Use Current Real Estate Clients for Referrals

Current clients are people you're actively representing, right now, in real estate transactions. Current clients are a rich pool of referral opportunity mainly because, more than any other group, they have real estate on their minds.

They're in the midst of deals that they're constantly talking about with their friends, associates, family members, and neighbors. They're posting pictures of their dream home or their new home on Instagram and Facebook. They're pinning real estate pictures on Pinterest boards. Their online and offline conversations revolve around their real estate wants and needs, their moving plans, real estate trends, and market activity. They're churning the waters for your next prospect with every post, tweet, and pin.

If you don't ask your current clients to recommend you to their friends or to refer their friends to you, you're really missing out on a huge opportunity to reach potential prospects. You can bet that your name comes up in your clients' conversations, even if it's just to say that they have an appointment or that they're awaiting information from you. Putting in a few good words on your behalf is a natural and easy thing for them to do. You just have to ask.

You talk to your clients regularly to communicate about selling their home, finding a home, monitoring their transaction progress, or working toward closing. During the course of those conversations, ask for referrals.

The following figure shows a timeline for real estate agent referrals.

The following figure illustrates a winning strategy for the referral ask.

Don't forget to have your clients include you in their social-media world. Getting your clients to post about their experiences and tag you on their Facebook pages brings you into their circle of friends. It opens the door to them liking your business page and forming a service relationship. Be sure to engage in posting and include your clients in your posts.