Making Real Estate Referrals an Active Part of Your Marketing

It would be difficult to find a real estate agent who doesn’t want more referrals. In fact, in the hundreds of conversations we have each year with ambitious agents, the one thing we hear most often is, “I’d like to get more of my business through referrals and word-of-mouth.”

The problem is, many agents still see real estate referrals as something that “just happens.” You do a good job for a client and, eventually, they’ll recommend you to a friend or neighbour. Isn’t that how it works?

Sure, some agents lean in a bit more than that in pursuit of real estate referrals. For example, they might put a “We welcome referrals” message on their website. There’s nothing wrong with that! But that’s still a passive real estate marketing approach.

The reality is, if you want to get more referrals, you need to make that an active part of your marketing mix.

In other words, you need to have a proven client referrals system in place that predictably generates referrals for you, year after year. Otherwise, you’ll only get a small percentage of the real estate referrals you could — and should — be getting. (Your competitors will be getting the rest of those real estate leads.)

Think about how hard you work for your clients. Consider the stellar job you do for them. Don’t you deserve to get 100% of the potential referrals from those contacts — or close to it?

Of course, you do.

So don’t buy into the idea that real estate referrals should be “organic” and naturally arise from the great work you do for clients. The surprising truth is, many of your clients would be happy to recommend you to their friends and neighbours — but often don’t. There are many reasons for that phenomenon. But rather than get into those, let’s look at the solution.

How do you make “getting more referrals” an active part of your marketing?

As we referenced earlier, a Client Referrals System should include a monthly direct mail newsletter, blog articles and social media marketing, email marketing, regular calls and visits from you and, ideally, an annual client appreciate event.

Working together, these components maximize relationship-building; positioning you with your past clients as the kind of agent worth hiring again and recommending to others.

Yes, this is a comprehensive, and very active, approach to getting more real estate referrals. You might think, “Whoa! That looks like a lot of work.” However, if you get the right real estate marketing system in place — one that’s automated and mostly done-for-you — it will only take you an hour or two each week to manage.

Takeaway: Get active with your referral marketing this month!