4 Tips for Referrals in a Digital World
I still have a ton of notes from attending the REMAX R4 convention, this year all on evernote instead of my barely legible handwriting. It turns out that was a very wise choice as I spilled a whole bottle of water in my bag at the airport getting my notebook all wet and all 
of those notes would have been trash ! It is pretty wild how just implementing one tool can benefit you in your business! Imagine if you implemented a few things ! Just getting more organized can leverage your business, focusing on the high-income activities such as building a business based on referrals. I would highly recommend reading "The 4 Hour Work Week" which was recommended to me by my friend Chris Smith, who by the way, gave 2 powerful presentations at the conference.
Anyways, am getting off track. One of the main reasons I went to REMAX R4 is because I was invited to be a panelist on Referrals in a Digital world . I was a little nervous but ended up having a lot of fun sharing my experience to the crowd. To expand on that, I thought I would write 4 very simple tips that can be easily implemented, and if so, I personally guarantee more referrals will come to you in the next 12 months ! So, let's dive right in !
1. Update your REMAX.com profile ! (or your company profile)
How simple is this ? No one wants to refer a question mark agent ! Would you ? Simply go to REMAX.net, add a photo and links to your website as well as your specialties. Do not be that "secret agent" ! No website ? Get one. Before I went to Vegas, I received 2 referrals from REMAX.com (one of those is a new listing on the market right now ! And I expect it to sell within one month). In any event, I asked both referring agents why did they call me ? In addition to "being an expert in the area" they both said something pretty startling "You were one of the few agents who had a photo, bio and website on your profile". Likewise, whenever I refer someone to an area where I am looking for an agent, I do the same thing - I do not refer a client to a question mark !!
2. While You are at it, update your ZRT profiles !
What is ZRT ? Zillow, Realtor and Trulia.... Let's not get in the debate about these sites and how much they may take business away from us, but let's leverage something that is FREE instead to maximize those chances of a referral or a direct phone call.
Simply do the same thing as your REMAX.com profile - update your information and add links to your site. In addition to updating your profile, why not go to some past clients and get a few recommendations and testimonials for each site ? Stand out ABOVE THE CROWD ! Those simple things could be the difference between getting that referral... or not.
To add to this topic, visit the Water Cooler's "61 Million Reasons" for an in-depth discussion on these sites.
3. Facebook Gifts
I bought someone a $10.00 Starbucks gift card before the REMAX convention and literally the next day, he gave me a referral. How cool is that ? I doubt I would have received that referral otherwise. Facebook is a great way to stay in contact with your sphere of influence and a no-brainer way of remembering someones birthday ! If you remember your contacts, do you think they will remember you when they have a friend or family member looking to buy or sell a property ? I think so.
4. Monthly E-Newsletter
It is not difficult these days to have a monthly newsletter go out to your email list. Do not have an email list ? Create one - is easy just go to your Gmail (hopefully not aol or hotmail) server and start going through the list of past clients and prospects. And for your monthly newsletter, if you do not want to create your own content, there is a ton of national and local content you can curate. Over time, once people get these touches (remember Brian Buffini ?), it helps you catapult to "Top of Mind". If you have not heard of "Top of Mind", read Ken Brand's book "Less Blah Blah, More Ah Ha" - how social savvy real estate agents become trusted, preferred, referred - and rewarded !
There you have it ! Not that difficult !
Please contact me in the next 12 months and let me know how many referrals you received.
And most importantly, the bonus tip: excel at what you do in real estate daily.
Listen, listen and listen some more, be a trusted resource and stand out above the crowd. You might be the savviest tech person out there, but if you suck in building the relationships offline or is obvious you care more about yourself than your client, well this whole article is a waste of time. Be better than the rest ! The more you care about what you do and helping others, the more successful you will be in your own business.
Now start the week off with building that digital platform to receive numerous referrals in 2013 !
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