8 Questions You Must Ask Yourself To Increase Referrals Today
While it might be common knowledge in the real estate industry that buyers are more likely to discover their next real estate agent through a family or friend referral, the numbers to back up this claim are staggering.
According to the National Association of Realtors, “when the buyer used an agent that was referred to them from a friend or neighbor, 7 in 10 only contacted one agent during their buying process.” Moreover, when buyers utilized an agent they had already worked with in the past, 85% of those folks only contacted that one agent.
Looking at the scenario above, are you that “one agent” in your client’s lives?
Need more proof? Some real estate agents have told PropertyMinder that referrals account for about 80% to 100% of their total business. With so much at stake, are you truly doing everything you can right now to maximize your referrals?
Whether your referral game is on point or in need of some rehabilitation, here are eight questions you simply must address to help you increase your referral business today. In fact, we suggest you customize an Excel sheet to your liking while answering the questions below to help you stay even more organized.
- What were your total deals in 2016?
You probably have this memorized, but if not or if you simply need to confirm, start an Excel grid and place this number in your first column.
- How many of them were from referrals?
Now that you’ve confirmed how many deal you swung in 2016, how many of them were referrals?
- What is your relationship with the people that referred business to you (friends, family, old and current coworkers, etc.)?
Type in what kind of referral it was in a new column. Look for any patterns you can see. Are the majority of your referrals only from friends? If so, is that a good thing or bad thing for your business? What can you learn by taking a giant step back and examining these relationships?
- Rate the strength of these relationships from 1 to 10. Are you in their contacts in their phone, do you text, and/or do they respond to your emails?
Note the strength of your relationship with your referrals. Even more importantly, think about the strength of your relationship with them. Do they respond right away when you text them, or has it been so long they text back, “New phone. Who this?”
- How many people are in your database?
This should take you only seconds as you confirm your database with PropertyMinder.
Haven’t started your comprehensive, customizable customer databases with us yet? Well you’re in luck!
- What percentage of your database is not referring you new business?
Take the total number of leads and clients in your database and determine how many of them are not referring new business to you right now.
- Rate your relationship with these individuals?
Now rate your relationship with them from 1 to 10.
- Do you call them? Text them? Are you in their contacts in their phone? Do they open your emails?
Lastly, try to figure out why you’re getting radio silence from these former clients. What can you do different today so that you’re always top of mind when past customers are ready to buy again or refer you to a friend.
This is where PropertyMinder can really help. From providing you with a customizable website that engages your target audience to providing a full suite of tools to help you manage your contacts, we provide everything you could possible need to always make sure you’re maximizing your referral revenue.*
Ready to give it a shot today?
Tim
408.213.4668
tim@propertyminder
Marketing Director
