Lead the Way With More Referrals

By: Christian Jacobsen

Referrals are the best business leads, because they come from other people who value your services. You may be an effective marketer and tireless self promoter, but you'll never be as effective as an ordinary person talking to friends or family. Real estate agents who understand the magic of a referral can generate a lot of extra business, and avoid unreliable marketing marketing methods like cold calling and email campaigns.

The first step in generating more referrals is making yourself easy to find - don't make people search hard once they find out about you and your services. If you have a website you're on the right track, since most people check the web first when entering the real estate market. People are going to be looking for you, and typing in your name, so make sure your website comes up quickly in those search engine results. Also make sure the website presents your services clearly, so people aren't confused or stalled here. Remember as well to make yourself easy to find in traditional search venues like the phone book, and real estate publications.

Your strategy for generating referrals doesn't have to be extremely complicated, but it should cover the basics. One obvious tool that's often overlooked at this point is a good business card. It's not effective to hand out cards to everyone you see in a day, but it is worthwhile time to make your card memorable or useful to the people who do receive it. Encourage people to keep your business card on hand by putting something handy on the back, like a golf score card, or a tip chart for restaurant workers. Past clients will keep your card because they enjoyed your services, but it might take the added gimmick to get it shown around - try a few different ones and see which works best.

Referrals can also come from the people you talk to every day in your business - people like mortgage consultants, other real estate agents, brokers, and contractors. You can easily get referrals through these contacts if you maintain a good relationship, and send them the occasional referral back. If people in your industry service network have websites, so much the better - initiate link exchanges between your site and theirs, so their clients can find you, and vice versa. If you initiate the exchange, you'll also be in a better position to define the relationship and make sure your site looks as appealing as possible on their site.

Another great strategy for generating referrals to offer relocation services. If you advertise that part of your business is helping people get settled, past clients will be more likely to refer you to friends and family looking for a home in your area.

Once you learn to target referrals over other leads, you'll generate more clients with less work, and have more time to focus on the quality of your service.

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