clients that come to you from their from friends, from great clients of yours, means higher retention. They build trust with you faster. They trust you more. They trust you faster, and they're generally a much better fit for your studio. So you're not wasting time chasing a client who is not a good fit. So we love referred clients, as an acquisition channel, and we like them because, yes, they are they perform best, but also we tend it tends to create a better energy in your studio for all of the reasons I just shared. Okay? So love referrals. Yes. Thumbs up in the chat if you agree. Have you had great people in your studio with referrals? Yes. I would love to get, we all know, hot lead. Yes. Okay. So what are the real cost of leaving those referrals to chance? What do we see when we don't think about referrals and how we set them up into our business and bill and use them to drive business?

9:39 Well, we obviously, number one, we there is a sense of lost revenue. There is, every amazing client that is not bringing you a friend of theirs is a missed acquisition. Truly, there are people in your community right now who are out there who could send their friends your way, and they just aren't. They just aren't, and they could. And that is a missed opportunity. So definitely, you'll miss there is a an opportunity for additional revenue when you have a strong referral campaign. What also happens is because we are missing those new clients coming in, we're missing that as a lead generation funnel, as a client acquisition funnel. Often, we tend to spend more on paid acquisition instead. Right? And paid acquisition, yes, we like it. We all do it, and it's great. However, I like to make sure that you all of your organic acquisition channels are already optimized before we start spending money on ads. And what I've seen over and over again is there's so many studios who are well established, who have all of their organic, campaigns and, channels well oiled that they actually don't need to spend very much on ads.

10:50 But if you're not if you haven't got those organic, channels set up, you end up having to spend on the paid acquisition to make up the difference. So you're missing out on revenue on the one hand, and perhaps you're spending more on marketing on the other. What we also find is that paid acquisition sometimes brings clients that are not exactly the best fit for your for your studio. And those people often come in with difference, difference in expectations. They are often looking for a quick fix or a low cost. And so we often find that we may get a lot of leads with those paid ads, but they often don't stay as long as our referrals. Right? Because the referrals come in with this having had more than likely a conversation with a friend about you and about how they their friend has felt about your studio and what they've gotten out of their experience there. And so they're already coming in with a set of expectations that is probably more in line with the way that you work with your clients. Okay? So we don't we avoid this sort of wrong fit situation. We end up spending time and money trying to convince people that you're the right fit.

12:06 Instead, when you get referrals, you get people who are already aligned with the way that you do things and your culture. Okay? Now without a referral system, what we find is that the slow seasons get even slower. Right? Because once you've overcome that sort of initial ripple, once you've always I should say, once you've already tapped out that initial sort of ripple of your clients that exist already, then you don't tend to grow your reach within your community. Okay? And without that revved up referral system, we end up finding that, you know, you get those quiet seasons, and those quiet seasons just get quieter and quieter. Right? When you have a strong referral program in place that is well designed and well and optimized, you tend to be able to continue to grow your reach. You continue to grow that visibility amongst your clients because your clientele is continuing to grow as well. Okay?

13:05 So there is a lot of costs to just sort of waiting for that next referral to come in truly. I think it's one of the lowest cost, easiest and best ways to build your clientele and build your client list. So there so we don't want it all to get, put left to chance. We want to be able to drive it forward. Okay? So I think we're all on board when it comes to, yes, we like referrals. Yes, we want more of them. So why isn't what you're already doing working? Let's talk a little bit about some of the mistakes that I've seen that often are really, like, really guarantee that your program will probably not work out as well. Okay? And these are all things that I see and see on a very, very regular basis. Alright? And so, by the way, if any of these kind of feel a little too familiar to you, don't worry. We've got the solutions coming up as well. Okay? So let's talk about some of the reasons that referral programs break down. Well, first things first, there is the wrong incentive. Okay? Now I have I come from the Pilates world, and I've been in the Pilates world for a long time. And it used to be in the Pilates world that there was this sort of go to referral program that was that, if the referral purchased a pack of 10 private sessions that the refer the referring hero, the person that was your client already, they would maybe get one free client free session. Right?

14:37 And people would complain that, that they no one would no one would refer their friends, and you didn't understand why because they would they would get a free session if they referred their friend. Right? The reality is that if you're spending a thousand dollars for a package of classes, then, you know, getting $20 off your next session next package is not gonna make a big difference. The people who spend thousands of dollars on packages care more about their reputation. They care more about making sure that, they're not gonna lose their best teacher to their friends than they do about that $20. Okay? So it was the wrong incentive, and it didn't work. Right? So we need to be thoughtful about our audience. And I'm gonna share with you in a moment some ideas, and you'll see that there are lots of different ways to do this. But I would encourage you to be thoughtful about your clientele and what it is that they would most appreciate.

15:31 Okay? Because there isn't really a one size fits all, for all types of businesses here. So instead of giving a wrong generic incentive, give something that people something they actually want. Alright? So that was the first mistake we see. The second mistake I see is that there is no actual clear ask. Right? So maybe you have a referral program. Maybe you have something that exists, but you're not ever sort of prompting your clients. You're not actually sharing it with them. Maybe it's not shown in your app. Maybe you're not inviting them or letting them know that it exists ever either in person or via any marketing channel at all. So instead of waiting for someone to do it and then, you know, perhaps mentioning that you have a referral program and then perhaps they are aware it exists, make it obvious. Make it clear and make the ask easy. Let them know it exists. Right? So no clear ask is the second, mistake I see happen.

16:30 The third is that there's no follow through. Okay? So the referral can happen, but then fall into a void. Right? So perhaps that you have your client has a, a referral code or they share it with their friend, but then it disappears. The friend never uses it, then it goes away, it expires, and so on. You really, really, really need to make sure that you have a system in place to capture that referral. Okay? So the referral it the onus really is on you as the business owner. You definitely want to make sure you have that, that follow-up happening as well. We know how important all of those automations really are. And then finally, that one off campaign that sits on the shelf all year round and doesn't get any TLC. TLC. You're not talking about it. You're not using it as a promotion. You're not regularly updating it. You're not creating campaigns around it. And there's just it just gets dusty, and it gets old, and it gets tired. And then you're you're you're bored by it. Your marketing team is bored by it. Your front desk is bored by it. And so when you have these sort of single campaigns, it just sort of sits there. It doesn't create any excitement amongst your clients, amongst your, your community.

17:46 So you wanna make sure that you have processes within your marketing system, within your marketing efforts that is drawing attention to your referral campaigns, that is drawing attention to your referral program, that is create making it exciting and, giving a lot of buzz around it so that it is that, you know, it is it was on people's radar consistently, not just, you know, once a year or once every two years, but on a really consistent basis. Okay? So these are the things that I've seen time and time again over and over again that, makes your referral program perhaps just a little bit dusty and a little bit quieter than we would like. Alright? So what do we do instead? Let's talk about designing a campaign that actually works. Okay? So when we think about designing any campaign, whatever promotion you're doing, you know, there are a series of, you know, questions you wanna ask yourself about what do you want the outcomes to be, what you want the goals to be, and all of the, criteria that are gonna help you to, deliver an effective campaign.

18:55 When it comes to a referral program, you just wanna get very, very, very clear on these particular questions. Okay? The first question is what qualifies your referral hero for a reward? Right? What does that what does that mean? That means that when your referral hero, and that is your client, we're gonna call them referral heroes. Okay? Because I know it gets a little complicated with the referrer, referee, and all of that. So we're gonna call them our clients, send their friends your way. They're our heroes. We love them. Okay? But what qualifies them to get a reward? Okay? That is the first, criteria we have to create. The second thing is then we have to define that reward. So what will they get? Okay? Then we have to think about what is that qualification window, how long do they have, and how long will this particular campaign last. Okay? So there are some definitions we have to be clear on, and we have to be clear about what the reward look like, what the reward looks like, and when people will qualify for it, and then how long you're gonna allow this campaign to run before you test and perhaps, refine for your next one.

20:11 Now quick reminder, there every studio is different. Okay? So you certainly want to evaluate your campaign and, those answers to those questions based on your business model, your pricing model, your pricing system, and what you think your clients will ultimately, feel good about. Right? Will actually make an impact, make a difference. And there's a lot of inside of Walla, there's a lot of, incredible tools and support for you to build this. A lot of ways to do it, in a in a way that is gonna be really, really visually. You can see everything that's happening. It's very easy to design inside of Walla. And you get a really nice high level overview of all of the campaigns, that you have running and how they are performing. You also get there's a lot I don't know if you wanna dive into this a little bit more, Laura, here, but there are some really cool things that you can do, not in the cam just in the campaigns, but you also have the work list feature here.

21:12 And that gives you the ability to really, see very quickly who it is that you need to interact with. And so you think of that really as your to do list of, who is qualified and maybe what you might need to do to make sure they get their, rewards. And then this is where you see your referral heroes here. These are your favorite people in your studio right now. These are the people we wanna make sure that you're giving that extra TLC to. And what we know about referral heroes is that they tend to be not just a one time thing. They don't just have one friend. The people who refer people to your studio are often what we call, like, these super connectors, these micro influencers perhaps on some level who often know a lot of people, and they tend to send will happily talk about your studio to more people. But perhaps they just need a little bit of TLC and a little bit of a nudge. Right? And so these this is where you're gonna find the people who've shared with you their most, who shared with you most the most of their friends.

22:16 And so you can give them that TLC. Right? I'm gonna quickly answer one of Terry's questions in here. So Terry asked in Walla what's the difference between a referral and an organic referral. So you're gonna see two different things, campaign referrals and organic referrals. Campaign referrals are people who came in through a specific campaign. Somebody clicked the link from a campaign in the app, sent their code out to a friend, and that person clicked it. The organic referral is somebody who happens to come into the studio and put down you know, Sarah was the person that referred me into the business. So it didn't technically come through one of the campaigns, like, the links in the campaign. It was told to the studio or, you know, mentioned in the onboarding process. Yeah. Yeah. K. So and there's you know, this is a great tool, and I you know, I'd encourage you to go in and build out your first campaign in here. I'm gonna take you through some of the ways you can do that and some ideas for you.

23:23 Right? So let's talk about that first question that I had, put to you earlier, which was what qualifies as a referral? Like, what gets your client a reward? Okay. So what do you want the referred friend to do in order to qualify for a reward? Alright. So the first option is perhaps just that new client purchases an introductory offer at your studio. Right? So easy peasy. If that if I am referring my friend, if they purchase an intro offer, I get a reward. Easy peasy. Great. This, I think, is one of the easiest ways to set it up. The bar is low, especially if you've got a good intro offer. You know it converts well. You know it does what it needs to do. You've got all of your rest of your bells and whistles set up nicely. And for most studios, this is that, that best option for starting with, yeah, that referral campaign. Okay? So inside of Walla, you'll just select ensure offer purchase when you create that campaign.

24:25 Super simple. This is what I would sort of generally recommend for most. Okay? Now another option is that the friend has to purchase a membership or a plan. Okay? Now this, not my favorite, at all. And, in fact, I would say maybe don't do this, but I do wanna share it with you as an option because it is an option. But this is, a higher commitment from that friend, so it's a lot more meaningful. I think where you're trying to sell a culture or there's more depth to it, it can work. But it's because it's such a bigger jump and a bigger commitment so quickly, it tends to probably be less likely that is what that friend will buy, which is why it's a bit kind of a it's not so helpful for this. But it is an option. Again, always an option, and I always like to make sure you know your options. So that is an option, but I would prefer you chose the intro offer. Now the other option, the third option, is that the friend just attends a class. Any class can come as a drop in. They can come as a guest. They can come as an intro offer purchaser, any class.

25:38 And that is also an option. And I think it works best for studios that have larger classes, first of all. So you don't just have maybe two people or three people or five people in a class. You have fifteen, twenty, 25 people in a class. Okay? Then you're it then it works well, and it works better. It's also works well if you are super hyper focused on just getting foot traffic, on just getting people through the door. So you're focused on top of funnel volume, then it's about just giving that class attendance is the is all your friend the friend has to do for your clients to get that referral reward. Okay? So then inside of Waller, if you were to choose this, you would select attend a class to reward on that first visit. Okay? So those are the three kinda triggers for the reward. Okay? Are there any I'm missing there, Laura? Nope. Though those are the three that we have for setup in Walla.

26:38 I like what you're saying as far as the plan is concerned. It definitely is a higher commitment. Terry was wondering if you're a direct membership studio, so you don't have an intro offer technically. You're just getting people into, like, a cheap first month and then into membership. How would you do that? So that's actually a plan. They're in while at least language, a direct to membership studio doesn't have an intro offer as, like, a separate plan. So you would just say you're you're selling a plan. Yep. So Yeah. It's either you would choose either member like, the plan purchase or attend a class would be the two options because you don't technically have an intro offer. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And Lisa was asking, is there a way to do an intro reward and then a plan reward? So you can't have two different campaigns running at the same time in Walla. And, technically, I mean, Sarah and I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

27:41 I find the more complex a referral system is, the less likely people are to engage in it. And you have to end up doing a lot of tracking to find out, like, when people did things. So keep it simple. And if I would say choose one or the other. But, Sarah, would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you think differently. No. I don't. That is exactly what I would say too. You know, I think the simpler, the better with this sort of thing. You have to the your client has to be able to understand it without thinking about it. Right? And we're in a don't make don't make you think kind of world right now, so let's not keep make it more complex. However, you know, I would say that as you're tracking these referrals and you're seeing your clients make bring their friends and their friends being, you know, converting well, converting higher, and maybe that is tied to how fabulous your client is, there's no harm in expressing your gratitude to them in whatever way feels the best for you.

28:42 But, I would probably separate that from an actual campaign itself. So, you know, we always like to look at our top clients in a lot of different ways, and that is would be one way to look at it for sure. And you'll see in Walla under the referral hero section, we actually have a client right now who's doing a competition over the summer, like, who can refer the most people into the studio. And you see a tracking list of who's referred her, who how much money they've driven into the studio. So you actually have a running tally of the dollars, the you know, that each one of these clients referral heroes have brought to your business. So you can say, you know, anybody who drives you know, you don't have to say it in these terms, but anybody who refers more than 10 people to our studio, you know, is will get something special. Or maybe you just send them a personal thank you note with a gift card or something like that. It doesn't have to be, like, a forever thing. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, that is the what we'll talk about. So what is the right reward?

29:47 I read my mind. So I so this is where you have to know your clientele really well. Know what your community is going to value because it should feel like a meaningful thank you, not just meaningless points. Right? This is not about just collecting loyalty points necessarily. For most of you who have a wonderful community of clients who you have a strong relationship with, you wanna make them feel special and that you show them that you appreciate, what you're doing. And I think one of the things we wanna be really careful about just to tie into the question, a moment ago was, that Lisa asked about the double rewards perhaps, is that we wanna be careful about trying to make our referral rewards, an sort of a an overtly, sales commission type, program. Right? So our clients don't work on commission for you at all. Like, this is designed to be a thank you that drives and increases retention and encourages and supports people bringing their friends into the studio, but it shouldn't be priced or designed to be a sales a commission for bringing in a client. Right? And we shouldn't treat the client that way, and we should be very careful about that.

31:10 So it's important to make it so that you are sharing your appreciation, your gratitude for their sharing your studio with their friends, and making it meaningful in whatever way you feel most be most impactful for your clients. Right? So the easiest way the easiest one that we will all go to always is some sort of an account credit. Right? It's flexible. It's easy. You can do it simply within Waller, and it's everyone understands it. Right? So I bring my friend into the studio, and I get a credit on my account on Waller. Fantastic. Easy peasy. I'm gonna share my referral code with everybody I know. Right? A complimentary class is an extension of that. Right? So that could be you might instead of giving a dollar amount, you might want to just give an actual class complimentary into their, account. The same for an appointment, a private session pass, and so on. A lot of folks will also do some sort of retail credit or some sort of merchandise as an option as well, and that's kind that can be kind of fun. I like that a lot because if you've got branded merch, then we like branded merch on our clients. It's good thing to have around town. Right?

32:22 Or perhaps there's some other perk. Like, there's an early access to workshops or events or if you're doing something like you're you are doing some sort of a competition to see who can refer the most. Maybe it is a bigger prize perhaps that you can put together as a result of that. Okay? So you wanna be thoughtful. Typically, I see most folks do some sort of a credit account, or a complimentary pass. It's easiest for you to do. It's usually completely automated, and I like that for all of you a lot. So, you know, that is where we tend to fall. Okay? Now what should because the next question I'm sure you're gonna ask me is, okay. So the referral hero the referring hero gets something, but is there something that the friend gets? Right? Do they get something as well? Is it that they also get a discount on that? Now this is, again, an something that is entirely up to you. Right? You have options here, and the option is that maybe there is no extra discount for the new client. Right? Maybe there's nothing. Or maybe there is. And, again, this is entirely up to you. If your intro offer is already a great deal, then you don't have to have any sort of additional reward. Right? Your intro offer is gonna sell itself.

33:40 But maybe there is a small account credit on top of the intro as well. Maybe they get $5 off the intro offer or something like that. Right? Or maybe there's a free class or an extra add on to sweeten that deal as well. Maybe that also has a you know, it has that timeline, the limit on the on the duration of when it can be used to encourage that usage for them to come in. Or maybe there's a welcome gift that they get when they do actually come in and use and come to their first class on that referral code. Okay? Yeah. So this is, I think, entirely optional. And, you know, this is something that, again, you're gonna have to think about your clientele and what they would value and what you think would work best for them. So just something to throw in here. I know somebody asked about what about a free T shirt. Yes. Awesome. Don't forget the, I don't know, value of the importance of social sharing. So if you have something that is, I wanna take a picture with my friend with this on. Like, I often think if I had a studio today, I would probably do something that was, like, either a cute T shirt or a mug or whatever that says, I'm doing Pilates with her and, like, a little pointing finger. And so people would take pictures with it next to each other and share about your studio and ways for your clients to do the selling for you that are fun and don't feel like they're selling. Right? And social media is such

35:05 an important way to do that. So just be creative. Have fun with it. Yeah. Absolutely. And the more opportunities that you can create for that buzz to happen in your studio, the better. So as you're thinking about all of these different ways that you're creating that campaign and creating a buzz, the way that you know, the more that you can make it as shareable as possible online, the better it is always for sure. Yes. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about some, examples. I've got a couple of examples here, right, just to take you through step by step some of the, things to think about. Right? So in this example, you have a class based business. You have more than eight spots per class, and you have a healthy intro offer price. Okay? This is kind of important here. One the reason why I'm being super clear on this is because if you have a smaller number of spots per class than this, then once you start, it really impacts your profit margin to have a lot of credits happening to various accounts.

36:01 Okay? It really does. So we have to be careful about that. In some businesses, not all. Okay? But to be to be clear for this example, you're in you have eight plus spots per class and a healthy intro offer price. Alright? So what qualifies you your referral hero for a reward? They buy the intro offer. Okay? The reward to the referral hero is a $25 credit to the account, which is probably just about the same price as perhaps a class on a plan of some sort or a membership. Okay? So roughly probably about the same. The qualification window is thirty days, so the friend has to buy within thirty days to qualify to get that. Okay? The friend could also get a $10 credit when they buy the intro offer or, yeah, when they buy the intro offer. And the whole campaign, when you're promoting this whole thing, would last three months. Okay? So these are the criteria that you could set up for this particular scenario.

36:59 Okay? Now a different business might have a different rewards structure. Okay? So let's imagine that you offer only private one on one appointments. Maybe you're a private Pilates studio, and you only offer appointments. Maybe you're a private Pilates studio, and you only offer appointments or you have appointments in your business. How would a referral program work there? Well, in this scenario, it looks a little bit different. What qualifies your referral here for a reward? They buy the intro offer. Okay? What is the reward? Could be a $50 credit to the account. So you'll note that it is higher than a class because that client coming in who is buying that, private session is has a the price point is higher, so the reward is higher. Okay? Or maybe they get a free private session. Okay? The qualification window could be a little bit longer. Why? The price point is higher. Okay? And then maybe their friend also gets a credit towards their first 10 pack purchase.

37:54 Now when you're dealing with one on one class clients, you know, it's it the volume is typically smaller, so this is something that you could track manually or, set up as a automation. And then the campaign may last about three months per se. So you'll see that the numbers can look quite different from studio to studio and even within one studio, from one type of revenue stream to the next. Okay? So be mindful of that. I would recommend that you, first of all, create referrals for your classes first. Okay? Keep it simple. Focus on the class based businesses first. The price point is usually lower. It means that your there's fewer barriers to entry and so on, and there's usually a bit more of accessibility as well. Okay? So let's what do your clients see inside of Huala? So on the app, there's, you'll find that your clients will see, this little great little, button down here, and they will get perhaps the invitation to share, the code. And the code looks like this.

38:57 You're not something that anyone's gonna remember, but they can share it really, really, really, really easily with their friends by just clicking the button and popping it into a text. And then what happens the is that the friend gets invited to create that account, and then they're in it and can purchase that, exclusive offer. Okay? And, get that intro offer and in this case, also an account credit. Okay? So it's super easy and they're and streamlined in so many ways. Yeah. And just to call out here, the reason we have the work list in the, referral program in Walla is we see lots of people start the process, but then not actually take the action. Right? Like, oh, cool. In the moment, I my friend, you know, sent me this link. I'll quickly I mean, it auto fills in your phone. It's so fast to create an account. Fantastic. But then they don't come to the class or they don't make the purchase. But you've captured an incredibly hot lead in Walla.

40:00 And from there, we actually have some quick like, you can click message that person, and we've already prewritten it. It says you've got x number of days left to claim your reward. So it's counting down and it's actually watching. But it becomes you know, when you think about the leads that you're following up with and you're spending time on, those are, like, the cream of the crop, the first ones that you wanna make sure don't slip through the cracks. Yeah. And usually, you would never know. Right? You'd never know typically that they'd even shared your information. Right? Right. So this is, you know, this is, again, like, low hanging fruit in your business. That list right there is gonna be a place where you're gonna wanna spend you're gonna wanna check out, and you're gonna wanna leverage and utilize. Because the sooner you can get the people in the door, the better, the conversion will always be. Yep. K.

40:51 Alright. We've got a few questions if you don't mind. Okay. Okay. So Umika, I think that's how I say it, is saying, do you have any suggestions for studios where clients have concerns about full classes? So they want smaller classes. They wanna be able to get into classes. Is that something that just doesn't work with a referral program, or what are your thoughts? Yeah. If you've I mean, the reality is that if you have got if you've got full classes, you're gonna wanna make sure that you're getting paid as much as you can for those full classes. Right? So you don't really need to have to be driving client acquisition with referrals necessarily. However, we like when people share their friends with you. Right? So you're in a you're in an interesting spot there. And what you might you would want to do probably as I would record what I would sort of say if you were my client is I would say, you wanna have a referral campaign happening because and the reason really, the reason being is that, you know, marketing is never an overnight situation.

41:57 So we always see that marketing takes months actually to really filter into your business. So if you stop marketing your business and you start to see a bit of a perhaps a downturn or you add a couple extra classes to your schedule and all of a sudden have some capacity, it can take longer than you might think to fill those spots. So you always wanna have a some sort of a client new client acquisition lead generation, funnel active. And I think that this is the cheapest and probably gonna get you the hottest leads. Right? Yeah. So I would have this campaign happening, but would I push it and be talking about it in every class with all of your clients all the time? Probably not. Not until you figure out how to add more capacity to your studio. Yeah. Yeah. Catherine, quick question, was asking about, could it be a guest pass on their account? So there's not a way to automate a guest pass in Walla, but you can manually add. So instead of saying, like, when you're building the referral campaign in Walla, instead of saying automate this action, you're gonna say, we'll manually add a guest pass. So then as soon as you see that somebody has taken the step, they've qualified, and they've purchased, see how at the top of her screen right there, it says you have two awards waiting to be fulfilled.

43:18 That's what it'll say. You've got two people waiting for their fulfillment, and you can go in and manually add a guest pass to their account. So yeah. Can you set up an automatic discount on an autopay, or does it have to be an account credit? It has to be an account credit in voluntary. Is there a downside to keeping the reward active all the time? Maybe you were gonna chat about this, Sarah, next. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can talk about that. So, yeah, I think one of the things, I wanna talk about this in a second, but, yes, one of the things when it comes to, there is not a huge downside other than, what actually, to be clear, what do you mean? I wanna be what are you reading this as active all the time? So just building one campaign and letting it go. Yeah. We have the same one. You get your link. It's always the same. In fact, I think you were the one who had the studio. Okay. Yes. You had your full studio, full classes. So for you, particularly, if you do have full classes, that is what I would recommend you do is to have a referral program.

44:24 But you're you're you're going to let it kind of sit there for those people who see it and want to and wanna use it. There's no downside. It's only the reality is that when we get when we don't, dust off campaigns, from time to time, they tend to get a little less and less love over time, and people tend to overlook them. So if we're not giving any attention to your referral program, then you'll find that people just won't do it. They won't refer people. They won't use the links. They won't share the links because you're not talking about it. You're not creating buzz around it. And so they're not their attention is not on it. Right? And in the world that we're in today, attention is what we're all fighting for, honestly. So, that is the downside. That is the only downside. But for you, it might not be downside. Yeah. Okay. But Stern's right. It takes a while for people to take action sometime. And Terry said, mark it when you're busy so you don't ever slow down. So true. Like, you never want that to stop. Yeah.

45:25 And, you know, those are the business sync signals that maybe your space is not right for you anymore. You need a bigger space or maybe it's time for another location. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So a couple of things to just, be clear about and get and get a couple of details that we wanna make sure you get right. Number one is get clear on how long the friend has to complete the ask. Right? So the clock starts when the friend, creates their profile or when the link is sent, Laura. What's the When the friend creates their profile. So we don't we don't know who they're sending the links to. Right? But as soon as that person fills out the page you showed earlier that, you know, it says Laura Munkholm has referred you. Create your account here. As soon as that's done, the clock starts ticking. Yeah. And so, you know, you wanna make sure you give people enough time to use it and that you're encouraging your clients to share their friends with you.

46:18 So don't make it too short. Let's give people a chance. And so thirty days is just about right and also gives you that opportunity perhaps to follow-up with them if they haven't managed to make it into the studio. Either way, the follow-up is key. Right? Even with people who weren't completely captured, they are not entirely lost. They should all still be in your kind of nurture system, and they should be, you know, contacted on a regular basis and invited in and all the other ways that you can bring people into, the studio. You also wanna make sure that you whatever you're putting in that campaign description and whatever you're calling it, make it fun. Make it make it exciting. Make it compelling. Right? That's how you're gonna make sure that it stands out, and then really be clear about what it is that everybody is getting. Again, so simpler, more direct you can be, the better. The more we try to, I think, often wordsmith it all, it often falls apart. So be super clear, super direct, and, and compelling to both your clients and then probably their friends. Okay?

47:23 So let's talk a little bit about those heroes. We love them. Right? And most of the time, it is usually a small number of people who bring you, the most clients. Right? And you have to remember when you're thinking about your heroes, I think sometimes we think of them, you know, they're they we think of them often as sort of just a number if we're looking at our at our software. But they are people, and they are people because, they the people who love you because they genuinely love what you do. Right? And they're making that referral mostly because they actually genuinely care about having about your studio and because they want to bring their friends to you. They wanna show what they have found. Right? And so depending on your clients, especially those amazing heroes that we love, you, wanna make sure that you are recognizing them and perhaps as a personal thank you, perhaps as a public thank you.

48:18 But you'd certainly want to make sure that you are showing your gratitude and appreciation. And, again, inside of wall IE, that's where you're gonna find that list, and you can certainly see, as I showed here, how many people they've referred, how much they've earned, etcetera, etcetera. And these are the people that, you wanna make sure you're showing plenty of TLC to. Alright? So sending a personal note, perhaps giving an extra little gift or thank you, invite them to something special. And a lot of studios even can often have sort of these sort of ambassadors on some level, in this in the community, that they, you know, actively invite people into as sort of holding the hands of those new clients. So make sure you're acknowledging them. Okay? So finally, let's talk about what makes this more of a system that makes referrals repeatable. Now when I think about a referral machine, this is what I'm talking about. First of all, if you wanna drive referrals into your business, you wanna make you wanna make sure you've got multiple campaigns over the year that is pulling people's attention, keeping people's attention. So a key moment throughout the year, you want to perhaps say at the new year, maybe the spring, maybe back to school. You want to make sure you're highlighting your referral program. You're talking about it in and across all of your marketing channels.

49:39 Please use as much of the automated rewards as possible. I care about yours your mental health, and that means that, you wanna make sure you're using as many tools as possible. Right? So you're not chasing things and adding things to your to do list. Okay? I really encourage you to use that work list feature in Walla, honestly. Spend all the time in there each week. Make sure that you're not losing people, unnecessarily because everyone in that on that list is a warm lead, and, we should be making sure that there is nothing no stone left unturned on that, that follow-up list. Okay? Also, make sure that you're tracking data. Right? So every time you roll out any sort of campaign, any marketing campaign, whatever it is, and including referral campaigns, you wanna make sure that you're thoughtful about returns, who the top referrers are, what the data is telling you, and is it something that you then want to do again?

50:35 So we think about the seasonal campaigns I talked about a moment ago. You know, we would put them on rinse and repeat. Right? If you do a Valentine's Day referral, bring a friend situation, maybe you're gonna wanna do that exact same thing next February. Right? And then maybe you change something or maybe you won't depending on the data that you get. Always know who your best clients are and who is your who are your top referral heroes. Right? Recognize them. Show them gratitude, and make sure that you're recognizing them consistently in the studio. And then you wanna make sure that you're thinking about whether or not you wanna switch up rewards, triggers, qualifications, and so on so that you're actually getting the results that you want. Okay? So a couple of ideas here for you, perhaps. January is a great time to get a referral campaign going, get more and more as many people as you can in the door in the beginning of the year is always good for everyone.

51:33 That springtime is another good time. Back to school is that second bump we often see and another time to say, hey. Everyone back in. Bring a friend. Let's make it happen. Get back to our routine. And then perhaps before the end of the year, it winds down as we're heading into that holiday season. Okay. So let's review quick, before we head into some q and a. We love referrals. Love referrals because they, bring us great retention, great clients, better cultural fit for the studio. If your current program isn't working, it's probably because of one of these things, perhaps that wrong incentive. There's no clear ask. There's no follow through. So just fix one of those at a time based on some of the things that perhaps you've learned here in this, in this workshop today, and then track the results. Okay? Be smart about designing the right campaign for your business, please. Please. Please. Please.

52:28 So what will work for you may not work for someone else. I gave you a couple of examples today so that you can see that there are different, options for different businesses, and you want to really be thoughtful about what's gonna work for your business and your clients. Okay? Be, aware and know your referral heroes. Know who they are. Find them. Thank them. Build those relationships. Encourage them to bring their friends. They usually, like I said, these super connectors who just love to be a super connector, so facilitate that. And then continue to think about how you can turn this into that machine in your business so that you're not doing this by hand on the back of a bit of paper. Right? Wanna make sure that you are setting this up, and being able to put it on rinse and repeat, not just, over the course of one year, but ideally over the course of many. Okay? And, ultimately, we all want to be in a space where we're surrounded by people with who are like minded. Right? And so when your friends come to the studio with their friends, it creates that much, much stronger sense of belonging, a really wonderful sense of community.

53:35 And, you know, we that's what keeps people connected and what I think so many people are seeking, in the world that we're in today. So use the referral programs where you can. I really encourage it because it really will only make your studio as much, much stronger place, much better place to be. Awesome. Well, everybody's been asking questions as we go. I did wanna quickly pop in and, let Adrian know. So I'd said this to Terry earlier. Can you have the account credit automatically credit the recurring autopay? So the answer to that is no. You assign it to the next autopay session. And the biggest reason for that is we have lots of businesses where people have multiple memberships. They have shared memberships. They have family memberships. So it's a little complicated to just say assign it to the next autopay because we don't know which one always. So we'll let you let you guys do that.

54:35 But, also, I think Carrie asked earlier about dollar amounts. The as Sarah mentioned before, depending on how much the cost of your programming is, that makes a big difference. So it's hard to say, like, okay. $5 always works. $25 always works. $50 always works. It really depends how much, you know, a drop in would be or a session would be at your business. And I and I'd also add that it also depends on the stage of business that you're at and your capacity. You know, if you're in a if you're in the beginning of your journey as a business and you've got plenty of capacity, you wanna just encourage as many people to walk through the door as possible. And we know that those warm leads are gonna be a stronger conversion than cold lead. So you may be more likely to give a higher incentive and encouragement across the board. If you're an established business with lower less capacity and perhaps, you know, a strong lead flow from other places, then you may be not be as inclined to provide a really high incentive or a really high reward.

55:40 So it really depends on so many factors, which is I know it's tricky to navigate, but that is true. Yeah. Yeah. Cara was asking where do we see which clients are using the app to book? There isn't, like, an app, report that shows you where people are booking. I can tell you that the vast majority, like, just from, I can send out this data to you guys if you want, but I know it's over 60% of people book via app on wallet. And businesses that have branded apps, it's much higher than that. So, the majority of clients will be booking on your app. Lisa, sorry. Technical question. Maybe it's just us. If we click on organic referrals, campaign referrals, It doesn't list the individuals that yeah. Lisa, without diving into that with you, I think why don't you send an example of that to, the support bubble, if you don't mind? Like, screenshot it or do a little Loom video of what you're seeing, and then perhaps they can dive into that with you and explain what you're seeing.

56:55 Okay. We put downloading our app into our onboarding flow, and it helps ensure most of our clients are on the app. I love that. Yeah. I think that's a really great way to do it. Oh, you're right, on each individual client's page, like, when you see their bookings, you can see what they're booking through, whether it's the widget or the app. There's just no, you know, overall report on it. Okay. Awesome. But, yeah, I would say for those of you who are communicating a lot with your clients via email, via newsletters, just put a link to your app in the newsletter if you're talking about the referral program. And as soon as they open the app, it will pop up right on the home page. Awesome. Well, thank you, Susan. Your referral machines, you guys. Yeah. This is so, so helpful, and I think those examples are exactly what everyone needs just to get some motivation and kick these off. Guys, please reach out to Sharon if you have questions. I'm sure you have so many examples of successful programs.

58:03 And if you've never listened to the Pilates Business podcast and you are a studio in that world, it is a great podcast. I've learned so much from it. And you've had it for a long time, 280 episodes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So there's there's some gold on there. Yeah. There is. Alright. Well, thank you all. We'll see you next month in Wallace webinar series, and you can always continue the conversation in our Facebook group if you have more questions. Alright? Have a great day, everyone. Take care. Okay.