PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Event Rentals & Booking

Reviews and Referrals After an Event Porta Potty Rental

Event customers are some of the best sources of new business you have. A wedding has a planner, a venue and dozens of guests who are planning their own events. A race director knows every other race director. A church picnic is attended by people who host graduation parties. One good event leads to the next, but only if you ask.

Every Event Is Seen by a Crowd

The repeat customers covered in Repeat Event Customers: Rebooking Annual Porta Potty Events Without Starting Over keep coming back on their own. Reviews and referrals are how you reach the people who have not heard of you yet. Event work is unusual in that hundreds of people see your units at a single job. Your name on the door is an ad. A good review gives that ad a reason to be trusted.

Event customers also read reviews more carefully than most. A couple spending a lot on a wedding, or a volunteer spending donated money on a church picnic, wants to know the company will show up on time and set the units where they asked. Reviews that say exactly that are what tip their decision toward you.

When to Ask

Timing matters. Ask too early and the event has not happened. Ask too late and the customer has moved on. For most events, the best time is a day or two after the pickup, once the host has had a chance to rest but still remembers how smoothly the day went.

For weddings, give the couple a little more time. They are busy with travel and thank-you notes. For festivals and races, ask the organizer within the week, before they start planning next year.

Make It Easy

The customer app lets customers rate the service and refer others. Customers who already used the app on delivery day, to watch the truck or see their invoice, know where it is.

A short text helps: "Thanks for having us at your event! If everything went well, we would love a rating in the app. And if you know anyone planning an event, the refer button sends them our way." Keep it short. Customers ignore long messages.

Send the text from the office, not from a driver's personal phone, so the reply comes back to the right place. If the customer replies with a complaint instead of a rating, you want the office to see it right away and respond, not a driver who is halfway through a route.

Ask the Right People

For many events, the person who booked is not the only one who saw your work. Think about who else can help:

• The wedding planner, who books many events a year
• The venue manager, who recommends vendors to every couple
• The festival operations contact, who works with other organizers
• The church volunteer, who talks to other churches

Add them as contacts on the client and site records when you can. A planner or venue manager who likes working with you can send you more business than any single customer.

Handle Problems Before Asking

If something went wrong at the event, fix it before you ask for a review. A unit that tipped over, a late delivery or a missing hand wash station deserves an apology and, where it makes sense, a credit. Customers who see a problem handled well often leave better reviews than customers who had no problem at all.

The driver's photos and the job notes help you understand what happened. Two-way texting lets you reach the customer quickly.

Thank Referrers

When a referred customer books, thank the person who sent them. A short text, a discount on their next rental or a small thank-you goes a long way. Whatever reward you choose, apply it consistently.

Keep track of who referred whom. A short note on the new client saying who sent them is enough. Over a season, you will see which customers, planners and venues send you the most work, and you can make sure they are treated well when they book their own events.

Use Reviews in Your Marketing

Good reviews belong on your website and your marketing. Event customers read them when they are deciding. A review that mentions the units being right where the planner wanted them, or the on-the-way text arriving right on time, speaks directly to the worries of the next customer.

Never write reviews yourself or ask anyone to post a fake one. Real reviews from real customers are the only kind worth having.

Make It a Habit

The companies that get the most reviews are not always the best ones. They are the ones that ask every time. Put asking for a rating into your routine after every event pickup. Over a season, those ratings add up. For more on event rentals, visit the event porta potty rental software page.