In real estate, generating real estate leads is key to growing and making money. However, prospecting for new real estate clients is often a time-consuming task. One way you could cut down on the amount of time needed to generate new real estate leads is through real estate referrals. You can get referrals from former clients, other real estate professionals, and real estate referral companies. Generally, most consumers trust word-of-mouth from people they know over advertising. In fact, successful real estate agents generate almost half of their revenue through referral and repeat business. In conjunction with other real estate lead generation efforts, real estate agent referrals can contribute a lot to the growth and overall success of your real estate business.
Nevertheless, referrals won’t come flying in if you don’t put in some effort. No matter the stage you have reached in your real estate career, understanding how to ask for referrals in real estate and boosting your efforts is crucial. Read on to learn how to get real estate referrals.
Related: 6 Top Real Estate Marketing Strategies for Agents
1. Offer Exceptional Service
If you are wondering how to get real estate referrals, the first step is to offer excellent service that makes you stand out from other real estate agents in the industry. This will form a good foundation for getting more clients. Nobody is going to refer you to their friends, family, or acquaintances if your work is mediocre.
You must be consistent in providing excellent services to your real estate clients. Be committed to going above and beyond to meet the needs of your clients. Also, when working with new real estate clients, you should keep their expectations in check and not promise what is unrealistic.
2. Be a Specialist
Getting leads in real estate as a new agent can be tough. One helpful tip on how to get real estate referrals quickly as a new real estate agent is to establish yourself as a specialist. It is easier to generate referrals among a targeted group of potential clients than trying to appeal to all sellers and home buyers. Your marketing and branding efforts should all convey the message that you are an expert in that particular specialty.
3. Work with Local Business Owners
Another good way to generate real estate referrals is to work with local business owners. Since local business owners have existing relationships with local residents, investors, and other professionals, they can be a valuable source of real estate leads. You can contact them and offer to promote their services on your website, social media, and newsletter. In turn, they will be more open to promoting your company to their customers, friends, and associates.
4. Provide Useful Content to Your Clients
After working with a client, one way you can get free referrals is by maintaining your relationship with them. You can do this by regularly sending them useful content. For instance, you can provide them with tips on homeownership or inform them of events in their area. This will help build trust with your clients and increase the chance of them referring you. By being helpful to your clients even after the sale, they will keep you top of mind whenever there’s a referral opportunity.
5. Reward Referrals
Rewarding your clients for referring business to you will motivate them to bring even more referrals. Always let them know that their effort means a lot to you and your real estate business. Show your appreciation even for the leads that don’t result in business. You can show your gratitude in many ways, including sending a thank you note and gift cards. Make sure you study your customer base and select an incentive that appeals to them.
6. Build Relationships with Industry Leaders
Real estate is a people business. If you are thinking of how to get real estate referrals with no upfront cost, one of the best ways is to build relationships with industry leaders. In the process of buying or selling property, real estate clients will interact with a number of professionals. This includes other agents, brokers, mortgage lenders, inspectors, contractors, etc. Therefore, building relationships with such professionals can lead to a referral exchange. You can cross-promote each other’s services without having to spend money.
If you are wondering how to get referrals from real estate agents and other real estate professionals, networking is the answer. You can network with other real estate professionals by attending trade shows and real estate networking events. Over time, you will be able to increase your referrals in real estate.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Networking for Agents
7. Have a Strong Social Media Presence
It is difficult to get real estate referrals if you are not known or recognizable. One of the best ways to make yourself known is to stay engaged on social media. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are good sources for real estate referrals. By sharing relevant content regularly, you will be able to build an audience of loyal subscribers who may share your posts with their friends and relatives. You should also create time to engage with prospects on social media.
Related: 22 Real Estate Social Media Marketing Ideas for Agents
8. Implement Email Marketing Automation
Automating email delivery can help to cultivate relationships while saving a lot of your time. Manually creating and sending emails can be time-consuming. However, by investing in some form of marketing automation, you will be able to reach more real estate clients across multiple channels. This will increase your chances of getting referrals.
9. Request Testimonials for Your Real Estate Agent Website
Another way to get more real estate referrals is to collect positive client feedback and display it on your website. Adding a collection of testimonials on your website will promote social proof for your business and help you create a robust feed of real estate referrals for your website.
10. Distribute Branded Materials
Although it may cost you some money, creating branded materials like business cards and distributing them to your clients is an effective way of getting real estate client referrals. The branded materials will allow your clients to easily pass along information whenever they are giving a referral to a friend, family member, or colleague. Make sure that your branded materials are designed to show your personality so that you stand out. They should also align well with your social media and website.
11. Be Easy to Find and Contact
To get more real estate referrals, prospects should be able to contact you easily and quickly whenever they need your services. Therefore, make sure that your contact information is listed prominently on your website, social network, email signature, business cards, and other promotional avenues.
12. Host a Party
A good way to appreciate your real estate clients as you strengthen your relationship with them is to organize a party. Invite your clients to a gathering with food, drinks, music, games, and fun activities. The gesture shows that you care about them and will inspire them to send you more referrals. It’s also a good idea to allow each guest to bring a +1 to help expand your network.
13. Work with a Referral Agent
A referral agent can also be a good source of real estate referrals. They are licensed agents who don’t locate or list properties for real estate clients but refer clients to active agents. In return, if the deal goes through, you get to pay them a finder’s fee, which is usually a percentage of your commission.
The Bottom Line
Real estate referrals are a great way for real estate agents to generate leads and grow their business. It is cost-effective and the leads are ready-made. Working to generate real estate referrals can boost your real estate leads generation and grow your business much faster. Therefore, knowing how to get real estate referrals is a must-have skill for all real estate agents. With these real estate referral ideas, you will be able to boost your referral efforts and won’t have to spend a lot of time trying to get new business.
What’s the next step after getting real estate leads? Qualifying them! You can do this instantly with Mashboard. Schedule a demo to learn more about this innovative technology.