Many people understand the importance of referrals to their 
business. NAR research shows us that upwards of 80% of people hired a real estate agent because they were referred to them. 80%! This is much too big of a number to either ignore or not handle intentionally. Besides waiting for people to remember you and waiting by your phone, what else can you do to generate referral business?
1) Customer Service is king.
The foundation to getting referrals is giving people an experience that they would want their friends and family to have. Having customer service systems in place to make sure this is happening, and constantly fine tuning this, is critical. All the other things you do fall apart if this isn’t in place. Obviously, this is a topic unto itself. We will talk more about ways to not only increase your service, but also the perception of the client of their experience in future blogs.
2) Have a database.
Do you have a list of names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, kids’ names, and anything else that is important to your client somewhere? The importance of having a list of people who know you and you know them cannot be over emphasized. Whether you are one day in the business or three decades doesn’t matter. Consistently being in touch is what matters.
3) Be consistent.
Your success in real estate depends upon the number of people who when they think of real estate, they think of you. The only way to be in their mind as the resource for real estate is to be in contact with them on a consistent basis. The more personal the touch, the more powerful it is. Consistency is very difficult without systems. Our system is to send out something in the mail on the 1st and something via email on the 15th. We also have regular times that we send out personal notes, or that we call them. The more you can make the next step automatic, the more likely it is that you will be consistently in touch. The more you are in contact, the more they know you care, the more they are willing to refer you.
This is a very rich topic and one that I am sure we will be talking more about in the future. Service and Systems are the theme here and we will dive deeper into both of those at our next Lunch and Learn. I hope you can join us!