6 Powerful Ways to Get More Real Estate Referrals

The Real Estate industry is highly competitive. With so many realtors saturating the market, clients have a lot of options when they choose a realtor to help them buy or sell a home. One of the most effective ways to retain and grow your real estate business is through referrals. It’s reported that 75 percent of an agent’s business comes from referrals and word of mouth – in other words 20 percent of your past clients are responsible for 75 percent of your business. With growth potential relying heavily on referrals, real estate agents should be focusing on things they can do to increase and amplify them.

Here are 6 powerful ways to increase real estate referrals:

#1:  Provide helpful content to your customers

Once you’ve worked with a customer, maintain your relationship with them by sending them helpful content. This content can be anything from home owner tips, to events in their new area. Taking the time to continue to be helpful after the sale will keep you top of mind when it comes time for a future referral. Sending your customers helpful content will help you continue to build trust with your customers, increasing the chance that they refer you.

#2: Build relationships with industry leaders

The real estate business has a lot of moving parts. From mortgage lenders and brokers, to housing inspectors and construction companies, your customer will be interacting with a ton of other professionals during their home buying and selling process. Building strong relationships with industry leaders in your area will help you have a list of trusted recommendations. This in turn will make your customer’s home buying or selling process go even smoother. By working together to cross promote each other’s services you will be able to increase your referrals exponentially.

#3: Request customer referrals for your website

One way to amplify the reach of your customer referrals is to collect them for your website. Create a system to collect positive customer feedback, and show it on different pages of your website to generate social proof. Collecting videos and photos for your website referrals will allow you to tell a story about your customers which will influence potential customers even more. Adding testimonial collection into your sales cycle will help you create a robust feed of referrals for your website.

#4: Attend a real estate networking event or trade show

Attending a real estate or community event will allow you to network and build your referrals.  Recognizable and known agents are more likely to get new leads, so it’s important to build your network in many different ways. Events give you a chance to network with potential customers and industry leaders, in turn increasing your real estate referrals over time.

#5: Distribute branded materials to make referrals easy on your customers

Create business cards and other branded materials to distribute to your customers. This will allow them to easily pass along your information when giving a referral to a friend or family member. Design these business cards to show your personality and stand out. This will help you bridge the gap between referrals and new customers. Make sure your branded materials also align well with your website and social media business page to draw a quick connection for your referrals.

#6: Incentivize and reward referrals

Create a contest or incentive around referrals. Your incentive could be anything from gift cards to a local restaurant, to a fun t-shirt. You know your customer base, so choose an incentive that appeals to them. Rewarding your customers for referring business to you will allow you to show your appreciation and increase new leads.

Real estate referrals are a great way to grow your real estate business. Taking the time to amplify different areas of your marketing, communication and branding efforts will help you build stronger relationships with your customers and industry leaders. The stronger relationships you build, the greater chance you have of receiving a referral. What methods do you use to increase your real estate referrals?

Posted in: Social Proof