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Today we are going to start a series on how to triple your referrals this year. This is part one of a three part series. Today, to begin with, we are covering how to cultivate referral partners from the vendors you refer business to.  You can get the shownotes from today’s episode at: alyssagranlund.com/90

As real estate agents, we feed a lot of people. When we sell a house, we bring in a lot of business to refer out to others. There’s lenders, insurance agents, inspectors, stagers, contractors. There is a long, long list of people that make money whenever we make a sale. We are the kings and queens of referring people business. We all do it. We have our trusted list of people that we turn to again and again, right? And these are people that take really good care of our clients. They respond quickly, and we can trust them.

But what I’ve found is that often times; those people don’t refer business back to us. It isn’t that they don’t love us, or care about out us, or trust us, it’s just they don’t think about us. They are busy in their own lives trying to generate business for themselves and taking care of their families. Just like us everyone juggles a lot of balls while keeping those plates spinning! So, what we need to do and what I want to hopefully accomplish with you today is to put together a plan to get in front of these people, to show them  you are the obvious choice in Real Estate, keep you top of their mind and to train them to refer business to you as well. Okay? Because think about it. If you had 10 people out in the marketplace that you have been sending referrals to, if they each sent you two pieces of business over the next 12 months, that would add 20 sales to your bottom line. It would be a huge deal to you. It’s not really that much to ask either. Two sales a year, from people that you probably send business to already.

So let’s discuss how we go about this.

First of all, if you’re in a networking group that could be a great place that you could start. But you don’t need to be in a networking group to make this work so hang with me here. We’re going to cover a couple different ways that you can go about this. But if you are in a networking group, the first thing I want you to do is be honest with yourself and ask, “have you been doing the one to ones with the people in your group?” Now we all know if we’re part of a networking group, that that is one of the foundational recommendations. That we meet one to one with people and deepen the relationships with the people in the group. Because that’s the key to referrals, right? Is to deepen our relationships with other people.

If you’re not doing the one to ones, then I would like you to consider starting to do it consistently. Even with the people you already know. The way that I do it, and the way that I feel is the most efficient, is to schedule your one to ones with one meeting scheduled right before the networking group starts and one meeting scheduled right after the networking group ends. The reason I like this idea is that it shortens up the amount of time that you’re going to be spending traveling places. If you like to go out to coffee with people, that’s great too. But a lot of times, coffees can stretch into a couple hours before we know it and it didn’t maybe need to be quite that long of an appointment. But, if you can schedule 45 minutes prior to your networking group and 45 minutes after your networking group, that’s super efficient. You’re already there and you’re strengthening the relationships within the group. And, you get a couple one to ones done.

Okay, so that’s one way I would go about it if you’re in a networking group of some kind.

We’re going to talk about the format and what I’d like you to say in just a little bit.

Okay, another way that you could do these one to ones it if you’re not in a networking group would be to think about who are the five people/contractors/service providers that your referred business to last year. Who was your lender, insurance agent? Painter, I refer a lot of business to a painter. Do you have a lawn service, doggy day care, whatever you can think of. There’s all kinds of places that you could refer business to. And actually I have a list for you that I put together that I will be including for you in the show notes today. You’re welcome to go download it. You can find it at alyssagranlund.com\90.  Because this is episode 90 of my podcast! You’re will be able to download the transcript of this podcast, the list of potential vendors to meet with and also a script for you to use.  Also a little cheat sheet to help you organize this process and get going on it. So if that will help you, go grab it whenever it is convenient for you.

Okay, so the thing is that these people that you’ve been referring would be great referral partners for you, right? Because you’ve already given them business and of course they’re really would want to reciprocate. I mean, of course, they want to do that. The thing is through, they just don’t think about it. So we need to do is get together with them, talk about it, and train them up. Teach them what we need to do. Teach them the kind of clients we work with. Remind them we want their business and help them to refer us.

Once you’ve compiled your list of the people that you think would be potential referral partners for you, I’d like you to go ahead and schedule one or two coffees a week. I would love to encourage you to get one or two of them scheduled right away. Today. I want you to take action. I’m all about taking small action to move us forward and staying focused. So I want you to schedule two of them when we get done with this podcast today. Get them scheduled. And then, guess what, all the things that we talk about here, you will be able to put in place right away! Especially if you don’t have enough good quality leads right now.

Alright, so once you meet your potential referral partner, here would be the flow of the appointment and how to make it work.

#1  You want to find out a little bit more about their business by asking questions. Learn about them. Learn about their family. Learn about their story. Why are they in the business they have chosen? Who is your ideal client? How can I refer you? What types of clients do you work best with? How can I help you? Where are you struggling? Where would you like to do more business? What’s your vision for your business? I mean, really, get deep with people. Learn as much as you can about them.

People rarely felt heard. This is a gift you can give to them. You will learn about them. This will make you more likely to remember them when you come across a referral that would fit for them and they are going to remember you because you were interested in them.

#2  Eventually most people will turn the conversation back to you and then I would like you to follow this script.

“You know, Bob,” (pretend I’m talking to my painter) “One of the things that I have for my clients is I have a “preferred vendors list”. That is the list of the top vendors that I use. The people that I really trust that I know will do a good job for my clients. You have been my vendor, obviously for painting. I send you a lot of business because I am very happy with your work and that my clients are happy too. But one thing that I’ve noticed is that you haven’t referred any business back to me. Now I am going take responsibility for that because I have never asked you to refer business to me. But I was wondering would you be willing to refer business to me as a real estate agent?”  They will usually say, “Of course I would.” Or they might say, “Well, gosh, Alyssa, my wife’s a realtor.” Whatever.

Okay. So you got a couple different ways you can go with it. If they say, “Yes, I would love to,” great. Okay, then we will talk about how to move that forward in a sec. But if they say, “Well, gosh, Alyssa, my wife is a realtor.” Then you can say “I totally get that, Bob. I totally understand that. I’m not looking for all of your business. I’m just looking for a couple pieces of business this year. Would you be willing to try to send me just a couple pieces?” If they say “Oh, no. I can’t do it.” Okay, we’ll then you may want to find somebody else, right? Or commonly they’ll say, “Well, sure. You know what? Certainly, I could send you a couple things. I don’t need to send my wife everything? I will find you a couple pieces.” Because, they want your good referrals. A smart business person understands this.

The second objection that could come up is, “Yes, I’d love to refer you. It’s just that by the time I get a job painting at a house, they’ve already bought. Or they’re already listed and they’re just freshening it up. Or they already have their realtor.” and you will hear that with a lot of the trades people and even your loan officer. A lot of your people will say that. Inspectors, they all say that. So what you will respond with is, “That’s okay. You know what, Bob? I don’t necessarily need your business contacts. Although I would love it to work with your business contacts. More importantly what I’m looking for would be your friends and your family. The people that you care about. I want to be your trusted resource that you refer to your friends and family to, your sphere of influence.”

Because guys, that’s what we’re looking for. We want to be referred to the people they care about. Because referrals to the people they care about like that are so much stronger. We will come into the appointment as the obvious choice because Uncle Bob loves us and he says that we’re the best realtor around. Those referrals are gold. It’s a different kind of business. They trust us. They respect us. They listen to what we say and they do what we say to do, because Uncle Bob, or dad, or cousin Bob, or my best friend Bob says that you’re the person I should talk with, so I need to listen to your advice. Right? Instead of those leads that we get where they find us on the internet maybe they think they know everything. They’re not interested in hearing what we have to say. Even though we have so much experience and so much to share, they don’t respect us and they don’t want to listen to what we have to say and end up beating our heads against the wall, right? So these pieces of referral business that come from a trusted source, where we become the obvious choice and the trusted advisor in real estate, those are the ones that we want. Sound good?

So here is the easy part: All you need to do here is to make a list. You make a list of your top five. Then practice the script that I have given you. You’re going to set appointments. You will do two a week.

Again, if you don’t have enough business right now, I want you to do two vendor appointments a week. For the next 60 days. Because that right there will get you business. Those people will help you.

#3  Once you’ve had the appointment with them, the coffee, or the lunch, or whatever it is, then I want you to follow up with them. I want you to say, “Bob, I’d like to follow up with you, okay? In 30 days or 60 days to see if you come across someone. Just to gently remind you. Because I know you’re busy. But I just want to make sure I have your permission to follow up because I’m really trying to grow my business this year and I’m leaning on all of the people that I feel can help me most. And I think you’re one of them.”

Remember, it’s great to have the appointment, but then we have to do the follow up with our people!

We need to add them to our email list or as I like to call it my “Information Loop”.

We need to get them in a rotation to call them every 60 days.

If you do send them a referral, then we have to ask if they can reciprocate.

And one other thing that I think is really helpful here is when you talk to Bob or whoever your person is that are clear on who you can help best. For instance I might say, “You know, Bob, one of the things that I specialize in, is first-time home buyers. I’ve actually written a book on the whole process on how to buy a home. So if you do come across any first-time home buyers, I’ll give that to first-time home buyers I meet with as a gift just for the chance to sit down and talk with them. I explain to them exactly how the whole process works. And they don’t even need to be in the market right now. They can be in the market maybe a year from now. I want to get in front of people as far in advance as I can to help them to get ready so that they can make really smart real estate decisions,”

So you will want to think a little bit about what your cookie, or your carrot or your lead magnet is that you can offer, so that you give Bob some food for thought. You give him something that he can tell people about. Another example might be seniors. If he understands who you can help he can say things like: “My agent Alyssa specializes in helping seniors downsize. She has a whole list of people that can help you to wrap your arms around this process. She has resources to help you go through your things and sell or donate the thing s you don’t want. She’s got people that’ll help you move.”

So think about what your magnet is or what your lead carrot is. Then share that with your referral partner. Then ask your referral partner to help you to find a couple pieces of business.

This process works like gold. I built my business on it. I want you to try it. I want you to start to implement it today.

So here’s my challenge for you, set up two appointments today. Get them set up, practice the things that we’ve talked about. Practice the script. Be brave and go for it. Remember that getting referrals is all about deepening those relationships. So that’s really the reason for the appointment is to deepen that relationship. Find out how you can help them. They will reciprocate and help you back.

Get the shownotes: Alyssagranlund.com/90

Looking forward to talking to you next time! This is a three part series. Next time we’re going be talking about how to grow referrals just from using email. Have a wonderful week!