How to Build an Agent Referral Network
If you are a real estate agent, there are tremendous advantages to having a good working relationship with agents in other cities and towns across the country. The most obvious advantage is that you can share referrals. And that can be very profitable since you end up sharing commissions which neither of you would likely have gotten.
A good place to start building your agent referral network is a website like AgentMapIt where members are encouraged to promote themselves as “relocation experts” and they are actively seeking networking partners. The agents you find there will likely have some referral experience, and are eager to work with you.
If you really want to take this referral networking thing seriously, then you will build as large a network as you can. The more agents in your network, the more likely you are to get results.
Recent studies have shown that for most cities, inquiries about home purchases come almost equally from regional and out-of-region locations. So that means there is lots of potential to pick up referrals from agents outside of your region.
For example, if you specialize in niche markets such as vacation properties or military relocations, you especially want to find reliable partners in relevant cities and areas. So be sure to find network partners in vacation areas or military towns, depending on your specialty.
Another thing you really need to have a productive referral network is a well-designed “system” for staying in touch with your partners. This could be an email system, or a traditional mail system, or you might prefer an occasional telephone call. The easiest and most efficient system is an email system Although email has its problems, it is hard to beat the price (virtually free), the convenience, and the speed of email.
This last point about staying in touch with your partners may sound obvious, but the truth is, most of us simply do not make this a priority. Instead we rely on a hit and miss method of keeping in touch. That’s a big mistake. Force yourself to make your network contact system a priority.
Finally, don’t expect instant results. Generating referrals is a long term project. Be concerned with building your profile as a “relocation expert”, and work at sending your partners referrals first. The rest will take care of itself in good time.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 4:22 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.