It has happened to me and it happens to every agent. Someone you know just listed their house for sale, and they didn’t even call you. It’s a crushing blow when you make the discovery, but I have to be real with you for a moment – you lose listings, buyers and referrals, every day, that you probably don’t even know about.
Let me explain a bit more… You see, my greatest mission is helping agents generate repeat business and referrals directly from their sphere of influence. I’m so passionate about this because I hate seeing agents in a position where they feel like they’re constantly chasing the next deal. At the same time, I see every agent who implements a proper strategy for generating business from their existing contacts, see results almost immediately, and that feeling of chasing starts to melt away. Over the years it’s become very clear that this means there were always transactions to be had, but agents without a good strategy were all missing out on them. So, why are agents missing out on commission opportunities right within their own sphere? Here are the 5 reasons why people you know will go with another agent (and why NOW is the time to ACT):
1. You Didn’t Reach Out To Them Consistently - Did you know that you lose 10% of your contacts for every month that you don’t follow up? Generating business from your list requires some maintenance and the best practice is to reach out every 21 days. So if you haven’t been emailing, direct mailing, calling, or popping by to stay in touch, it’s time to get started. If you stay in touch consistently, people are more likely to have you front of mind when talking about real estate and could even help you grow your contact database by word of mouth.
2. You Didn’t Connect In A Meaningful Way - Maybe you are reaching out on a consistent basis, but the way you’re reaching out isn’t giving you a lot of opportunities to connect on a deeper level. If you’re not connecting with people in a meaningful way, it’s as though you’re not even following up at all. However, if you want to guarantee that people always do business with you and send you referrals, you have to create a bond with them through the marketing you do. Creating a bond through marketing is actually easier than it sounds… but you have to change your definition of what ‘marketing’ is when it comes to your past clients and close personal contacts. They are looking for things from you that are much more personal than the traditional pieces most agents are using. Things like handwritten notes, your own newsletter, and a text or a call on special occasions will go much further with this crowd.
3. You Didn’t Provide Value They Were Interested In - People expect real estate content from you, but they don’t necessarily want it. Look, the reality is that you probably have some great information, but people are only interested in it when they’re actively thinking about buying or selling, which is about every 7-8 years. Obviously you want to communicate great opportunities in the market, and you absolutely should – but be sparing with these in your Sphere. Instead, provide value that people will appreciate any time, by focusing on lifestyle content, like tips and tricks.
4. You Didn’t Ask Them For Their Business - If you don’t ask for business as a real estate agent, you probably won’t get it. This is something that every agent learns at some point in their career, but it’s not always easy to make the dreaded ask. Don’t let this be your shortfall as an agent. Make sure your clients understand that you are on a mission to earn and keep clients for life, helping them with all the real estate services they will need from buying their first home, to upsizing, to retiring – and everything in between. Helping people understand all the services you can provide means you will be top of mind when those situations come up.
5. You Didn’t Ask Them To Send You Referrals - Similar to asking for business, if you don’t make it clear to people that you accept referrals, you probably won’t get as many. Now as I said before, people only actively think about buying and selling about every 7 years, but in between that time, a single client will likely know multiple people per year that buy or sell a home. You’ll have to do a lot more than just sticking “By the Way I love Referrals!” on your business cards and emails, if you want to generate an income from them. To get referrals flowing, and keep them coming, it’s crucial you use a system that includes 1) regularly informing people that you run your business on referrals, 2) making it easy for them to send you business, 3) incentivizing all referrals, and 4) recognizing people publicly for their advocacy.
6. When people refer business to you, it reinforces their own loyalty to do business with you themselves! It Takes Time, Get Started Now I understand what the market is like right now, so I’ve been talking to a ton of agents about how they’re positioning themselves to capture as much business as possible in the coming months. Almost every agent that I speak with says the same thing – they’re “just trying to keep up” and “don’t have time to try new things”, full-well knowing that doing business this way will catch up with them eventually… but they feel like they have no choice. If you wait until “the market calms down” to implement a plan, that probably means your business has cooled off too… but now you’re busy looking for leads. This is why I constantly recommend implementing a system for building and bonding relationships with your sphere, and using a tool like Service For Life!® that consistently motivates people to get in contact with you on their own.
It seems as if some agents are only worried about generating clients when they don’t actively have one – but it takes time to build relationships and get people to refer their friends and family to you, so make sure you start that bonding process now. Like I said, I know that most agents are too busy right now to generate leads, but using a low-maintenance, high-performing referral tool all year long will keep your sales pipeline full of buyers and sellers.
Strength and courage,
Wade
