Ideally, a referral works like this: A past client is delighted with the service you provided. He recommends you to a friend or colleague. Then, that person calls you. Bam! You immediately have a new real estate lead that shortly turns into a customer.
But it doesn’t always work out that way.
Sometimes all you get is a name and phone number to add to your real estate contact management software.
For example, you might be speaking with a past client who says something like, “You should give Tom a call. It looks like he’s about to sell his home. He was talking to me about it last week at our sons little league game.”
Now you have to make the first call. How do you do that?
Here is a 3-step process that works very well for calling a new referral:
1. Set the tone.
Make sure Tom knows this is a referral call, not a cold call.
“Hi Tom. This is Jane Smith with ABC Agents. I’m calling because your name came up in a conversation yesterday with my client John Anderson.”
2. Confirm the relationship.
Not every referral is a close friend of the referrer. You need to remind the prospect of the relationship.
“John said your son and his son are on the same baseball team. Anyway, he knows I work primarily with referrals and suggested I give you a call.”
3. Make a suggestion.
“I’ll be seeing another family in your neighbhourhood on Tuesday. Would you like to take that opportunity to chat for a few minutes, and see how I might be able to assist you?”
Takeaway point: Follow-up on every referral you get, even if you only have a name. Make sure you add them to your real estate contact management software right away and assign them to the appropriate drip marketing program for their particular lead type. This will ensure you never lose touch with the referral, even if they don’t plan on buying or selling for many months or years down the road.