referrals from county extensions etc.

I recently contacted one of the county extensions agents and she said she would refer me when she got calls about nuisance animals. Also reached out to the county animal control director which she also said she would refer calls to me.

Was thinking of going to some of the other county offices with maybe business cards and information about our services . Also taking maybe coffee and other goodies would that be appropriate? Wouldn't want it to be considered as bribes since they are a government facility.

Works well until you get three or four in there asking for referrals then it gets touchy.

Or you have a situation like happened in the county to the north of me. The animal control director allowed all who asked to leaves cards and brochures but when asked directly would recommend two by name as those two were based in the county, myself and my former employer.

Well she referred a squirrel job to my former employer. They trapped the squirrels and sealed the house and all was well until the client started with "I saw a squirrel in the yard you guaranteed I wouldn't see a squirrel" calls and demanded a full refund. It got to the point the nut job called the county commission demanding the refund from the county since the county made the referral.
Instead telling the nut job to go pound sand county policy is now to send them to the yellow pages.

Don't forget the city animal control, and police, sheriffs offices. Property management companies, realtors, pest control companies, yard/mowing companies.
Forget the goodies, you a businessman informing about your services.

Kurt Temple

There are back doors into every county office if official policy closes the front door.

For instance I'm on every county extension office list for bees. Not as Georgia Wildlife Services but as David McLeod beekeeper and past president of the county beekeeping association.
Most counties have master gardeners clubs as well as classes for all sorts of stuff through the extension. Great opportunity to network.

I disagree on the goodies. It not a bribe but a thank you to friends who share your name with others.

Of all people you would think the Gov't folks would expect some sort of perks from the referrals that they give you. Like Warrior stated, showing appreciation by giving donuts or what ever you feel is appropriate would be totally acceptable in my opinion. I do it all the time. I don't view it as a bribe or such, just as a thank you.

Don't start wi5h goodies, because what if they say no? Do you leave them still. If not it is a bribe, "I will give you this if you do thqt"

However, after a few months go to the ones who gave you a few and drop a box of donuts

Any type of gift to government officials in exchange for referrals is quid pro quo and should be frowned upon by all. Government workers are paid by tax dollars and they should only be influenced by the public good, not whose leaving brownies. What if you found out they were accepting cash as thank you's from your competitor, would you report him? Why shouldn't your competitor report them for accepting your gifts?

If they were federal employees, it would be flat out illegal for them to accept any gift, bar none.

Thank you everyone for the input. A lot of good information.
Pass-thru never thought about that. I was thinking of it as just a thank-you. But could see it considered as quid pro quo.

David that is good info on the networking with the other extension classes offered. Especially the master gardener classes, had not thought about that!

Thanks
Derek

I don't go along with giving "gifts" to government employees but an honest and heartfelt "thank you, I really appreciate it" works wonders.

Having worked as a fed I know of examples of folks being offered "gifts."

Where the rubber meets the road govt offices are generally not able to mainline calls to one company or entity.

Unless they are the only permitted company let's say for a particular species or issue.

Otherwise they can have a list and give out the whole list and let people choose from that.

I have lots of friends in many govt offices and work for several municipal entities now and all still have to give folks a generic answer on things outside my contract.

Basically it still happens plenty of folks in many industries including ours have good working relationships with a govt office of some sort or agent and some give them cookies, doughnuts, etc...

Ultimately most of these things would never be caught, neither would the folks giving out just one companies name. In my experience they are trying to recommend someone who is honest and knows how to do the work, but all the opinions on here are valid....

Ultimately stopping to visit with many of these offices listed above will result in folks knowing you, without any gifts, food, etc....

If you are the only one stopping to check in with them guess who is getting the calls that come through their office?

It is logical and it happens everyday...

Ultimately though also remember there are lots of referrals for things that won't pay.... Watch how you market to these folks or you'll be knee deep in "free" work....

Justin has a valid point. I don't miss the calls from the animal control I mentioned. Aside from the occasional moron wanted to sue the county most thought I was paid by the county or somehow was tax payer funded to provide free service.

David,

Sadly I made lots of friends like that that are still in possession of my number lol!

I've gotten better at redirecting those calls...

I don't doubt most, if not all in our industry have had calls from those assuming our services are free.

We even get those calls from our advertising in the yellow pages. Some folks just assume for some reason that we are a community service company doing free public service work. I just ask them who do they think pays for the ad that they just read.

I always send a box of candy and a card at christmas time to all my contacts in PD, Animal control etc. that sent me leads through out the year. They do remember the thought.

One of the county extension agents told me people do call thinking there is a free service from the county. What is good is she informs them there is no free service for nuisance control.

Thanks Derek

Here in Wi and many other states, the .gov can not compete with private business. But like mentioned earlier, they do have ways around that, and this year I have seen more of it here. Customers are pretty quick to call back and tell me that the DNR is going to get the coons out of their house for free. It will just take time to dial in and find those rotten apples and get rid of them.