Why do I need your Referral? I already have a phone book...

Seems like a lot of Cold Call Referrals making the rounds lately.

As if local folks can't reach out to local folks.  Au contraire: We have ways.

That's right.  I have a whole stack of phone books.  Cary, Raleigh, Apex, Morrisville, Holly Springs, Durham, Garner; I have them all.  If I wanted to call someone with whom you have never spoken; if I wanted to make contact with no information, just a name and a number; if I wanted to make a cold call to someone who is definitely NOT expecting to hear from me....

Well, I have that opportunity already.  I have a stack of phone books. 

I can leaf through them, close my eyes, and stab a page with my non-dialing index finger.

I can apologize for bothering a nice person who never planned to hear from a Realtor. 

When she asks, "WHERE DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER!??!"  I can say, "I let my fingers do the walking."

I can do that without invoking your name. 

I can be the fool without your help.  Without the tedious dickering over whether you get 25% or 30% of the income I develop from this frigid, frozen, frost-bitten, sub-zero, unqualified by a caring professional referral agent, cold call.

But, thanks for the opportunity.  Not.

If you actually had a client in need to hand off, they would have seen how hard I work with folks who need real estate help.

If you actually qualified the "referral" and the "referral" was expecting a call from a great Cary, NC real estate agent, you just might have been a hero.

As it is, you haven't made any friends here.  I am unimpressed and embarrassed.   The poor client is certainly unimpressed, and I have made certain she will remember YOUR name.

Do yourself and the industry a favor:  If you have the hankering to make a referral, do the front end work, and make it a real referral.  Bring value and earn the fee.  It's that easy.

And, have fun doing it!  I had fun writing about it!!