I've always found that the best way to build a solid referral base is to not only build a relationship with your referral sources, but to make yourself and your services valuable to them. In that spirit, I want to discuss a subject I briefly touched upon in a previous post. In the simplest of terms, when a Realtor sends me a referral for homeowner's insurance or for mortgage protection insurance, and we write the business, we will handle a mailing program on behalf of the Realtor to cultivate that customer for future business and for referrals. Specifically, here is how it works:
- The Realtor refers their buyer to us for a homeowner's policy or for mortgage protection
- The loan closes and we write the insurance policy
- We send out a series of cards(congratulations on your new home, birthday cards, a card with a gift certificate, and a card asking for a referral)
These cards are processed and mailed by us at our expense on behalf of the Realtor. The gift certificates are purchased by us.
Aside from the obvious--referring the customer to us for their insurance---all the Realtor has to do is:
- Periodically sign a stack of cards to personalize them
- Give us a stack of their business cards to be mailed along with the card
- Give the customer a follow up call when we notify them that the card which specifically asks the customer to send the Realtor a refarral has been sent.
Again, from the customer's viewpoint, they are receiving a series of tasteful hand-signed cards from their Realtor, with their Realtor's card enclosed, a gift certificate from their Realtor and finally, a direct request for a referral from their Realtor.
Any Oklahoma Realtors reading this post; please take the time to think about this system a little bit and what it could mean for you in terms of maintaining consistent personalized contact with your customer base and in terms of saving your own time. All it costs you is a stack of business cards and a couple of signatures.
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I've heard of folks using similar systems in the past and it makes sense to me. Way to think outside the box!