Using Gift Cards to Boost Leads and Loyalty with Evan Crum from PerfectGift.com
In this episode, we’re talking with Evan Crum from PerfectGift.com about how home improvement companies can use gift cards to:
- Drive more leads through incentives
- Improve review generation
- Motivate and reward employees
- Create smarter canvassing campaigns
- Avoid one-leg appointments with strategic incentives
PerfectGift.com offers customizable Visa/Mastercard and retail gift cards with powerful tracking and support tools. Plus, their PerfectGift+ product gives recipients total choice—from brands to cash.
🎁 Listener Exclusive: Mention this podcast for perks like free shipping and free digital credit on your first order.
📞 Contact Evan directly at 412-903-3758 or evan.crum@perfectgift.com
🌐 Learn more at PerfectGift.com
Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Don (00:00):
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet (00:33):
Hey there, and welcome to another episode of Digital
Marketing for Contractors.
This is the podcast where webreak down smart, scalable
marketing tactics that work forhome improvement companies.
My name is Janet, and I'm thefounder of Fat Cat Strategies.
And I'm
Caitlyn (00:45):
Caitlin, the head of client services here at Fat Cat.
Today's episode is a fun one.
We're going to dive intosomething as simple as a gift
card and how it can actuallybecome a powerful marketing tool
for your contracting business.
So Janet, who are we joined by
Janet (01:01):
today?
We are so excited to welcomeEvan Crum.
He is the sales executive fromperfectgift.com.
Evan and his team, let's see,what does Evan do?
I'm reading, obviously, off ofa script here.
We're going to leave that in.
Evan and his team helpbusinesses use gift cards for
everything from lead generationto closing deals and even
(01:21):
retaining employees.
Evan, why don't you do a betterjob of telling everybody what
you do than I just did?
Evan (01:27):
Yeah, that's all right.
No, appreciate it.
Hi, everyone.
Like they said, the name's EvanCrum.
What does Perfect Gift do?
What do I do?
So I help those in this amazinghome remodeling business
roofing, I guess we'll say homeimprovement industry, utilize
the power of gifts or the powerof gift cards to retain
(01:49):
customers, reward customers,retain and reward employees,
even offering safety awards,incentivizing customers and
clients as well.
And that is what I do in theindustry and how I work with
others in home improvement.
Caitlyn (02:03):
That's so awesome.
I mean, and I know throughdifferent partners that we've
connected with, they recommendedyou guys.
I think it's a gorgeous add onservice, not only to what we do
digitally, but like in house.
I mean, that's where you and Iconnected.
I was like, our contractors whowe work with every single day
are looking for incentives fortheir employees who take good
(02:24):
job site photos.
Yep.
Who help generate reviews.
Yeah, who help generatereviews.
Evan (02:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Incentivizing reviews is huge.
You know, I just came back lastweek from the Dave Yoho
Conference in St.
Louis, where a lot of it wasgeared towards sales leads, how
to generate leads, and how togenerate reviews, and with Dave
Yoho's sales strategies.
And we fit really well intothat or any sales strategies,
because as you said,incentivizing someone to leave a
(02:52):
review is huge.
Twofold on that, because numberone, you're getting your
reviews up.
So whether you can direct themtowards Google, Yelp,
HomeAdvisor, whatever.
But number two, if you happento have a bad review, it now
gives you a reason to contactthat person and try to address
whatever that, that the reasonthe bad review is because the
(03:15):
person obviously wants a giftcard.
That's why they're leaving areview.
But if it's bad, you cancontact them.
So incentivizing reviews isabsolutely a huge part of the
business as our employeerewards, as our giving, you
know, employees rewards as partof brand ambassadors are just
thanking people, et cetera.
Janet (03:32):
That's awesome.
So why don't you walk usthrough, like explain it to
somebody like they have no ideahow this works.
In this scene, I'll play theowner of a roofing
Speaker 04 (03:44):
company.
Janet (03:44):
And I just heard about perfectgift.com.
And I'm thinking about doingsome sort of gift card for
customers that have justinstalled a job.
I mean, would that be a gooduse case scenario?
Evan (03:59):
Yeah, it would.
It would.
Actually, there was a roofer Iwas talking to.
They're out in Tennessee wherewhat they do is they're going to
give their team, I thinkthey're $50 visas or $100 visa
cards with their logo on there.
We can do that complimentary,by the way.
But they're giving them tohouses next door because I
haven't heard of this.
It's like a
Janet (04:18):
canvassing tactic.
Evan (04:19):
Exactly.
So one, they're doing it as acanvassing, but two is like,
hey, we apologize for the noiseduring the day.
Here's $50 on us.
Never thought of that.
So that is unique.
So from a roofing point ofview, every roofer out there,
take that for what it is.
It is.
I will give them all the creditin the world to answer your
question.
Yeah, it is really.
You said you wanted to use itfor incentivizing customers.
Janet (04:42):
I mean, I just want the listeners to understand.
I always like to play kind ofthis class, you know, like if
I'm driving in my truck and I'mnot really paying attention,
break it down to me.
Like I'm a three-year-old.
So let's roll with this wholescenario where I've got a
roofing company.
I'm going to start thiscanvassing campaign.
(05:03):
My guys are going to knock, youknow, three doors up, three
doors down and across thestreet.
Now they're armed with thesegift cards.
How does that get set up?
Do I have to...
pre-fund them yeah
Evan (05:16):
great
Janet (05:16):
great mechanics into it
Evan (05:20):
absolutely well let's just let's jump right into it so
first off there's never therewill never be a purchase
necessary to create an accountwith us
Speaker 04 (05:26):
that's right
Evan (05:27):
so that is completely free um You create an account.
All we would need to get anaccount rolling is the official
business name, the official EINfor that business, and the
business address.
Once you're approved, you getyour username and your password.
From there, you can order on adashboard.
You have your own dashboard.
If you wanted to order a Visaor MasterCard with co-branding,
(05:51):
you would simply submit theco-brand.
The bank approves it.
And then we print them out thesame exact day.
We can ship them out the sameday as well in our fulfillment
center in Pittsburgh.
By the way, I know we're tarifffree because all of our stuff
is made in Pittsburgh, all ofour gift cards.
I'm kind of kidding.
Janet (06:10):
Co-branding would be like if I was a deck company and I'm
installing Trex and Trex gaveme some joint marketing dollars.
Evan (06:18):
So as an example, I'll cover the number.
This is what it would looklike.
I'm going to cover this number.
You need
Caitlyn (06:27):
to blur that number out.
Evan (06:28):
Yeah, but this is what it would look like as an example.
I handed those out at the showlast week also.
But to answer your question,Janet, is it pre-funded?
So the way that we operate is,yes, they would need to purchase
the cards up front for us todeliver the product.
Janet (06:47):
We don't
Evan (06:48):
have any terms like that.
However, with Visa MasterCard,we can do denominations as low
as $5 up to $10,000.
Okay.
We have no minimum order.
So even if you were a rooferthat wanted to get a customer a
one $5,000 Visa card or $5,000MasterCard, you can do that.
We also have our retail giftcards.
(07:12):
Those are discounted.
So we represent over 300brands, meaning There's a lot of
home remodelers and others thatare in like Home Depots or
Lowe's.
They can actually purchase HomeDepot or Lowe's gift cards from
us.
We provide a discount on thatpurchase, and they can hand
those out, either physical orelectronic.
Janet (07:30):
Oh, that's cool.
Evan (07:31):
And then finally, one of the new products that we have is
something called Perfect GiftPlus, which I absolutely love.
So what Perfect Gift Plus is,is there's no fees associated to
that.
Like these are a MasterCard.
For doing a MasterCard, I haveactivation fees.
With Perfect Gift Plus, if youwanted to give someone, say, a
$50 Perfect Gift Plus credit,that individual can choose.
(07:52):
It's the power of choice.
They can choose between a VisaMasterCard themselves.
This is for the recipient.
They can choose over 300 retailcards and link it directly to
their debit card or put it intheir phone.
Or they can deposit the moneyinto Zelle.
So it's really the power ofchoice.
choice for them which is greatthat's good from a canvassing
(08:13):
point of view also where ifyou're if you aren't sure if
somebody's going to wantstarbucks or if they're going to
want cash right plus
Caitlyn (08:23):
so that kind of um answers my next question a
little bit is Why not just go toa grocery store and pick up a
bunch of Visa gift cards orLowe's gift cards?
Yeah,
Evan (08:35):
that's an outstanding question.
So number one, for Visa andMasterCard, our activation fees
are typically going to be lowerthan going to a Walmart or here
in Chicago, a Jewel or a Publixout in Florida, or I don't know
what you guys have out in NorthCarolina.
Janet (08:52):
Yeah.
Evan (08:53):
Yeah, yeah.
They got rid
Janet (08:55):
of
Caitlyn (08:55):
Winn-Dixie.
I
Janet (08:56):
think if you're in a small town, you can still find a
Winn-Dixie.
Evan (08:59):
Probably, probably.
Winn-Dixies were, well, therewere a lot of them.
But so number one, ouractivation fees are
significantly lower.
You're typically gettingcharged between $4.95 to $6.95
for an activation fee on thatVisa MasterCard that you're
purchasing from a store.
That's number one.
Caitlyn (09:16):
I knew that.
Evan (09:17):
I
Caitlyn (09:18):
didn't either.
Evan (09:19):
That's fantastic.
Typically, typically you have
Caitlyn (09:22):
exceptions.
You can absorb it or like therecipient.
Evan (09:26):
Correct.
Caitlyn (09:27):
Like either way.
Evan (09:28):
Correct.
Number two, from a supportaspect, you have a total team
that's behind me.
So my colleagues that are on myteam, on our team, we all work
with each other.
So when someone is out of theoffice and a client calls in, we
are directly responsible forthat client.
So you have a whole entireteam.
And we also have a customerservice team that's 24-7, 365.
(09:50):
Doesn't matter when you call,they can help you out.
Again, you're going to thestore, picking up a card.
You might be calling Visa orwhoever that distributor is, and
they might not have thatsupport.
Caitlyn (10:04):
I really, oh, I didn't mean to cut you off.
I liked the user experiencefrom your portal perspective.
I mean, obviously with
Janet (10:13):
a...
I mean, as a business owner,can you use
Caitlyn (10:15):
it as a
Janet (10:15):
marketing or...
Caitlyn (10:17):
Yeah, being able to track things.
I mean, very easy to use.
I thought that was, in myopinion, I mean, that to,
Janet (10:25):
I would use that just.
If somebody was going to use,like, go to, we're in North
Carolina, Harris Teeter, buy abunch of, let's say, Starbucks
gift cards to reward safety onthe job.
Caitlin, I think your point isthere's no tracking dashboard
for that.
No, no, I
Evan (10:43):
love
Janet (10:43):
it.
You don't know if they gotused.
They don't know if they gotlost.
No.
Evan (10:46):
Yeah, with Starbucks, the use is we'd have to reach out to
Starbucks directly, but we cando it.
I also really want to stressthe security aspect because, as
we know, in my industry, there'sa lot of fraud, a lot of bad
actors out there, unfortunately.
We pride ourselves on, numberone, ensuring that if there are
(11:08):
fraudulent attempts that aremade, that we shut them down.
So it doesn't happen often, butit's happened.
But number two, from a securityaspect, since we are program
managers for Visa andMasterCard, those cards are
housed in our fulfillment centerin Pittsburgh, as I said.
They...
are housed in a vault.
You need two people to go intothe vault.
Fraud's not going to happenthat way.
(11:28):
And we're able to track those.
From Starbucks or any otherretail cards, same thing, where
we have these cards.
So one of my clients reachedout to me when we were beginning
our conversation.
And it's not in the remodelingworld, but they said, hey, we
usually buy McDonald's cardsfrom a company, but they're
resold McDonald's cards.
Meaning that in my industry,there are some companies Nothing
(11:51):
wrong with it.
But some companies will buyMcDonald's cards off market from
someone else and then resellthe McDonald's cards at margin.
Completely fine.
It really is not a big deal.
But unfortunately, one of theproblems with that is that
sometimes those gift cards mighthave been used.
And the reseller is not surebecause they're not going to go
through all 100 or how manyMcDonald's cards they get.
(12:12):
So the client stated to me,well, how can you ensure these
McDonald's cards haven't beenregained?
And I said, well, we can ensurethat because...
Number one, we are getting themeither from McDonald's
themselves in this example, orwe might be getting them from
one of our qualified partnersthat supply McDonald's possibly
to the grocery stores.
But that is the benefit ofrunning it through us.
(12:35):
Plus, I mean, thecustomization, you're able to
put your logo.
You can't do that over atWalmart.
You're not going to go toWalmart and say, put my logo on
this Visa card because they'regoing to look at you like you're
crazy.
You can do that through us,whether it's physical or or
electronic.
Janet (12:51):
So if I kind of extrapolate from what you just
said, if you've got a homeimprovement company that has an
idea to use some sort of giftcards and they don't know you
guys exist and they go onto someaftermarket and buy a big batch
of cards, I believe what you'resaying is there's a risk that
(13:14):
some of those cards have beenredeemed.
And then if you're using themas part of some sort of
campaign, it's a tarnish on yourbrand.
Now you've done thiscanvassing, door knocking, hey,
sorry for the mess.
And then the customer or theprospect or the homeowner goes
to try to redeem this thing andit doesn't work.
And then you kind of looklike...
Evan (13:33):
Correct, correct.
And sometimes, you know,sometimes...
the other company doesn't evenknow so i'm not throwing that
company under the bus theremight be a security aspect where
those were a batch of cardsthat got hacked they don't know
that they're not sure and so nowwhen somebody goes to try it
now that customer will be angryat the remodeling company who's
(13:53):
then angry at company providingit now that company is providing
it kind of says i don't knowwhat happened
Speaker 04 (13:58):
yeah
Evan (13:58):
um that does not happen with us so we can ensure We
definitely want to, I want toemphasize that we are very
secure.
Speaker 04 (14:07):
Yes.
Evan (14:07):
And again, since we don't have minimum orders, they can
order one or two to test it out.
Janet (14:12):
Oh, I love that.
Oh.
And so
Evan (14:15):
easy to use.
Caitlyn (14:15):
And
Janet (14:16):
I love the small dollar amount.
I do too.
I mean, if you wanted to dolike $3 or do like a, let us buy
you a coffee campaign.
You could do it at scale.
Evan (14:27):
Yep.
Janet (14:27):
You're not giving them $500 away at a time.
Evan (14:29):
No, no.
You can do it at scale, Ben,especially where if you're like,
look, I know my clients likeStarbucks or Dunkin'.
Number one, we can provide adiscount on Starbucks or
Dunkin', which depends on everybrand is different.
But number two, if you wantedto give straight Visa or
MasterCard or, like I said,Perfect Gift Plus, where they
(14:50):
can actually link theirStarbucks or Dunkin' card to
their debit card or their app,You know, it's a really nice
campaign to have.
Let us buy coffee.
On top of that, what I will sayis another good campaign would
be to ensure that that homeowneror both decision makers are
present, making sure they're notmaking sure they're not one leg
(15:12):
appointments.
Right.
unfortunately and we know this
Speaker 04 (15:16):
because i
Evan (15:16):
heard it at yoho oh yeah when they joked around i forgot
i think that uh chris cooney wasthe one that was talking about
it i think don't quote me onthat but i think is that he said
that the marketing people areupset at the sales people who
are upset at the canvassers whosaid the appointment makers and
the appointment makers are atthe door right now knocking on
the door saying to the centeryeah just book them just book
(15:38):
them right now the salespersongoes out there You should expect
to last an hour to three hoursof their time.
They get out there and thedecision maker is like, I told
them that this is not a goodtime.
My husband or my wife isn'taround, but come on in.
So now you're dealing with aone leg appointment.
Right.
You can change that with, withpower of gift cards is saying
both homeowners need to bepresent or both decision makers
(16:01):
need to be present.
And if they're both present,you're going to receive X.
Perfect.
Perfect.
And, and that, and that, prettymuch ensures that both will be
there.
Now, again, kind of up to thesalesperson how they want to run
the appointment.
Speaker 04 (16:14):
But
Evan (16:15):
it helps the appointment maker because they're saying, is
this person going to be here,both of them, so they don't get
in trouble?
The salesperson has a qualifiedlead because both homeowners
are going to be present.
And then the marketing peopleare going to be happy because
it's a qualified lead.
So it kind of just
Caitlyn (16:30):
trickles down.
Evan (16:32):
Yeah.
Caitlyn (16:32):
Do you have any other examples of how, um, contractors
are using perfect gift.com forlead generation?
Evan (16:39):
Yeah, I know that window nation has used us for lead
generation.
Uh, they will, they use uscontinually for lead generation,
uh, our home.
Um, it's more of a, If youcontact us, receive X.
That's
Caitlyn (16:51):
exactly.
And that's exactly what I wasthinking.
Like it's just part of thewebsite offer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Power home
Evan (16:56):
remodeling.
Power home is not my account,but they've been using us for a
long time.
I can't give you the specificscause I don't know the
specifics, but I do know powerhome remodeling uses us.
Speaker 04 (17:07):
Uh,
Evan (17:07):
and then, uh, I'm trying to think of some of my other
clients that are just out there.
Window Depot.
I work with Window Depots, oneof them out in Youngstown, where
again, he's using us toincentivize reviews and also too
from an acquisition side.
Okay.
We have so many commercialroofing companies, which I know
(17:28):
doesn't, as an example, they usethem more specifically as
employee rewards and safetybecause for commercial, you
don't really need to do that.
Create a call to action kind ofthing because, you know, the
commercial roofers, they'regoing to get jobs, you know,
unlike saying knock on doors.
But with commercial roofers,they want to reward their
employees.
And a lot of roofers that workwith us specifically will use us
(17:49):
to reward their employees,safety awards, employee
incentives.
rewarding employee referrals.
So that's how the commercialworld works with us.
Janet (17:59):
So on the employee referrals, I'm kind of just, I'm
going off of what you said.
Yeah, you're okay.
If I've got say five sales repsand, or just anybody who works
for me and you have a campaignthat says, if you refer somebody
that turns into an appointmentor you refer somebody that turns
into a quote, you can be, youcan receive a, this $500,
(18:22):
whatever the amount is.
And then you can track that,whether or not they used it.
Evan (18:28):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yep.
You can, you can track itthrough your dashboard or even
asking us.
We do have some cardholderprivacy stuff, so we can't tell
you where they used it.
Right.
Because again, that's based offof privacy.
Speaker 04 (18:41):
Right.
Evan (18:42):
You can say, yes, it's used.
No, it's not used.
And one thing that I know youlike Caitlin was that, the card
the funds don't expire yes sohere's what i mean by that
typically if you we're going touse janet as an example because
she was driving so she wasdriving her truck roofer hands
her hands out a 100 visa cardfor an appointment or 50 off
(19:05):
whatever 12 month expirationdate or what we call valid
through date month 14 month 15rolls around that person now
finds their visa card again
Speaker 04 (19:14):
right
Evan (19:14):
now they're like oh no it's expired so they can do Two
things with our company.
Number one, they can call usdirectly.
I have a $50 Visa card.
It expired.
And we'll say, okay, we'regoing to send you the remainder
of your funds, less $5 becausewe have to mail it out.
So you're going to get $45 andanother Visa card.
(19:34):
Number two, from the admin'send, if they get contacted by
the customer, they can actuallygo onto their dashboard, hit
replace card.
And then again, either theywill get charged $5 or if the
company wants to eat it, likethe home improvement company
wants to eat the $5 because theydon't want it to less from the
(19:56):
recipient's debit card, theycan.
We do not sweep funds.
So again, let's say we're goingto use the $50 again as an
example.
Other providers will sit andsay, okay, it's expired.
So let's see, three or fourmonths, we're going to charge
fees.
So now when you try and getyour card or funds, they'll
probably give it to you.
(20:16):
But instead of having $50, youmight have $43 and 50 cents.
Speaker 04 (20:21):
And
Evan (20:21):
then you say, why do I have that?
And they say, well, because itexpired, we had to sweep the
funds.
So we do not do that.
We don't sweep funds.
So those funds are yours.
Caitlyn (20:32):
That's fantastic.
No, I mean, everything aboutperfect gift, there's like, it
seems like a no brainer.
Um, What about any coolintegrations?
Do you have any secrettechnology that works with your
dashboard or anything like
Evan (20:45):
that?
Yeah, we definitely areconnected via API.
So we can always connect withanyone's API.
Secret technology that I'mintegrated with, not really.
That's massive.
Yeah, I'm not integrated withlike, I mean, we run through
HubSpot, but we're notintegrated like that.
But again, I'm sure thatthere's, brilliant people out
(21:10):
there way smarter than me inthe, in the tech world that can
go ahead and figure out a way toconnect to their, we do have an
API.
Caitlyn (21:20):
So like if somebody wanted to like set something up
between their CRM, Oh, that's
Evan (21:25):
awesome.
Yeah, we can, yeah, we can, wehave an API.
We have, Oh, I think we have anopen API and then anyone that
has questions about it, I canalways get them in touch with
our developers to, to, Have aconversation about API
integration.
But yes, we are very APIintegrated with a lot of
clients.
Caitlyn (21:40):
That's amazing.
I mean, especially for some ofthe clients you named, you
probably have to be.
Success stories, like tell us,do you have any fun examples of
how these perfect gift cardshave worked?
Evan (21:52):
Yeah, like I said, Window Nation is very successful with
them.
I've worked with Home GeniusExteriors briefly.
I'm going to be working withAll American Roofers with Corey
Minzik over there in her callcenter.
So they're going to be using itin their call center.
How are
Janet (22:11):
they using it?
Yeah, that's what I'minterested in, like the
different use cases.
Evan (22:14):
Yeah, so specifically in a call center, they're going to
use it to reward the reps.
Janet (22:20):
Okay, for setting.
In
Evan (22:21):
terms of like...
speed to call, how are theydoing, good reviews, incentives.
Janet (22:27):
So that's a really good way to kind of underline and
reinforce.
I know there's so much trainingthat goes on.
Yes.
In the home improvementindustry with, you know, once
you get to scale and you've gota really well oiled machine, you
know, you're always tweakingyour scripts and, and like KPIs.
And so, um, I love that.
So that's, you can almost kindof gamify your call center to
(22:50):
try to encourage people toimplement any training or new
scripts or new
Evan (22:55):
messages.
You can also gamify them to dothat one call close, get the
person right away.
Hey, whoever gets a one callclose today gets a $500 visa
card or whatever.
I'm just making a number.
In terms of success stories, Imean, I have a success story
from outside the industry if youwant me to.
So I have two.
One is with a company calledSpark Electricity, where they
(23:20):
specifically needed a platformto refund over 17,000 residents
in Maine based off of the MaineCompliance Board to send our
refunds back to them.
The provider they were going touse fell through and we stepped
up to the plate and we're nowgoing to be having our second
(23:42):
run of mailing out our center,mailing out 17,500 Visa cards of
varying amounts, as low as $5up to $3,000 to 17,500
households across Maine.
And this is the second timewe're doing that.
So that's the first successstory that I have.
That's my account.
And then I would be remiss if Idon't talk about what happened
(24:05):
in my community.
I live in Elk Grove Village,which is a suburb of Chicago.
And Elk Grove Village is very,very business friendly and very
resident family.
So here's why I'm saying that.
Right after COVID or around 2122 Elk Grove Village wanted to
provide residents with a Visacard and they contacted perfect
(24:27):
gift this is before I evenstarted they contacted perfect
gift uh and we were able todistribute twice uh $200 Visa
cards to all 14 000 residents inElk Grove so not only did it
help reward the residents but onthe co-branding it said shop
local elk grove
Speaker 04 (24:47):
yeah
Evan (24:47):
with the elk grove symbol on there and it was really
powerful because when i receivedit as a resident it was before
i even knew about perfect gift ireceived as a resident i'm like
this is really cool i'm goingto spend locally because it was
spend local
Speaker 04 (25:00):
so that's
Evan (25:01):
another one of our i mean we have so many success stories
but specifically i like to talkabout that one because i had a
actual resident experience usingthe cards.
I wasn't just selling thembecause I didn't know the
company at the time.
It wasn't until later.
I'm like, I'm from Elk Grove.
And they said, yeah, Elk Grove.
Funny you say Elk Grove.
They're one of our big clients.
I'm like, oh, those are two ofthe bigger success stories.
Janet (25:23):
So it's like creativity.
Like if you can think of it andyou want to implement a reward
program or a refund program oran incentive program and you
need a way to easily manage.
Yep.
Distributing funds.
Any
Caitlyn (25:41):
don'ts?
That's a great question.
Any finger wags for passing outgift cards?
Evan (25:46):
Yeah.
A couple finger wags is ifyou...
if you're mainly doing stuffwith giving out for restaurants,
like Visa cards forrestaurants, just let them know
or let the recipient know.
We have this actually on acustom carrier as well, but let
the recipient know that there'ssometimes a 20% hold, a gratuity
hold, based off the point ofsale system they're using.
(26:08):
So that's kind of a, I don'twant to say a don't, but more of
a restaurant thing of, hey, letthe recipient know if they're
going to a restaurant that theremight be a 20% hold.
Again, we explain that in ourterms and conditions.
So this isn't like whackingsomebody upside the head, but I
always like to advise people.
I mean, I can definitely givedon'ts on when you, if you're
(26:34):
receiving a call from someoneand they ask you for gift cards
to help get them out of jail orsomething, that is probably a
scam.
Be very careful with AI.
because AI has gotten verysmart in this world.
Yes.
Phishing as well.
So I definitely know likesecurity tips, but in terms of
don'ts, you know, the cool thingabout our products is that
(26:56):
they're so flexible that theycan be used for, I mean, pretty
much anything.
One other example before I loseit, I am also working with Bath
Makeover of Arkansas, wherethey're using a $200 visa card
for customer acquisition.
They've been very successfulwith that.
Janet (27:13):
I've seen it.
How's that program work?
Is it TV commercials?
So
Evan (27:17):
they're running through Ron Sherman Advertising.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Ron Sherman Advertisingactually met Abe face-to-face
last week and Ron Jumper.
And they...
if you are not familiar withRon Sherman advertising out of
little rock, they're great atwhat they do.
They produce, they produce thecommercials and all the
commercials always have a callto action, whether it's a visa
(27:37):
card, a restaurant card, aStarbucks card, whatever, 60,
60, 60 sale, you name it.
So specifically they'll sayeither the first 50 homeowners,
or if you call within the next,whatever, you will receive a
$200 visa card.
Caitlyn (27:52):
Got
Evan (27:52):
it.
They've increased theirappointments due to that.
Caitlyn (27:55):
I bet.
Um, Yeah, we usually always tryto match those Ron Sherman
offers on the client's website.
So not only is it on the TV,but then we're taking that
offer, putting it on thewebsite, like, hey, act now, get
this $200 gift card.
Evan (28:08):
Yeah, it's really creating that sense of urgency, which is
what incentives can be usedfor, and really that drive home
to get that person to respond.
Because it's all about gettingthose good qualified leads,
which again leads back toensuring both homeowners are
present
Speaker 04 (28:27):
and not
Evan (28:28):
running a one leg appointment.
Because I hear a lot ofcomplaints about that in the
industry about just you'rewasting my sales people's time.
Janet (28:35):
Oh yeah.
It's just incredibly expensivefor the business.
And you know, the homeowners,they don't understand that.
They don't understand the costto the business.
Like, Oh, I just want to seecolors.
I want to see samples.
I'm going to take up, half yourafternoon, but then at the end
of the appointment say, well, Ican't make a decision because my
spouse, which I mean, myspouse, partner, co-homeowner is
(29:00):
not here.
Evan (29:01):
Happens all, it happens all the time.
Happens all the time.
Caitlyn (29:04):
This has been so insightful.
We love like offering ourclients tools like perfect
gift.com.
I hope our listeners havepicked up a lot of great tips
and tricks.
You guys are the best in termsof what you do.
That's why I wanted to have youguys on.
Final words, like where can welearn more?
How can listeners connect withyou?
Evan (29:24):
Yeah.
So the best way to connect withme, obviously you go to perfect
gift.com.
You can learn a lot, but myrecommendation is I'm going to
offer a special for everybody.
So first off, let's go over howto contact me.
Um, and I don't know if youguys are going to put my contact
information in the podcast.
Do you want me to give you myphone number or.
Janet (29:40):
Shout it out.
Shout it out.
Evan (29:44):
Awesome.
Janet (29:47):
I
Evan (29:48):
don't have that, but I have a business card, but it
will be reversed.
So the best way to reach me isyou can always give me a call at
412-903-3758, which is my workphone number.
Again, I am in Chicago, so I'mCentral Time Zone.
Or email me at evan.crum,C-R-U-M, M as in Mike, at
(30:10):
perfect gift.com uh the offer isgoing to be this any of the
orders i will for physical partsi can offer free shipping uh
just name drop that you listento the amazing podcast by both
these lovely ladies and that'show you found that's how you
found us for any electronicorders or digital orders or
(30:30):
especially perfect gift plusorders i'll i depending on the
order size i'll go as low as $25to $50 on Perfect Gift Plus,
pretty much free credit.
And then again, if we'retalking about a large order
where we're going like $5,000 or$10,000, I will think of
something very unique andspecial for that in addition to
(30:53):
free shipping or anything else.
Janet (30:56):
That's amazing.
So what listeners should do ifyou're interested and you think
a gift card could be help withsome sort of campaign that you
want to run whether it's leadacquisition nurturing nurturing
referrals in-house in-houserewards yep employee rewards you
need to contact evan we willput all of his information in
(31:16):
the show notes and if youmention fat cats podcast you're
going to get the offers thatevan just outlined
Evan (31:24):
correct absolutely absolutely
Caitlyn (31:27):
amazing amazing well evan um i do appreciate your
time thank you this is
Janet (31:32):
great i learned
Caitlyn (31:33):
a lot i love this love this tool um we will definitely
be in touch janet you want totake us out
Janet (31:40):
yes thank you for joining us on another episode of
digital marketing forcontractors as always we hope
you got value for it if you cangive us a half an hour Our job
is to give you some actionabletips, tricks, and insights that
will help you grow your homeimprovement business through
online marketing.
Don (31:57):
Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by Fat
Cat Strategies.
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet (00:33):
Hey there, and welcome to another episode of Digital
Marketing for Contractors.
This is the podcast where webreak down smart, scalable
marketing tactics that work forhome improvement companies.
My name is Janet, and I'm thefounder of Fat Cat Strategies.
And I'm
Caitlyn (00:45):
Caitlin, the head of client services here at Fat Cat.
Today's episode is a fun one.
We're going to dive intosomething as simple as a gift
card and how it can actuallybecome a powerful marketing tool
for your contracting business.
So Janet, who are we joined by
Janet (01:01):
today?
We are so excited to welcomeEvan Crum.
He is the sales executive fromperfectgift.com.
Evan and his team, let's see,what does Evan do?
I'm reading, obviously, off ofa script here.
We're going to leave that in.
Evan and his team helpbusinesses use gift cards for
everything from lead generationto closing deals and even
(01:21):
retaining employees.
Evan, why don't you do a betterjob of telling everybody what
you do than I just did?
Evan (01:27):
Yeah, that's all right.
No, appreciate it.
Hi, everyone.
Like they said, the name's EvanCrum.
What does Perfect Gift do?
What do I do?
So I help those in this amazinghome remodeling business
roofing, I guess we'll say homeimprovement industry, utilize
the power of gifts or the powerof gift cards to retain
(01:49):
customers, reward customers,retain and reward employees,
even offering safety awards,incentivizing customers and
clients as well.
And that is what I do in theindustry and how I work with
others in home improvement.
Caitlyn (02:03):
That's so awesome.
I mean, and I know throughdifferent partners that we've
connected with, they recommendedyou guys.
I think it's a gorgeous add onservice, not only to what we do
digitally, but like in house.
I mean, that's where you and Iconnected.
I was like, our contractors whowe work with every single day
are looking for incentives fortheir employees who take good
(02:24):
job site photos.
Yep.
Who help generate reviews.
Yeah, who help generatereviews.
Evan (02:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Incentivizing reviews is huge.
You know, I just came back lastweek from the Dave Yoho
Conference in St.
Louis, where a lot of it wasgeared towards sales leads, how
to generate leads, and how togenerate reviews, and with Dave
Yoho's sales strategies.
And we fit really well intothat or any sales strategies,
because as you said,incentivizing someone to leave a
(02:52):
review is huge.
Twofold on that, because numberone, you're getting your
reviews up.
So whether you can direct themtowards Google, Yelp,
HomeAdvisor, whatever.
But number two, if you happento have a bad review, it now
gives you a reason to contactthat person and try to address
whatever that, that the reasonthe bad review is because the
(03:15):
person obviously wants a giftcard.
That's why they're leaving areview.
But if it's bad, you cancontact them.
So incentivizing reviews isabsolutely a huge part of the
business as our employeerewards, as our giving, you
know, employees rewards as partof brand ambassadors are just
thanking people, et cetera.
Janet (03:32):
That's awesome.
So why don't you walk usthrough, like explain it to
somebody like they have no ideahow this works.
In this scene, I'll play theowner of a roofing
Speaker 04 (03:44):
company.
Janet (03:44):
And I just heard about perfectgift.com.
And I'm thinking about doingsome sort of gift card for
customers that have justinstalled a job.
I mean, would that be a gooduse case scenario?
Evan (03:59):
Yeah, it would.
It would.
Actually, there was a roofer Iwas talking to.
They're out in Tennessee wherewhat they do is they're going to
give their team, I thinkthey're $50 visas or $100 visa
cards with their logo on there.
We can do that complimentary,by the way.
But they're giving them tohouses next door because I
haven't heard of this.
It's like a
Janet (04:18):
canvassing tactic.
Evan (04:19):
Exactly.
So one, they're doing it as acanvassing, but two is like,
hey, we apologize for the noiseduring the day.
Here's $50 on us.
Never thought of that.
So that is unique.
So from a roofing point ofview, every roofer out there,
take that for what it is.
It is.
I will give them all the creditin the world to answer your
question.
Yeah, it is really.
You said you wanted to use itfor incentivizing customers.
Janet (04:42):
I mean, I just want the listeners to understand.
I always like to play kind ofthis class, you know, like if
I'm driving in my truck and I'mnot really paying attention,
break it down to me.
Like I'm a three-year-old.
So let's roll with this wholescenario where I've got a
roofing company.
I'm going to start thiscanvassing campaign.
(05:03):
My guys are going to knock, youknow, three doors up, three
doors down and across thestreet.
Now they're armed with thesegift cards.
How does that get set up?
Do I have to...
pre-fund them yeah
Evan (05:16):
great
Janet (05:16):
great mechanics into it
Evan (05:20):
absolutely well let's just let's jump right into it so
first off there's never therewill never be a purchase
necessary to create an accountwith us
Speaker 04 (05:26):
that's right
Evan (05:27):
so that is completely free um You create an account.
All we would need to get anaccount rolling is the official
business name, the official EINfor that business, and the
business address.
Once you're approved, you getyour username and your password.
From there, you can order on adashboard.
You have your own dashboard.
If you wanted to order a Visaor MasterCard with co-branding,
(05:51):
you would simply submit theco-brand.
The bank approves it.
And then we print them out thesame exact day.
We can ship them out the sameday as well in our fulfillment
center in Pittsburgh.
By the way, I know we're tarifffree because all of our stuff
is made in Pittsburgh, all ofour gift cards.
I'm kind of kidding.
Janet (06:10):
Co-branding would be like if I was a deck company and I'm
installing Trex and Trex gaveme some joint marketing dollars.
Evan (06:18):
So as an example, I'll cover the number.
This is what it would looklike.
I'm going to cover this number.
You need
Caitlyn (06:27):
to blur that number out.
Evan (06:28):
Yeah, but this is what it would look like as an example.
I handed those out at the showlast week also.
But to answer your question,Janet, is it pre-funded?
So the way that we operate is,yes, they would need to purchase
the cards up front for us todeliver the product.
Janet (06:47):
We don't
Evan (06:48):
have any terms like that.
However, with Visa MasterCard,we can do denominations as low
as $5 up to $10,000.
Okay.
We have no minimum order.
So even if you were a rooferthat wanted to get a customer a
one $5,000 Visa card or $5,000MasterCard, you can do that.
We also have our retail giftcards.
(07:12):
Those are discounted.
So we represent over 300brands, meaning There's a lot of
home remodelers and others thatare in like Home Depots or
Lowe's.
They can actually purchase HomeDepot or Lowe's gift cards from
us.
We provide a discount on thatpurchase, and they can hand
those out, either physical orelectronic.
Janet (07:30):
Oh, that's cool.
Evan (07:31):
And then finally, one of the new products that we have is
something called Perfect GiftPlus, which I absolutely love.
So what Perfect Gift Plus is,is there's no fees associated to
that.
Like these are a MasterCard.
For doing a MasterCard, I haveactivation fees.
With Perfect Gift Plus, if youwanted to give someone, say, a
$50 Perfect Gift Plus credit,that individual can choose.
(07:52):
It's the power of choice.
They can choose between a VisaMasterCard themselves.
This is for the recipient.
They can choose over 300 retailcards and link it directly to
their debit card or put it intheir phone.
Or they can deposit the moneyinto Zelle.
So it's really the power ofchoice.
choice for them which is greatthat's good from a canvassing
(08:13):
point of view also where ifyou're if you aren't sure if
somebody's going to wantstarbucks or if they're going to
want cash right plus
Caitlyn (08:23):
so that kind of um answers my next question a
little bit is Why not just go toa grocery store and pick up a
bunch of Visa gift cards orLowe's gift cards?
Yeah,
Evan (08:35):
that's an outstanding question.
So number one, for Visa andMasterCard, our activation fees
are typically going to be lowerthan going to a Walmart or here
in Chicago, a Jewel or a Publixout in Florida, or I don't know
what you guys have out in NorthCarolina.
Janet (08:52):
Yeah.
Evan (08:53):
Yeah, yeah.
They got rid
Janet (08:55):
of
Caitlyn (08:55):
Winn-Dixie.
I
Janet (08:56):
think if you're in a small town, you can still find a
Winn-Dixie.
Evan (08:59):
Probably, probably.
Winn-Dixies were, well, therewere a lot of them.
But so number one, ouractivation fees are
significantly lower.
You're typically gettingcharged between $4.95 to $6.95
for an activation fee on thatVisa MasterCard that you're
purchasing from a store.
That's number one.
Caitlyn (09:16):
I knew that.
Evan (09:17):
I
Caitlyn (09:18):
didn't either.
Evan (09:19):
That's fantastic.
Typically, typically you have
Caitlyn (09:22):
exceptions.
You can absorb it or like therecipient.
Evan (09:26):
Correct.
Caitlyn (09:27):
Like either way.
Evan (09:28):
Correct.
Number two, from a supportaspect, you have a total team
that's behind me.
So my colleagues that are on myteam, on our team, we all work
with each other.
So when someone is out of theoffice and a client calls in, we
are directly responsible forthat client.
So you have a whole entireteam.
And we also have a customerservice team that's 24-7, 365.
(09:50):
Doesn't matter when you call,they can help you out.
Again, you're going to thestore, picking up a card.
You might be calling Visa orwhoever that distributor is, and
they might not have thatsupport.
Caitlyn (10:04):
I really, oh, I didn't mean to cut you off.
I liked the user experiencefrom your portal perspective.
I mean, obviously with
Janet (10:13):
a...
I mean, as a business owner,can you use
Caitlyn (10:15):
it as a
Janet (10:15):
marketing or...
Caitlyn (10:17):
Yeah, being able to track things.
I mean, very easy to use.
I thought that was, in myopinion, I mean, that to,
Janet (10:25):
I would use that just.
If somebody was going to use,like, go to, we're in North
Carolina, Harris Teeter, buy abunch of, let's say, Starbucks
gift cards to reward safety onthe job.
Caitlin, I think your point isthere's no tracking dashboard
for that.
No, no, I
Evan (10:43):
love
Janet (10:43):
it.
You don't know if they gotused.
They don't know if they gotlost.
No.
Evan (10:46):
Yeah, with Starbucks, the use is we'd have to reach out to
Starbucks directly, but we cando it.
I also really want to stressthe security aspect because, as
we know, in my industry, there'sa lot of fraud, a lot of bad
actors out there, unfortunately.
We pride ourselves on, numberone, ensuring that if there are
(11:08):
fraudulent attempts that aremade, that we shut them down.
So it doesn't happen often, butit's happened.
But number two, from a securityaspect, since we are program
managers for Visa andMasterCard, those cards are
housed in our fulfillment centerin Pittsburgh, as I said.
They...
are housed in a vault.
You need two people to go intothe vault.
Fraud's not going to happenthat way.
(11:28):
And we're able to track those.
From Starbucks or any otherretail cards, same thing, where
we have these cards.
So one of my clients reachedout to me when we were beginning
our conversation.
And it's not in the remodelingworld, but they said, hey, we
usually buy McDonald's cardsfrom a company, but they're
resold McDonald's cards.
Meaning that in my industry,there are some companies Nothing
(11:51):
wrong with it.
But some companies will buyMcDonald's cards off market from
someone else and then resellthe McDonald's cards at margin.
Completely fine.
It really is not a big deal.
But unfortunately, one of theproblems with that is that
sometimes those gift cards mighthave been used.
And the reseller is not surebecause they're not going to go
through all 100 or how manyMcDonald's cards they get.
(12:12):
So the client stated to me,well, how can you ensure these
McDonald's cards haven't beenregained?
And I said, well, we can ensurethat because...
Number one, we are getting themeither from McDonald's
themselves in this example, orwe might be getting them from
one of our qualified partnersthat supply McDonald's possibly
to the grocery stores.
But that is the benefit ofrunning it through us.
(12:35):
Plus, I mean, thecustomization, you're able to
put your logo.
You can't do that over atWalmart.
You're not going to go toWalmart and say, put my logo on
this Visa card because they'regoing to look at you like you're
crazy.
You can do that through us,whether it's physical or or
electronic.
Janet (12:51):
So if I kind of extrapolate from what you just
said, if you've got a homeimprovement company that has an
idea to use some sort of giftcards and they don't know you
guys exist and they go onto someaftermarket and buy a big batch
of cards, I believe what you'resaying is there's a risk that
(13:14):
some of those cards have beenredeemed.
And then if you're using themas part of some sort of
campaign, it's a tarnish on yourbrand.
Now you've done thiscanvassing, door knocking, hey,
sorry for the mess.
And then the customer or theprospect or the homeowner goes
to try to redeem this thing andit doesn't work.
And then you kind of looklike...
Evan (13:33):
Correct, correct.
And sometimes, you know,sometimes...
the other company doesn't evenknow so i'm not throwing that
company under the bus theremight be a security aspect where
those were a batch of cardsthat got hacked they don't know
that they're not sure and so nowwhen somebody goes to try it
now that customer will be angryat the remodeling company who's
(13:53):
then angry at company providingit now that company is providing
it kind of says i don't knowwhat happened
Speaker 04 (13:58):
yeah
Evan (13:58):
um that does not happen with us so we can ensure We
definitely want to, I want toemphasize that we are very
secure.
Speaker 04 (14:07):
Yes.
Evan (14:07):
And again, since we don't have minimum orders, they can
order one or two to test it out.
Janet (14:12):
Oh, I love that.
Oh.
And so
Evan (14:15):
easy to use.
Caitlyn (14:15):
And
Janet (14:16):
I love the small dollar amount.
I do too.
I mean, if you wanted to dolike $3 or do like a, let us buy
you a coffee campaign.
You could do it at scale.
Evan (14:27):
Yep.
Janet (14:27):
You're not giving them $500 away at a time.
Evan (14:29):
No, no.
You can do it at scale, Ben,especially where if you're like,
look, I know my clients likeStarbucks or Dunkin'.
Number one, we can provide adiscount on Starbucks or
Dunkin', which depends on everybrand is different.
But number two, if you wantedto give straight Visa or
MasterCard or, like I said,Perfect Gift Plus, where they
(14:50):
can actually link theirStarbucks or Dunkin' card to
their debit card or their app,You know, it's a really nice
campaign to have.
Let us buy coffee.
On top of that, what I will sayis another good campaign would
be to ensure that that homeowneror both decision makers are
present, making sure they're notmaking sure they're not one leg
(15:12):
appointments.
Right.
unfortunately and we know this
Speaker 04 (15:16):
because i
Evan (15:16):
heard it at yoho oh yeah when they joked around i forgot
i think that uh chris cooney wasthe one that was talking about
it i think don't quote me onthat but i think is that he said
that the marketing people areupset at the sales people who
are upset at the canvassers whosaid the appointment makers and
the appointment makers are atthe door right now knocking on
the door saying to the centeryeah just book them just book
(15:38):
them right now the salespersongoes out there You should expect
to last an hour to three hoursof their time.
They get out there and thedecision maker is like, I told
them that this is not a goodtime.
My husband or my wife isn'taround, but come on in.
So now you're dealing with aone leg appointment.
Right.
You can change that with, withpower of gift cards is saying
both homeowners need to bepresent or both decision makers
(16:01):
need to be present.
And if they're both present,you're going to receive X.
Perfect.
Perfect.
And, and that, and that, prettymuch ensures that both will be
there.
Now, again, kind of up to thesalesperson how they want to run
the appointment.
Speaker 04 (16:14):
But
Evan (16:15):
it helps the appointment maker because they're saying, is
this person going to be here,both of them, so they don't get
in trouble?
The salesperson has a qualifiedlead because both homeowners
are going to be present.
And then the marketing peopleare going to be happy because
it's a qualified lead.
So it kind of just
Caitlyn (16:30):
trickles down.
Evan (16:32):
Yeah.
Caitlyn (16:32):
Do you have any other examples of how, um, contractors
are using perfect gift.com forlead generation?
Evan (16:39):
Yeah, I know that window nation has used us for lead
generation.
Uh, they will, they use uscontinually for lead generation,
uh, our home.
Um, it's more of a, If youcontact us, receive X.
That's
Caitlyn (16:51):
exactly.
And that's exactly what I wasthinking.
Like it's just part of thewebsite offer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Power home
Evan (16:56):
remodeling.
Power home is not my account,but they've been using us for a
long time.
I can't give you the specificscause I don't know the
specifics, but I do know powerhome remodeling uses us.
Speaker 04 (17:07):
Uh,
Evan (17:07):
and then, uh, I'm trying to think of some of my other
clients that are just out there.
Window Depot.
I work with Window Depots, oneof them out in Youngstown, where
again, he's using us toincentivize reviews and also too
from an acquisition side.
Okay.
We have so many commercialroofing companies, which I know
(17:28):
doesn't, as an example, they usethem more specifically as
employee rewards and safetybecause for commercial, you
don't really need to do that.
Create a call to action kind ofthing because, you know, the
commercial roofers, they'regoing to get jobs, you know,
unlike saying knock on doors.
But with commercial roofers,they want to reward their
employees.
And a lot of roofers that workwith us specifically will use us
(17:49):
to reward their employees,safety awards, employee
incentives.
rewarding employee referrals.
So that's how the commercialworld works with us.
Janet (17:59):
So on the employee referrals, I'm kind of just, I'm
going off of what you said.
Yeah, you're okay.
If I've got say five sales repsand, or just anybody who works
for me and you have a campaignthat says, if you refer somebody
that turns into an appointmentor you refer somebody that turns
into a quote, you can be, youcan receive a, this $500,
(18:22):
whatever the amount is.
And then you can track that,whether or not they used it.
Evan (18:28):
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yep.
You can, you can track itthrough your dashboard or even
asking us.
We do have some cardholderprivacy stuff, so we can't tell
you where they used it.
Right.
Because again, that's based offof privacy.
Speaker 04 (18:41):
Right.
Evan (18:42):
You can say, yes, it's used.
No, it's not used.
And one thing that I know youlike Caitlin was that, the card
the funds don't expire yes sohere's what i mean by that
typically if you we're going touse janet as an example because
she was driving so she wasdriving her truck roofer hands
her hands out a 100 visa cardfor an appointment or 50 off
(19:05):
whatever 12 month expirationdate or what we call valid
through date month 14 month 15rolls around that person now
finds their visa card again
Speaker 04 (19:14):
right
Evan (19:14):
now they're like oh no it's expired so they can do Two
things with our company.
Number one, they can call usdirectly.
I have a $50 Visa card.
It expired.
And we'll say, okay, we'regoing to send you the remainder
of your funds, less $5 becausewe have to mail it out.
So you're going to get $45 andanother Visa card.
(19:34):
Number two, from the admin'send, if they get contacted by
the customer, they can actuallygo onto their dashboard, hit
replace card.
And then again, either theywill get charged $5 or if the
company wants to eat it, likethe home improvement company
wants to eat the $5 because theydon't want it to less from the
(19:56):
recipient's debit card, theycan.
We do not sweep funds.
So again, let's say we're goingto use the $50 again as an
example.
Other providers will sit andsay, okay, it's expired.
So let's see, three or fourmonths, we're going to charge
fees.
So now when you try and getyour card or funds, they'll
probably give it to you.
(20:16):
But instead of having $50, youmight have $43 and 50 cents.
Speaker 04 (20:21):
And
Evan (20:21):
then you say, why do I have that?
And they say, well, because itexpired, we had to sweep the
funds.
So we do not do that.
We don't sweep funds.
So those funds are yours.
Caitlyn (20:32):
That's fantastic.
No, I mean, everything aboutperfect gift, there's like, it
seems like a no brainer.
Um, What about any coolintegrations?
Do you have any secrettechnology that works with your
dashboard or anything like
Evan (20:45):
that?
Yeah, we definitely areconnected via API.
So we can always connect withanyone's API.
Secret technology that I'mintegrated with, not really.
That's massive.
Yeah, I'm not integrated withlike, I mean, we run through
HubSpot, but we're notintegrated like that.
But again, I'm sure thatthere's, brilliant people out
(21:10):
there way smarter than me inthe, in the tech world that can
go ahead and figure out a way toconnect to their, we do have an
API.
Caitlyn (21:20):
So like if somebody wanted to like set something up
between their CRM, Oh, that's
Evan (21:25):
awesome.
Yeah, we can, yeah, we can, wehave an API.
We have, Oh, I think we have anopen API and then anyone that
has questions about it, I canalways get them in touch with
our developers to, to, Have aconversation about API
integration.
But yes, we are very APIintegrated with a lot of
clients.
Caitlyn (21:40):
That's amazing.
I mean, especially for some ofthe clients you named, you
probably have to be.
Success stories, like tell us,do you have any fun examples of
how these perfect gift cardshave worked?
Evan (21:52):
Yeah, like I said, Window Nation is very successful with
them.
I've worked with Home GeniusExteriors briefly.
I'm going to be working withAll American Roofers with Corey
Minzik over there in her callcenter.
So they're going to be using itin their call center.
How are
Janet (22:11):
they using it?
Yeah, that's what I'minterested in, like the
different use cases.
Evan (22:14):
Yeah, so specifically in a call center, they're going to
use it to reward the reps.
Janet (22:20):
Okay, for setting.
In
Evan (22:21):
terms of like...
speed to call, how are theydoing, good reviews, incentives.
Janet (22:27):
So that's a really good way to kind of underline and
reinforce.
I know there's so much trainingthat goes on.
Yes.
In the home improvementindustry with, you know, once
you get to scale and you've gota really well oiled machine, you
know, you're always tweakingyour scripts and, and like KPIs.
And so, um, I love that.
So that's, you can almost kindof gamify your call center to
(22:50):
try to encourage people toimplement any training or new
scripts or new
Evan (22:55):
messages.
You can also gamify them to dothat one call close, get the
person right away.
Hey, whoever gets a one callclose today gets a $500 visa
card or whatever.
I'm just making a number.
In terms of success stories, Imean, I have a success story
from outside the industry if youwant me to.
So I have two.
One is with a company calledSpark Electricity, where they
(23:20):
specifically needed a platformto refund over 17,000 residents
in Maine based off of the MaineCompliance Board to send our
refunds back to them.
The provider they were going touse fell through and we stepped
up to the plate and we're nowgoing to be having our second
(23:42):
run of mailing out our center,mailing out 17,500 Visa cards of
varying amounts, as low as $5up to $3,000 to 17,500
households across Maine.
And this is the second timewe're doing that.
So that's the first successstory that I have.
That's my account.
And then I would be remiss if Idon't talk about what happened
(24:05):
in my community.
I live in Elk Grove Village,which is a suburb of Chicago.
And Elk Grove Village is very,very business friendly and very
resident family.
So here's why I'm saying that.
Right after COVID or around 2122 Elk Grove Village wanted to
provide residents with a Visacard and they contacted perfect
(24:27):
gift this is before I evenstarted they contacted perfect
gift uh and we were able todistribute twice uh $200 Visa
cards to all 14 000 residents inElk Grove so not only did it
help reward the residents but onthe co-branding it said shop
local elk grove
Speaker 04 (24:47):
yeah
Evan (24:47):
with the elk grove symbol on there and it was really
powerful because when i receivedit as a resident it was before
i even knew about perfect gift ireceived as a resident i'm like
this is really cool i'm goingto spend locally because it was
spend local
Speaker 04 (25:00):
so that's
Evan (25:01):
another one of our i mean we have so many success stories
but specifically i like to talkabout that one because i had a
actual resident experience usingthe cards.
I wasn't just selling thembecause I didn't know the
company at the time.
It wasn't until later.
I'm like, I'm from Elk Grove.
And they said, yeah, Elk Grove.
Funny you say Elk Grove.
They're one of our big clients.
I'm like, oh, those are two ofthe bigger success stories.
Janet (25:23):
So it's like creativity.
Like if you can think of it andyou want to implement a reward
program or a refund program oran incentive program and you
need a way to easily manage.
Yep.
Distributing funds.
Any
Caitlyn (25:41):
don'ts?
That's a great question.
Any finger wags for passing outgift cards?
Evan (25:46):
Yeah.
A couple finger wags is ifyou...
if you're mainly doing stuffwith giving out for restaurants,
like Visa cards forrestaurants, just let them know
or let the recipient know.
We have this actually on acustom carrier as well, but let
the recipient know that there'ssometimes a 20% hold, a gratuity
hold, based off the point ofsale system they're using.
(26:08):
So that's kind of a, I don'twant to say a don't, but more of
a restaurant thing of, hey, letthe recipient know if they're
going to a restaurant that theremight be a 20% hold.
Again, we explain that in ourterms and conditions.
So this isn't like whackingsomebody upside the head, but I
always like to advise people.
I mean, I can definitely givedon'ts on when you, if you're
(26:34):
receiving a call from someoneand they ask you for gift cards
to help get them out of jail orsomething, that is probably a
scam.
Be very careful with AI.
because AI has gotten verysmart in this world.
Yes.
Phishing as well.
So I definitely know likesecurity tips, but in terms of
don'ts, you know, the cool thingabout our products is that
(26:56):
they're so flexible that theycan be used for, I mean, pretty
much anything.
One other example before I loseit, I am also working with Bath
Makeover of Arkansas, wherethey're using a $200 visa card
for customer acquisition.
They've been very successfulwith that.
Janet (27:13):
I've seen it.
How's that program work?
Is it TV commercials?
So
Evan (27:17):
they're running through Ron Sherman Advertising.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Ron Sherman Advertisingactually met Abe face-to-face
last week and Ron Jumper.
And they...
if you are not familiar withRon Sherman advertising out of
little rock, they're great atwhat they do.
They produce, they produce thecommercials and all the
commercials always have a callto action, whether it's a visa
(27:37):
card, a restaurant card, aStarbucks card, whatever, 60,
60, 60 sale, you name it.
So specifically they'll sayeither the first 50 homeowners,
or if you call within the next,whatever, you will receive a
$200 visa card.
Caitlyn (27:52):
Got
Evan (27:52):
it.
They've increased theirappointments due to that.
Caitlyn (27:55):
I bet.
Um, Yeah, we usually always tryto match those Ron Sherman
offers on the client's website.
So not only is it on the TV,but then we're taking that
offer, putting it on thewebsite, like, hey, act now, get
this $200 gift card.
Evan (28:08):
Yeah, it's really creating that sense of urgency, which is
what incentives can be usedfor, and really that drive home
to get that person to respond.
Because it's all about gettingthose good qualified leads,
which again leads back toensuring both homeowners are
present
Speaker 04 (28:27):
and not
Evan (28:28):
running a one leg appointment.
Because I hear a lot ofcomplaints about that in the
industry about just you'rewasting my sales people's time.
Janet (28:35):
Oh yeah.
It's just incredibly expensivefor the business.
And you know, the homeowners,they don't understand that.
They don't understand the costto the business.
Like, Oh, I just want to seecolors.
I want to see samples.
I'm going to take up, half yourafternoon, but then at the end
of the appointment say, well, Ican't make a decision because my
spouse, which I mean, myspouse, partner, co-homeowner is
(29:00):
not here.
Evan (29:01):
Happens all, it happens all the time.
Happens all the time.
Caitlyn (29:04):
This has been so insightful.
We love like offering ourclients tools like perfect
gift.com.
I hope our listeners havepicked up a lot of great tips
and tricks.
You guys are the best in termsof what you do.
That's why I wanted to have youguys on.
Final words, like where can welearn more?
How can listeners connect withyou?
Evan (29:24):
Yeah.
So the best way to connect withme, obviously you go to perfect
gift.com.
You can learn a lot, but myrecommendation is I'm going to
offer a special for everybody.
So first off, let's go over howto contact me.
Um, and I don't know if youguys are going to put my contact
information in the podcast.
Do you want me to give you myphone number or.
Janet (29:40):
Shout it out.
Shout it out.
Evan (29:44):
Awesome.
Janet (29:47):
I
Evan (29:48):
don't have that, but I have a business card, but it
will be reversed.
So the best way to reach me isyou can always give me a call at
412-903-3758, which is my workphone number.
Again, I am in Chicago, so I'mCentral Time Zone.
Or email me at evan.crum,C-R-U-M, M as in Mike, at
(30:10):
perfect gift.com uh the offer isgoing to be this any of the
orders i will for physical partsi can offer free shipping uh
just name drop that you listento the amazing podcast by both
these lovely ladies and that'show you found that's how you
found us for any electronicorders or digital orders or
(30:30):
especially perfect gift plusorders i'll i depending on the
order size i'll go as low as $25to $50 on Perfect Gift Plus,
pretty much free credit.
And then again, if we'retalking about a large order
where we're going like $5,000 or$10,000, I will think of
something very unique andspecial for that in addition to
(30:53):
free shipping or anything else.
Janet (30:56):
That's amazing.
So what listeners should do ifyou're interested and you think
a gift card could be help withsome sort of campaign that you
want to run whether it's leadacquisition nurturing nurturing
referrals in-house in-houserewards yep employee rewards you
need to contact evan we willput all of his information in
(31:16):
the show notes and if youmention fat cats podcast you're
going to get the offers thatevan just outlined
Evan (31:24):
correct absolutely absolutely
Caitlyn (31:27):
amazing amazing well evan um i do appreciate your
time thank you this is
Janet (31:32):
great i learned
Caitlyn (31:33):
a lot i love this love this tool um we will definitely
be in touch janet you want totake us out
Janet (31:40):
yes thank you for joining us on another episode of
digital marketing forcontractors as always we hope
you got value for it if you cangive us a half an hour Our job
is to give you some actionabletips, tricks, and insights that
will help you grow your homeimprovement business through
online marketing.
Don (31:57):
Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by Fat
Cat Strategies.
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
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