The real estate industry is very competitive these days. With so many real estate agents available in the market, there are a lot of options for clients when they need a realtor that can help them sell or buy a property.
Making money as a real estate agent is easier if you know how to find real estate clients. One effective way which realtors can use to retain and grow their business is through real estate referrals. Lead generation through real estate referrals is one of the most effective ways you can use since it costs less and the leads are ready-made.
Real estate referrals usually occur when former clients, real estate referral companies, or other licensed real estate professionals recommend your services to a property buyer or property seller.
However, referrals won’t just come flying in unless you put in a little effort. With the growth potential of your business on the line, you need to learn how to build and sustain referrals. Here are 5 practical ways on how to get referrals:
1. Provide Excellent Services for Your Clients
The first step to getting more real estate referrals is providing a high level of service to your clients. For people to send referrals, the service needs to be exceptional. It is unlikely that past and current clients will refer you to their friends, acquaintances, and family if you do a mediocre job. The services you provide need to be excellent and consistent each and every day and should meet your clients’ needs.
When working with new real estate clients, you need to know what they expect from you and do everything you can to meet those expectations. Furthermore, you need to keep the expectations of your clients in check by being honest with them about their budget, the market, and what you can realistically offer to them. Clients who feel that their expectations have not been met will be disappointed in you and it will be highly unlikely to gain real estate referrals from them.
2. Show Appreciation and Reward Sources of Real Estate Referrals
You should always show appreciation to your clients and other referrers each time they send a real estate referral your way and let them know what their effort means to your business. This will encourage them to continue spreading the word and increase lead generation.
You should show your gratitude not only for qualified leads but even for the leads that don’t work out. Only acknowledging the real estate referrals that turn into sales limits the number of referrals you can receive and also kills people’s desire to send you more leads. You can mail your referrers a thank you note or even reward them with a gift card if your budget allows. Since you know your customer base, you can decide on an incentive that appeals to them.
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3. Maintain Your Relationship with Your Clients and Prospects
Once you have worked with a real estate client, you should establish an ongoing relationship with them. For example, you can send them helpful content like homeowner tips or events near their area. Taking your time to continue being helpful after a sale will help build trust with your clients and keep you in their mind when they get a real estate referral in the future.
Even when a lead does not want to do business immediately, you should not abandon the relationship altogether. Such a person could later become a client or even another source of referrals. Keep the possibilities open by keeping in touch and following up with them.
4. Build Relationships with Industry Leaders
Real estate clients usually interact with many other professionals in the process of buying or selling a home, including housing inspectors, construction companies, mortgage lenders and brokers. By working together and building strong relationships with other professionals in the industry, you will be able to cross-promote each other’s services and increase your real estate referrals exponentially. This will, in turn, make your clients’ home selling and buying process even smoother.
You can build such relationships by frequently attending real estate networking events and trade shows and by having a strong social media presence. This will allow you to build your network in many ways and increase your real estate referrals over time. The stronger the relationships you have built, the greater the chances of receiving a referral. Real estate agents that are known and recognizable are more likely to get new leads.
5. Distribute Branded Materials
Distributing your branded materials will make real estate referrals easier on your clients. By creating branded materials like business cards and distributing them to your customers, they will be able to easily pass along information about you when giving referrals to family members and friends. This will help in bridging the gap between the referrals and new clients since it will be easier for prospects to get in touch with your business.
You need to design your branded materials in a way that they can stand out and show your personality. They also need to align well with your social media business page and your website to draw a quick connection for your real estate referrals.
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Lead generation is essential when it comes to making money as a real estate agent. For real estate agents wondering how to get more leads and grow their business, real estate referrals are one of the best the ways to go about it. It could cut down on the amount of money and time you have to spend prospecting for new clients since the clients will often come directly to you. Referrals often become clients more than leads that are generated from other promotional avenues. Together with other prospecting efforts, real estate referrals can contribute immensely to the growth and success of your business.
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