The Key: How to Work by Referral as a Realtor®
“The Key” is Blakemore Real Estate’s agent-focused blog series in which educational tips, best practices, and expert insights are shared to help Realtors® excel in their careers.
Client referrals come from providing such an exceptional client experience that your clients, friends, and neighbors are compelled to recommend your service to others. Knowing how to land referrals is the most affordable and impactful way to grow your business.
Garnering referrals can feel like a difficult thing to do when you’re just starting out but learning how to exercise that muscle will be the best thing for business! The process can really be simplified down to this: stay in touch and authentically connected to your past clients!
Where can I find referral leads?
As a Realtor®, generating leads is vital to growing and making money. However, prospecting for new clients can be a time-consuming task, often resulting in, well, little results. Referrals offer a perfect opportunity to cut down on prospecting and go right to the source. You can get referrals from:
Former Clients
Other Realtors® in Your Network
Real Estate Referral Companies
Most people ask their friends or family if they know a professional they trust before they start researching and finding someone they don’t know. By poising yourself as the expert long before and long after any transaction, you’ll be first in their mind when they receive that question!
How can I generate referral leads?
Wondering how to get referrals? We have you covered! Check out these top strategies for generating referrals.
Offer top-notch service
The number one thing clients care about is how they are treated, and word of mouth spreads quickly. By offering exceptional service, you can boost your reputation and be known as the right real estate resource, which will inevitably lead to referrals.
Be knowledgeable of the market and the area you’re working in. The best way you can prove to your clients—past, present, and future—that you’re the right professional to help them is by being an expert in the market and the area.
Maintain contact with past clients and provide them with valuable information
As a real estate professional, you don’t just help with the transaction. It’s your job to help throughout all aspects of the homeownership journey. Use opportunities like changing seasons, market and equity updates, local events, and our personal favorite, Client Appreciation Parties to authentically stay in touch with your database.
This simple act helps build trust by treating them like a relationship and not a number. Plus, they can’t forget you if you keep reaching out!
Maintain a network of other real estate professionals
Build relationships with industry leaders in lending, title, inspections, and every other adjacent industry. Cultivating these professional relationships is mutually beneficial for you, them, and your clients. You can also cross-promote each other’s services free of charge — teamwork makes the dream work.
Showcase who you are and provide value
Curate a social media presence that you can maintain and is authentic to you. Create meaningful content to build your following and engage with your followers.
Ask for, collect, and showcase testimonials from clients on your website and social media. Those that may get referred to your website or social media can gain all the information they need to want to work with you before ever reaching out.
How do I follow up after receiving a referral?
Now that you have landed a referral client, what do you do now? Handling a referral client is slightly different than working with a client that hasn’t been referred to you. These clients come with your reputation and the experience you’ve provided their friends or family member on the line.
Here is how you can continue to provide exceptional service to build your reputation and referrals:
Research the lead. Learn as much as you can about the client before reaching out. This will help establish a relationship and make it easier to break the ice. Don’t jump right into business. Get to know them and let them get to know you.
Make referral outreach a priority. Follow up with a referred client as soon as possible. Being responsive will ensure that the referrer and the referral feel taken care of and like a top priority.
Maintain contact and open line of communication. Some referrals may keep you waiting before starting the conversation, so it’s important to set and maintain a schedule for checking in with them or following up. As always, make sure you’re responsive and don’t keep them waiting!
Send a thank you note. Reward the person that sent you the referral with a thank you note or a gift, even if it did not result in a successful business transaction. This part is critical. It’s the act of trust that should be rewarded, not whether a closing happened.
