real estate referrals Archives - Wade Webb Real Estate Coaching

Realtors© – How To Generate More Referrals

Wade Webb on March 23, 2022

83% of agents found new clients through real estate referrals. Client referrals stem from providing such an exceptional client experience that your clients, friends, and neighbors are compelled to recommend your services to others. Knowing how to generate referrals is key to building your business, and winning organic referrals and repeat clients from your personal connections—the folks who know, like, and trust you—requires thoughtful strategy. If you’re looking to learn more about paid, broker, and realtor referrals, check out our recent article about referral fees, how they work, and best practices.

1. Create Buzzworthy Client Events. Strategy cost: $500 to $1,000. Time commitment: 1 day plus follow-up. Go-to Close resource: A surefire way to get your clients buzzing about you with their friends and family is to invite them to be a part of events that they can’t help but talk about afterward. These can be live or virtual, and as simple or elaborate as your budget allows. My best referral sources are private and intimate events for my past and current clients, usually for no more than 20 couples or families. For instance, before COVID-19 hit, I offered a private screening of the new Aladdin movie at a downtown theater. I reserved all the seats for the Saturday morning show, and I offered popcorn, drinks, and a gift bag with Aladdin-themed items. When an attendee was asked how their weekend was, they were for sure going to mention my name and the event.

2. Build Community & Connection Online. Strategy cost: Between $3,500 and $6,500 a year, depending on your market. Time commitment: About four hours a week. Your past clients are less likely to give you real estate referrals if you aren’t top of mind. So, consistently share both real estate market and lifestyle content online and encourage your social connections to share it with their friends and family. You can build a community website with Parkbench and make it the hub for the community to learn what’s happening near you. Host interviews with local business owners and give your recommendations for the best brew pubs, neighborhoods, dog parks, and eateries in your town or city. Check out the Parkbench website to see if your market is available (they only allow one real estate agent per area), reserve your spot, and start talking up your community’s local hot spots. Constantly keep your name in front of clients with advertisements, postcards, e-blasts, and so forth regarding new listings, but I also include content like ‘My Favorite Places.’ Whether it be restaurants, bars, dry cleaners, or car washes, people share when they read something they agree with, so just give them a reason to share your message.

3. Stay Top-of-Mind Using Key Market Insights. Strategy cost: FREE. Time commitment: One hour a week. Agents who think their clients’ interest in real estate ends at the closing table aren’t getting as many referrals as they could. Key market insights shared with potential buyers and homeowners help to position you as a knowledgeable market expert who can expertly advise them on a property’s investment potential or performance. Bonus: Make this info easily shareable for broader reach. Use your real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) or your email marketing platform to create templated messages you can use to send timely stats to your different client types. Then, pull the numbers from your market every other week and fill in the blanks. You’ve got to stay up to date on the latest real estate trends, and you’ve got to share those trends. I share valuable information with past and future clients, both to educate them and to stay on their minds. Most people don’t use the same agent twice; I want my clients, their friends, and all New Yorkers to know that I’m consistent, caring, and tenacious.

4. Cross-pollinate Your Prospecting & Referral Game. Strategy cost: $100 to $500 per postcard mailing, depending on volume. Time commitment: Three hours a month. Referral opportunities increase when your varied marketing efforts hit the same person with coordinated messages. Your neighborhood is a great place to start since this audience is already in your sphere of influence, they just aren’t active clients—at least not yet. To get started, you’ll want to make sure your prospecting tools are sharp. For coordinated business cards, postcards, flyers, door hangers, and much more. Check Out Lab Coat Agents. I regularly prospect the neighborhood where I live—and it just so happens that a parent, whose daughter went to the same school as my daughter, got my postcard in the mail, and we matched. This person was a part of my school circle, but my extra touch with the postcard helped to make the connection.

5. Ask for Real Estate Referrals at the Happiest Moments. Strategy cost: FREE. Time commitment: 30 seconds. There are many instances in a real estate transaction when you get to celebrate. The closing table is definitely one of them. But don’t forget about the moment you find that perfect property for a buyer, or the moment your seller gets a full-price offer. These are a few of the perfect moments, when emotions are running high, to subtly remind your clients how much you appreciate them sharing their positive experiences via reviews and referrals. The best way to get referrals is by asking for them at your client’s happiest moment. For example, I was once able to negotiate three months of free rent for a client. I congratulated them on their great deal and asked them right then and there if there was anyone else they knew that I could also help. Ask and you shall receive!

6. Sustain Client Relationships Authentically. Strategy cost: FREE. Time commitment: One hour a week. The more specific a message is tailored to a person, the more likely they are to respond to it. If you pay attention not only to what your client needs, but also to who they are, you can leverage that knowledge later to boost your referral rate—big time. Get started on this strategy by using your CRM to keep all your client interactions organized and in one place. Start by sending out a personalized email celebrating the anniversary of your clients’ purchase or sale. The typical realtor will be sending out one or two of these emails every week, maintaining consistent, ongoing conversations with their past clients throughout the year. I noticed a group of my past clients were major foodies and home cooks. Not being a great home cook myself, I wrote a blog-like email of my failed attempt at a pumpkin curry one fall. At the end, I jokingly asked for referrals since I should probably stick to real estate as my cooking career was clearly not taking off. I got multiple referrals that helped me have a strong winter that year.

7. Maintain Client Communication Using a CRM. Strategy cost: FREE. Time commitment: Two to three hours upfront, 30 minutes a week after that. Stay on top of your post-closing communication by establishing a communication cadence—a plan that will dictate which messages you’re sending to which clients and when. You can create some of this communication well in advance (e.g., anniversary messages, birthday greetings, holiday well-wishes). However, you’ll want to create some of it in the moment. Make sure you’ve got a good CRM to help you manage your communication and remind you when it’s time to reach out. The key to repeated referral business is continued and consistent contact. Obviously, you need to do a good job for your clients, but those clients passing your name on to others is what matters here. Keep your name out there whether it’s mailers, email, phone calls, or social media. Remember the little things about people. A small detail can go a long way.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Generate More Referrals To My Real Estate Business

Wade Webb on September 29, 2021

Referrals are the backbone of a lot of top agents businesses. Where the big opportunity lies is in blending digital and traditional advertising strategies. Using digital methods to effectively (and in some cases immediately) increase referrals in a modern way. This week we cover what Agentsboost coaching clients have been doing to get more referrals in their business in 2021. Agents often get referrals on accident. They are very passive and take them and appreciate them when they come but they do not proactively seek them out other than some lame slogan on their business card or in their email signature. The appeal and upside of referrals is obvious. Referrals convert faster than most other lead sources. When a past client sends a friend your way it is usually because they are in the market to buy or sell soon. You don’t get a lot of referrals that you have to nurture for a year. Referrals are also likely to be more profitable than other lead sources as there is little to no cost to acquire the customer. Another upside of a referral is that they are more likely to refer as well. In fact, studies show that a referred customer is 4x more likely to refer more customers to your brand. Now a warning. Don’t wear the fact that all of your business comes via referrals like a badge of honor. You need to be more diversified than that if you really want your business to grow and become predictable. The challenge with referrals is you don’t really know when or where or how many will come your way. When referrals are a slice of a more sophisticated pie it is actually a better indicator that a business is healthy.

1. Launch an agent newsletter – So many coaching clients are generating a six figure a year referral business from agent to agent referrals annually. Blog, podcast and video content sharing money making ideas for fellow agents. Stay top of mind with agents in your market and from around the country by sharing a newsletter loaded with tips and tricks specifically focused on teaching other agents. It may seem counterintuitive to teach agents who you compete with some of your best practices but by doing so creates a steady stream of agent referrals from local agents and a nationwide audience. You probably have a newsletter for your past clients and leads, try adding one specifically catered to agents. By the way, a good way to build up a list of agent emails to send. Every time you attend a conference, seminar where you take a lot of notes go on Facebook and tell anyone who would like a copy of them to drop their email in a comment and you will send them to them and watch the emails pour in your comment area.

2. Email Your Listings (the right way) To Your Past Clients. – No one wants to send their past clients emails about new listings every week. But if you do it the right way you can turn a new listing into referrals, fast. The key is in the positioning. Let’s face it, anyone you sold a home to in the last few years is most likely not already in the market to buy another one. But we have developed some magic words that you can use so that you can email all of your past clients about a listing to get referrals from them. The magic words are…who do you know? The reason this works so well is that it is not a direct ask. Most agents go after the recipient of the message. By focusing on who they know, not them, you get referrals without being the typical agent sending out another “Just Listed” campaign. Give them early access, point out that the home would sell fast and also asked them to reply for additional details. Don’t just send them all of the details and use a very appealing listing. Even with the magic words you don’t want to use this technique for every listing that you take so try it when you have one with massive curb appeal or in a highly sought after neighborhood for the best results.

3. Create Your Own Rewards Program. – Not all referral sources are created equally. And I am sure you have certain past clients or people in your sphere of influence that send you a lot of business and some that don’t send you any at all. What you can do is double down on those who send her referrals by creating a Partners Program. Put a lot of thought and effort into the program which basically rewards your past clients and referral sources with prizes and giveaways on a regular basis. One of the things that I really like is when you send out the quarterly email with the prize you require the person to reply saying that they want to claim it. This gets conversations started and you get a lot of “thank you so much” type messages. Starbucks has rewards. Peloton has rewards. You should too. And of course be sure to make any reward program you start compliant with local, state and national laws. Your program isn’t attached to a closing or transaction. It’s a thank you for thinking of us and sending our name to someone. Even if we never hear from the person they referred the person giving the referral is still part of the program.”

4. Take Advantage of Facebook’s Algorithm to Stay Top of Mind. – Did you know that Facebook has a proprietary algorithm called Edge Rank that determines what people see in their newsfeed when they log in? The most important factor that you can actually control is the Interest. Basically, Facebook knows whether or not someone is interested in seeing what you post based on how often you interact with each other’s content. Put simply, the more you engage with someone the more likely they will be to see your posts. So to ensure your posts are seen by your best past clients and most likely referral sources from your sphere of influence. 5-5-5 technique. Each day, you comment on five people’s posts. You send five private DMs. And you Like five people’s posts. Doing this consistently signals to Facebook that there is a relationship between the users and thus the algorithm becomes more likely to show those users your future posts.

5. Compete Where You Can Win For Reviews. – Not everyone is going to be on top when consumers are looking for agents based on their customer reviews. In fact, here in Kelowna where I live a brokerage with the most reviews has 676. So while getting 5-star reviews on Zillow, Ratemyagent etc. overall is a good idea what you don’t want to do is neglect getting reviews on Google and Facebook too. If you look at the search results notice that on the right side his Google reviews are the most prominently displayed and Facebook reviews actually outrank his Zillow, ratemyagent reviews in the organic results. Your website should have a dedicated page for her customer success stories that is insanely compelling and then you use these stories in her retargeting campaigns. By being smart about your online reviews and competing where you can win you can generate “referrals” over and over again without your past clients ever having to speak to a new prospect who is doing their research online.

6. Vertical Integration. – By partnering with the right service providers you should be getting referrals from them, regularly. But a trend we are starting to see is that brokers and agents are increasingly trying to offer many of the peripheral services themselves. That is why smart entrepreneurs are looking to bring things like mortgage, title and escrow in house. It makes things simpler for the consumer and it makes the transaction more profitable for the brokerage. Be laser-focused on continuing our mission to bring more value and services directly to the consumer while keeping the real estate agent relevant in every single transaction. We will continue to focus on finding more opportunities to save the consumer money and time when they work with one of our agents or purchase one of our listings. We expect to see a lot more of this “vertical integration” as a way to increase referrals to additional add-on services in the coming months and years.

7. Being Active In The Right Facebook Groups. – I work with some of the most passionate and successful agents on the planet. A lot of our clients get to be a part of Facebook groups where they can share ideas in a safe space. Because our services are highly exclusive by market our customers are comfortable giving away their secret sauce and best practices knowing they aren’t doing so with all of their competitors, who would inevitably copy them. But they also send each other a ton of referrals. See, top agents want to send referrals to other top agents. They know that if they send a referral to another Agentsboost client their referral will be well taken care of as they have the right systems, processes, technology and mindset to deliver five 5-star service. We asked recently how many of them had actually closed one or more referrals from being a part of our community and it was amazing how many had. What we noticed based on their responses was that there was a direct correlation between how active they were in the mastermind and how many referrals they would get. If you are going to get referrals from a Facebook Group you have to give to get. Post helpful advice frequently. Answer other agents questions in the comments. By being an active participant you will increase the number of referrals you receive and people will even tag you when a referral opportunity is posted.

Getting more real estate referrals takes a plan. Sure, you can get them passively but the magic happens when you get proactive about your “referral generation” efforts. Feel free to share any other strategies you have that help generate more referrals for you and your real estate business.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Commission Strategies 2021

Wade Webb on March 3, 2021

In today’s economy and a red hot real estate market everyone is trying to pinch pennies. In real estate, one way sellers attempt to do this is by asking their agents to lower their commission rates. While many agents flat out refuse to do so, others have become more flexible or are unsure of what to do. In fact, over 80 percent of homes are not paying 6 percent commission. Since the rates have already dropped from 10 percent, agents are reluctant to renegotiate lower than the 6 percent commission average, and with good reason. There is often a great deal of work happening that sellers are unaware of. If your client asks you to lower your commission and you’re caught off guard about how to answer, here are a few tips to help you avoid any uncomfortable situations and keep the listing.

1. Show Your Experience – The majority of the time, when sellers are looking to avoid paying an agent’s commission, they’ll try to sell their home on their own. Remind sellers that by listing with an agent, they receive expert advice and experience to make sure they get the best results from their home sale. While other agents may have a lower rate, they’re likely trying to break into the market and may not be as qualified or knowledgeable as you. Let them know that, thanks to your experience, you’re able to evaluate a buyer’s ability to afford the property and negotiate in the seller’s best interest. Your job is to bring in buyers who are the best fit for the property. In addition to this, because you’re a full-time agent, you can more easily close a deal. Share your recent accomplishments with clients who question your commission rate to remind them of why they hired you. For example, you could tell them how many homes you sold in the past month. You could also show them a comparable home you just sold to give them an idea of everything you do.

2. Remind Them What You Offer – Some clients may be unaware about why you have a commission fee and may believe it’s more like a tip. Let them know that they’re paying for all of the work you do behind the scenes, such as advertising the listing, creating social media buzz, conducting pricing research, compiling the best pictures, etc. If they don’t seem to be getting the message, you can say something like, “I would love to work with you, but in order to do so, I need to cover my expenses. With your home, I can do so at X percent.” You can also show them statistics that prove agents get better prices, so the commission they pay is worth it in the end. Agents know how to competitively price a home to pique the interest of buyers. Not only this, but as an experienced real estate professional, you have the ability to put a listing in front of multiple buyers’ agents whose job it is to find homes for their clients. Without you, sellers are left trying to piece together the right information from the internet, which likely will not be as accurate.

3. Tell Them It’s Not Up to You – If you’re working within a brokerage, it’s very likely that you don’t have the option or the authority to negotiate your commission rate. Especially if you’re new to the area or to real estate in general, let your client know that you’ll discuss it with your broker and get back to them. Then, take it up with your team. Another option is to let sellers know that, if you lower your rate, the buyer’s agent could be forced to lower theirs, as well. As a result, it’s likely that fewer agents will want to show the property. If fewer people see the home, it’s very possible that they won’t receive the offers they’re hoping for. Sometimes clients don’t realize that you’re not the only one affected by lowering your commission rate.

4. When There’s a Little Wiggle Room – While most agents will avoid reducing their commission rates, there may be some times that a lower rate is actually more beneficial. If the home is a luxury property or higher-priced, agents are often more willing to take a smaller commission to make a big sale. In addition to this, if the buyer and seller are very close to an agreement and lowering your commission could seal the deal, it may be worth it to reduce your rate. Finally, if an agent makes a mistake on the listing or during the negotiations, it could be worth reducing the rate to try to keep the transaction positive.

5. Create Commission Concession Agreements – (Last Resort Option) As a requirement for the seller to receive a concession they agree in writing to sign a buyer agreement with you at the same time they are signing their listing agreement at a slightly lower commission rate. Another requirement for the seller is the agree in writing to refer a friend, family member or co-worker that is buying or selling to you in the next twelve months. The third requirement would be of the seller is leaving town and relocating to another city they agree in writing that the agent they buy with will pay you a 25 – 30% referral to you when they buy in their next location. This is a great business option to give a little and recover a little on the other end in markets where you literally have to make a commission or not get the listing and business period. Why walk from the listing and win the war but end up really losing the battle?

Some agents may feel more comfortable reducing their rate, but that doesn’t have to be the norm. Tackling commission concerns can be a difficult thing. If you are an agent who has questions or concerns click to download these free scripts on commission cutting objections today.(see attached)

Commission Strategies 2021

Strength and courage,
Wade

REALTORS© It’s Never Too Late To Generate Referral Business

Wade Webb on December 16, 2020

So many of my coaching clients feel guilty for not maintaining contact with their past clients and think it is too late, embarrassing and they don’t want to hear from them. This is the furthest thing from the truth and this week we are reactivating old clients, generating referrals, and building our relationship list. Many agents I know have a drawer full of old clients they simply forgot. Life gets busy and before you know it, it’s been months (even years) since you last contacted some of your clients. That’s why we created the “Never Too Late Letter ”… This is an easy way to get back in touch and harvest referrals and repeat business from your network, and this letter has worked for hundreds of agents all over the world. I’ll give you the letter to use and also give you an example of a Referral Coupon. This coupon is designed to work much like a “bounce-back” type of coupon that restaurants and retail stores use. The very same strategy will work for you if you just give it a try.

How To Use The “Never Too Late” Letter System…

STEP 1: Create a LIST of your past clients and friends, friends, family, and acquaintances from your files, phone contacts, email accounts and social media sources. Narrow your list down to the people you’ve not contacted in the last 6 months.

STEP 2: Send them a personal LETTER Here’s two pre-written letters for you to use and make your own.

Never Too Late Letter

Confession Letter

STEP 3: Give your Power List a meaningful REASON to get back in contact with you using a “Referral Coupon” that goes with this letter and they may or may not use it, but it’s a stand-out way to remind them that you work by referral. (IMPORTANT: This coupon is designed to give a discount to the END-USER only. In most, it is illegal to directly compensate any unlicensed person for sending you business. This coupon only makes a discount offer to the end user, NOT to a person sending you a referral.)

STEP 4: FOLLOW-UP with regular contact (at least monthly) Agents tell me they start getting calls within a few days after this letter goes out. But you can also follow up by phone 7 days after sending the letter. Going forward, you’ll want to keep in contact in a meaningful way. This is very important. For every 100 people on your database, 14 of them will buy or sell a home in the next 12 months. And that doesn’t include the Referrals they could be sending you. Don’t continue to leave this gigantic hole of lost revenue in your business by not following up at least once a month.

This “Never Too Late Letter System” will help you get back in touch with your clients. Then you have make a commitment to not lose touch again by following up with your network each month with welcomed and valued contact. Would you like to use a marketing system that costs nearly $0.00 and can bring you a steady flow of quality, motivated buyers?

Strength and courage,
Wade

The Top 12 Offers That Generate More Real Estate Leads

kelowna on November 23, 2016

So what do they want that I have? That is the magic question in real estate lead generation. This week we have what I feel are the some of the top offerings in real estate that create the most amount of leads for agents. It’s best to have a range of offers that appeal to your different customer types so that no matter who hits your website there’s an offer that appeals to them.

12 Different Types of Offers to Generate Real Estate Leads:

1. Free Samples: Offer a free sample or a free consultation as a way for your prospects to experience your product or service.

2. Tip or Fact Sheet: Create a tip sheet that outlines how your prospects can do their job better. For example, you could create a Tips Sheet on “10 Things to Consider Before Selling Your Property.”

3. How-To Guides: Create simple guides for your prospects to download that help them do their jobs better. For example, create a guide to preparing for an initial sales meeting.

4. Checklist: Create a checklist of steps your customers can take to address a need your product or service addresses. For example, a due diligence checklist for real estate property.

5. Top 10 Industry Trends: Document the ten latest trends impacting your industry or marketplace this year. Write a short summary on new industry developments or write what you think will be the ten biggest changes to the industry during next year.

6. Infographics: Create an infographic to visually represent industry trends, marketplace competition, or other sets of information your prospect may find useful and valuable.

7. Common Questions: Write down the ten or 20 questions (or more) you most commonly hear from your prospects and then create a tip sheet or guide that answers each question. (Tip: these questions and answers also become excellent topics for your blog posts.

8. Whitepaper or eBook: Compile three to five blog posts that discuss similar topics and combine them into a whitepaper or eBook. You can also write a whitepaper or eBook from a previous research study or data set. Or, go to LinkedIn Answers and find every question and answer that relates to your industry. Compile them together in an eBook format.

9. Kits of Material: Once you have a bunch of content and offers, compile some of your related eBooks, guides, tip sheets and blog articles into a compelling Downloadable Kit offer. Another example is to compile your sales material and package this material into a toolkit visitors can download.

10. Case Studies: Show off your leading customers and share their experience with future customers. Video record their testimonials for even more content and to build credibility. Offer the case studies as free downloads at the conclusion of the video.

11. Videos: Create a video that shows off your product or service features and benefits. At the end of the video, give the lead an option to download a case study.

12. Contests: Create a contest with a prize in order to compel prospects to provide their information in exchange for being entered into the contest.

You’ll want to create offers that appeal to new visitors to the site (those whose contact information you do not currently have) as well as existing qualified leads in your system.

The nature of these offers will differ slightly, depending on your area, focus and your customer or prospect base, but the way offers work is the same no matter what: create content that is relevant and helpful to your prospect – content they will actually want to download and use – which is the best way to generate qualified leads.

So there you have it. Now get at it and create some content and offerings for your website and see the leads increase your business and income today. I dare ya!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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How Do I Schedule More Real Estate Appointments?

kelowna on September 21, 2016

We all know in real estate communication is everything and how we feel on the inside is what is coming out to people on the outside through your words, tone and energy. We all want the client to feel good when we communicate with them so it starts by us feeling good ourselves! You can’t be a lean mean appointment setting machine if you are someone who is sad, angry, depressed or totally stressed out on the inside because that is coming out in some way on the outside to the people you are communicating with.

So get right on the inside so you can be right on the outside and really attract, engage and make people feel good and feel like you are someone they really need to get together with! Let’s give you some more tips on becoming that appointment setting machine.

1. Know your customers pain and know their problems.

Examples: market conditions, past purchasing experiences. There are only two things in our lives that “move” people to take action and that is the avoidance of pain and the desire of pleasure. What are the buyers and sellers challenges? Fears? Frustrations? When you begin to share with the client about their pain they feel you really understand them and feel like you are in tune with them and want to connect with you and hear the solutions you can offer them.

2. Know your dialogues.

If you want to be good then you have to practice! The most in demand type of training in our industry today is role playing but it is the kind of training that is avoided the most and not practiced at all in our industry. I hear so many agents say “I hate scripts” “I don’t want to sound canned” Sorry but these are the same agents who don’t do high volume and are not great communicators in the industry and this just makes it easier on the rest of us. When you know what to say and how to say it, you can be more in tune to your customers’ needs.

3. Get to the point!

Example “I’m calling today to schedule an appointment…” I love the line “Why sell with blah blah blah when you can sell with blah?” or “If you don’t ask and get to the point then you don’t get!” So many times we find ourselves talking too much about “nothing” and actually forget to ask for the order or get to the point of the conversation. Have the courage to ask for the appointment and get to the point sooner than later. My favorite technique is the alternate choice close when you give the client two options for setting a time. “Would tomorrow at 2 pm be good or Friday at 1pm be better for you?”

4. Stand up when you are making appointments and keep your hands free of objects including when you are on the phone (use a head set). Your body controls your tonality and your emotional state. It is amazing when you stand and your hands are free and open what it does for you and your energy levels. People are engaged by your energy, passion and excitement and want to connect with you when you have that kind of enthusiasm. Standing keeps your body, breathing and mental state at a peak level and has a huge impact on your conversion rate for appointments.

5. On the phone = 20% effective sensory communication. You need to remember when you talk you are only engaging in one sense out of five. It is critical you speak clearly and slowly and be on point throughout the discussion. This is so important because you don’t have the non-verbal communication components now which make up the majority of communicating. They can’t see your body language, facial expressions, eye contact and hand gestures over the phone. All you have is your voice, tone and inflections to get the message across when trying to convert the appointment.

6. Get the fear out of the way with these 3 questions: For a lot of us it is uncomfortable talking to someone we just met so knowing what to ask and let them do the majority of the talking makes this part so much easier. Here are three excellent and engaging more dialog questions to get you past the fear and awkwardness of converting sales appointments.

1) What’s the worst case scenario?
2) What’s the most likely scenario?
3) What’s the best case scenario?

In addition to getting better at sales appointment conversion you also have to make sure you have the best environment possible for making those appointment calls so here are some great tips for creating the right environment for converting more appointments.

1. Appointment Tracker – Visual. Make it visual; think big appointment calendar.

2. Appointment Setting Shrine. Use a foam presentation board. Put pictures of your family, how much money you want to make, and even a mirror.

3. Eliminate All Distractions. Things like the voicemail light, messy desk, or having the Internet open in front of you can be distracting.

4. Stand Up Vs. Sit. You sound more confident on the phone when you are standing up versus sitting down.

5. Music. I like Van Morrison, but find something that works best for you.

6. Plant. Having a plant in your office can help improve your mood.

7. Get a good headset! I use a wireless Plantronics headset.

When you put together all these steps you can’t help but get better on appointment setting and remember, by removing the client’s fear it is easier for them to take action and for you to set appointments.

Here are some action steps for you to put this into reality.

1. Review this content daily.
2. Get your environment set for making appointments.
3. Practice the communication tips above.
4. Set those appointments!

Are you ready to take your appointment setting to the next level?

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Real Estate Referrals – Reward the Behavior

kelowna on October 30, 2013

3 Steps to Make Your Referrers Feel Like Gold

So many times I have noticed we miss the opportunity to reward the single most important behavior in business… the Referral.

When you receive a real estate referral, good or bad, how can you acknowledge and reward that behavior so it will continue in your career and people will want to continue giving them because they felt so important from your response?

Do you just say thank you?

Do you act like it was expected?

Do you just assume they know you are appreciative and thankful for the referral?

One of the most critical activities in your real estate business is to have a system for acknowledging referrals and for consistently making people know they are important to you and your business.

I strongly believe referrals truly are the key to all your business success and without them you would not be half the success you are today.

I want to share some strategies I found effective to keep the referrals coming consistently and to develop many loyal advocates for my business.

The first step is to think of how you can reward and acknowledge the initial referral.

What is your initial response when you first get the email, call or text from a client telling you to call a friend or acquaintance because they are thinking about buying or selling some real estate?

Does it matter if the referral is good or bad?

NO!

We should never worry about the quality of the referral but rather focus on “rewarding the behavior”.

When I was referred, my automatic response was to take out a personal note card and write out a quick message of thanks, adding my business card and to pop in a $5 Starbucks card.

TIP – I went on to www.starbucks.com and had my gift cards personally branded with my logo in hopes they kept the card and refilled it for top of mind marketing with my clients.

Remember it isn’t the gift that counts but more important the thought that counts. You took the time to write a personal hand written, thank you card, to honor their behavior and enhanced it with a small token of your appreciation for thinking of you and your business.

What do you think your continued referral stream with that client will be like if you just did nothing?

The next step in the system is to maintain communication with the person who gave you the referral.

I know when I have given a referral it would be so nice to hear if the person I refer is being well taken care of.

It is so easy to take time out of your week to make a quick call, email or text letting the referrer know we have met or we have listed the home now or we are heading out to look at homes next week.

It is rare to get an update on how your referral is going, and why is that?

How would you feel getting an update once a week or two weeks knowing the referral is being cared for?

Would you be more inclined to give them more referrals knowing the great service you the referrer is getting?

Would you feel confident your referral is being treated like gold?

Take the time to communicate and update the person that gave you the referral and let them know how the referral is progressing.

The final and most important step in the system is when the referral is finalized and paid out.

Acknowledge it again!

I would always take the time to share the love when a personal referral is closed and paid out.

A simple and powerful way of doing this is to ask an owner or manager of one of my favorite restaurants to take the time to personally phone my clients that gave me the referral and invite them to their restaurant for a time when they could come and enjoy a dining experience compliments of myself and my company in appreciation for their referral.

My clients were given the best seat in the house and treated like rock stars by the owner/manager and would always call thanking me for a great night out.

I would leave my credit card number with the restaurant and not once did they ever spend anywhere close to what I was willing to spend on their dinner.

I hope you find these ideas helpful and will always reward the referral behavior in the future.

If any of you have other creative ways in which you acknowledge your referrals and communicate how the referral is progressing, please feel free to share them below.

Strength and courage,

Wade

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Living Large On Referrals – 3 Must Have Lists for Your Real Estate Business

kelowna on February 19, 2013

If the Money is in the List than 3 Lists Must be Better Than One!

How many times have you heard about the importance of referrals and taking care of your past/existing clients?

More times than you care right? So are you doing “enough” about it?

Check out these referral stats and tell me if you don’t all of a sudden feel motivated to step it up a notch.

4 Significant Stats on the Power of Referrals

It takes 4 to 10 times more money to get a new client than to keep them.
Doing business by word of mouth and referrals is proven much more profitable.
N.A.R. (National Association of Realtors) reports that 67% of business comes from Referrals
Top 50 real estate agents in North America report 80-90% of their business comes from personal referrals

Were you aware all top producing real estate agents maintain 3 separate databases or lists of clients?

How many are you maintaining?

List 1 – Current and past clients

This list is created from your email addresses, social media sites, cell phone contacts, listing files, sales files, prospect files, friends and family address book.

List 2 – Agent Co-Op

You will create this list from the Top 5 cities buyers come from and the Top 5 cities sellers move to. Locate and contact any cooperating agents situated in the cities that buyers and sellers regularly come from or go to. Create that agent to agent referral relationship.

List 3 – Demographic

For this one create a farm, niche, targeted client list by demographic, neighborhood, property type, income levels, or any other specific census data category.

One of my mentors Bill Barrett said to contact each of these databases using the “12 – 2 – 1″ system.

It is as simple as…

…12 mailings a year
…2 phone calls a year
…1 face to face time a year

Bill also recommends the following information for each of these databases.

Form 1 – VIP Client Form – Name, email, phone number, cell number, address, work number, hobbies, birthday (month and day), Anniversary (wedding, home purchase), Children (name, age, birthday), Pets.

Form 2 – Could we quote you? Form – Asking for a testimonial of your experience doing business with you.

Form 3 – Would you help me form? – Of all the people you know, who would you think would be moving next? May I call them?

So what do you send to these databases?

Annual success letter – January… Paragraph one about the market activity. Paragraph two about your business and paragraph three just saying thank you for their continued support.
Annual home value reports – send them the listings, sales, expired inventory from the last year, without a suggested value in hopes to generate appointments with clients.
Post cards – Small, Medium, Large that are laminated or glossy, good quality with listings and sales. Full Color. Use multiple property photos, prices, testimonial, % of asking price, days on market as well.
Market reports.
Items of value such as tips, facts and helpful information they might find interesting and valuable. Doesn’t even need to be about real estate.

How do you manage and systemize all these referral systems? By using a CRM or Client Retention Marketing system.

Some of the top rated systems today…

Top Producer
Property Base
Referral Maker
I xact

The best CRM system I always say… is the one that you use!

Top producing real estate agents in North America are sending a minimum of 5 thank you notes a day…. 5,000 mailing pieces a month and making a 100 calls a day.

What are you doing?

Strength and courage,

Wade

Speaking of “referrals” would you please pass this on to someone else for me?