It's been said that a cold lead is afraid of being taken advantage of, while a referral is afraid of being taken for granted.  Referrals present a viable and lucrative revenue stream to real estate professionals.  The key is to cultivate and communicate with your client base and other referral sources and harvest the referrals you want.

Bottom line is not the money - it is the referrals.  The only way to get the referral is to develop relationships.  You develop relationships by giving value over and over. 

There are several ways to make money in real estate.  There are FSBOs, Expires, Farms etc... These require ACTIVE prospecting.  The referral prospect is PASSIVE.  The great thing about referrals is you make more money with less effort and significantly less aggravation.

The whole idea about working by referral is to generate enough business via referral that you don't have to go out and cold call and talk to strangers to drum up business.

The inspiration of this blog is a result of a conversation I had with someone who was looking for referrals from me.  Mind you this person was from a different industry than I.  They were asking me to refer my clients to them should I have clients that were in need of their services.

I'm not sure that I would refer my clients to this particular individual because unfortunately there is no trust factor here.  I am not sure that when I refer someone to him that it would be handled in a manner that would be consistent to how I do business.

When my clients and other referral sources refer me business they know that their friends, family and associates will be treated in the same manner I do business with them.  They know my standard business practices correspond with their own values.

When in search of a referral source, I look for someone whose standard of business corresponds with my own.  It has helped being an active part of Active Rain and through this network I have had the opportunity to pass a few referrals to some outstanding individuals.

If you or anyone you know is looking to purchase or sell real estate in the Central Virginia area, this includes Roanoke, Lynchburg, Danville, Campbell County, Pittsylvania County, & Bedford County please give me their name and number and email address and I will follow up right away.  Should you have any questions about real estate call me, text me or twitter me at brokersaunders.