You will never be able to run a referral based business without knowing why people refer Realtors to begin with. This is crucial for understanding how consistent content creation works.
Are you sick and tired of fighting chasing transactions? The good news is that just about anybody can run a referral based business because is based upon relationships you already have, but it starts by learning why people refer Realtors first.
Once you understand this, it should help you with your marketing your database.
Why Do People Refer Realtors?
When people refer Realtors, it’s almost always because there is an ongoing conversation about real estate occurring. Suddenly, someone jumps in and says, “Hey, I know an agent, you have to call him/her. They are great!” Then, a referral is born. The question everyone wants to know is: why did someone refer the client to that agent?
Referrals take place at work, dinner conversations, or even parties. They take place anywhere people are having conversations. Real estate is a highly referred profession for two reasons:
- Moving is an exciting time in someone’s life and people naturally want to talk about it because it’s an emotional decision.
- Buying or selling a house is a major financial move to make so people want to make sure they are in good hands. There is nothing more trustworthy than a referral.
How do you get people to refer you more clients?
Referral marketing is all about training your audience to associate your name with real estate. When your database immediately thinks of you anytime the word “real estate” is brought up, you will begin attracting business. The key to this is through top of mind brand awareness and being everywhere all the time through marketing with consistent content creation.
Think about the last time you referred someone something or someone.
Ask yourself, why did you refer that person or thing?
When people refer services/professionals to others, they do not get any type of award, big shiny trophy, or anything monetary, do they? There is no tangible incentive to refer anyone to anything. We are genetically programmed to refer our friends, co-workers, and family to things we like, which includes how people refer Realtors.
Why is real estate a referral dominated business?
Everyone always “has a guy”. Everyone always wants you to use “their guy”. In some markets you can literally trip over a real estate agent in the street there are so many.
You can make a post on Facebook right now and ask for any type of service provider and people will respond with several of their “guys”, but the question is why do they care? What’s in it for them?
People refer Realtors when the following three things are present:
- They have to like the agent they are referring them to;
- They have to like the person that is asking or suggesting for a referral for an agent; and
- The person referring the agent has to notice that an ongoing conversation is taking place (about real estate) and they have to THINK OF YOU (this is the key).
People Refer Realtors because they like helping others.
Who doesn’t like to be thanked or acknowledged? People refer others to things or services they like, it is only because they feel like they helped someone solve a problem. It’s the way God made us.
That’s it. People refer Realtors because it is embedded in our DNA to be natural problem solvers and we LOVE being acknowledged for doing a good deed. Don’t you like solving problems for others? Of course you do, we all do. It’s part of being human.
Your database actually wants to refer you business, but it’s your job to become more referable. If you are not marketing your database, I promise you that somebody is. Part of being a successful Realtor is cultivating a rolodex of relationships.
You must look at your career as a popularity contest. Everyone knows a Realtor, but how do consumers decide who to hire as their realtor? Did you know that roughly 75% of people use the first agent they come into contact with? How do you become the first person they talk to or be the agent that is given the referral? You do it by remaining in communication with your database.
The problem most real estate agents face is; how do I stay in touch with my database? It starts by finding a marketing strategy that is authentic to you. Before we begin working with anybody, we first build them a strategy that they are excited about. It must also represent their personal brand. The need to create content and use it to stay in touch with your database is essential to running a referral based business.
Creating video content consistently is just another way to stay on top pf mind amongst your database and build a strong personal brand people know, like, trust, and REFER. If you’d be interested in exploring what a video marketing strategy looks like for you, that makes you the go to real estate agent in your community, schedule a demo with a dude.