Top tips for boosting referrals – strategies that have worked:

• Train a lot of people in the organisation across a wide variety of departments. Pocket Power are happy to train as many teams as you like (for no additional cost)

• Share case studies (sent monthly by us) to staff members and residents

• Consider making the number of referrals and pick up rates part of staff KPIs. On our monthly reports we share how many referrals each staff member has made and the customer pickup rate

• Recommend a call with Pocket Power to all new tenants who move in so we can ensure they are on the best deals from the start

• Identifying customers who are in any arrears (e.g. rent, water, gas/electricity) and  offering them a call with Pocket Power (we work in partnership with lots of Trust Funds and have high success rate wiping debt and arranging new white goods)

• Pocket Power can help administer specific hardship funds you may operate e.g. gas/electricity/food vouchers (we’re happy to discuss the logistics of this)

• Offering the resident a three way call e.g. so they can have their Housing Officer or family/friend on the call - either in person or in a 3 way conference call. This can be particularly effective if a customer struggles with speaking on the phone or isn’t confident with their English skills.

• Advertise Pocket Power digitally (on your website website) or physically (new tenant welcome pack, HA notice boards)

• (related to advertising): Allowing customers to refer themselves directly to our service rather than going through their Housing Officer.

Top tips for reducing no shows:

At the point of making a referral:

• Request that the customer saves our number (020 3386 9799) in their phone as Pocket Power, so that they know it is us when we call (and not spam).

• Let the customer know that if they can’t make the booking they can re-schedule it by following the link at the end of the text or on the email we send them, or texting back directly. When the booking is rescheduled they will immediately receive a text confirmation.

Other top tips/things to note:

• Ensure staff are well informed about the service and can explain it clearly to the customer beforehand. PP have created a staff info sheet with a handy script, and some of our partners recommend staff booking a call so they run through the service and experience first hand what it involves (and often save money in the process!).

• Our data suggests the customers most likely to answer are those who have had a warm referral from a Housing Officer whom they have an existing close relationship with.

• Some of our partners contact no-shows to try to encourage them to book in again. PP’s data on this shows around 25% of re-booked customers pick up and the rest are a no-show again. In any event, PP share the list of no-shows in the monthly reports so any of our partners can try this approach.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you would like support with implementing any of the above ideas!