6 Reasons to Use a Real Estate Referral Program

A real estate referral program is a simple way to transform ordinary encounters in your personal and professional life into a way to generate business opportunities. This system is based on the interconnectedness of human relationships; it operates on the premise that someone you know is connected to someone you need to know or someone who knows someone you need to know.

It offers a way to get people to grant you access to their valuable relationships. When you deploy a real estate referral program as your preferred strategy for growing your business, you take a step back in time to the way business was originally done. Instead of chasing strangers for their money, you get your friends to talk to their friends about you.

The advantage of using a referral system is you do not have to deal with people’s suspicion. The people sent to your business via a referral system arrive with a level of confidence in you. They know you have an established track record. Because referred clients often arrive ready, it is a lot easier to do business with them.

There are several ways for estate agents to generate real estate referrals, these examples include:

• Client appreciation events: A client appreciation event gives you a chance to thank your clients for their businesses. It also offers a chance to get referrals since the clients are encouraged to attend with their friends and families.
• Partnerships with other professionals: This kind of arrangement lets you share information with real estate professionals who are not your competition. For instance, as a real estate agent, you can send clients to lenders, handymen, and property management firms. They will reciprocate by sending their clients who want to buy or sell houses to you.
• Workshops, seminars, and community events: These could be a first-time homebuyer seminar or a workshop for people thinking of buying rental property. Events like these give you a chance to establish yourself as a repository of knowledge. Even if most of the attendees may not buy right away, they will remember you when they are ready to. Community events give you exposure; they give you a chance to build trust within the community.
• Real estate referral programs: These are programs that do nothing but aggregate leads and send them to estate agents who are signed up on their platform. There are many of these services available online and their methods of operation vary widely.

6 Reasons YOU Should be Using a Realtor Referral Program

What are the advantages of using a real estate referral program versus other methods of customer acquisition?

1. Lower customer acquisition costs: The cost of each new client that comes to your business via a referral program is a lot lower than what you would pay to acquire a customer using other channels. Depending on the source of the referral – a past client, another real estate professional, or a referral program – the cost to your business can be as low as zero. Referral programs are cost-effective and sustainable.
2. Builds trust: Using a referral program confers credibility on your business. Because the customer already trusts the source that referred them to you, they automatically transfer that trust to your business. This means you will often have to do less work to get a referred client to buy from you or to use your services. They are also more likely to buy because they know the person who referred them will expect some feedback.
3. Gives your business exposure: Whether by being listed on the website of a referral program, attending a community event, holding client appreciation events or by being mentioned by another real estate professional, a referral program gives your business exposure. But unlike the kind of exposure you get when you advertise on the internet, this exposure is narrowed down to the community where most of your business is done.
4. Receive quality leads: The people who come to you via a referral system are typically already in the process of buying or selling a property. You do not need to start selling them afresh on the benefits of buying the property or buying through you; they know all that already. What these clients usually want from you is the ability to live up to the expectations of the person who recommended them to you.
5. Enhanced business processes: Most real estate referral programs offer tools and training that help their clients improve their lead generation processes. In addition to the leads they send your way, they also improve your business’s ability to generate leads. Those training and tools impact all other areas of your business and ultimately result in an improved bottom line.
6. Additional sources of income: A referral program that lets you share leads with other real estate professionals in your locality offers your business additional sources of revenue. For instance, when you refer a client to a property management firm and they sign a management agreement, that property manager will pay you a fee for that referral. You can have this kind of arrangement with several businesses.