You will never run a referral based business without knowing why people refer others anything in life, not just real estate. This is crucial for understanding how word of mouth marketing works.
Are you sick and tired of fighting chasing leads? The good news is that just about anybody can run a referral based business because is based upon relationships you already have, but it starts by learning why people refer Realtors first.
Once you understand the real secret to word of mouth marketing, communicating with your database becomes easy.
The Psychology Of Word of Mouth Marketing
When people refer Realtors, it’s almost always because there is an ongoing conversation about real estate occurring. Suddenly, someone jumps in and says, “Hey, I know an agent, you have to call him/her. They are great!” Then, a referral is born. The question everyone wants to know is: why did someone refer that agent?
Referrals can take place anywhere people are having conversations, but real estate is a much more highly referred profession for two reasons:
- Moving is an emotional decision and when people are moving they are talking about to everywhere to everyone.
- Buying or selling a house is a major financial move and someone trustworthy. Referrals are crucial for this.
How do you get people to refer you more clients?
Referral marketing is all about training your database to associate your name with real estate. Your want your database to immediately think of you anytime the word “real estate” is brought up. If you can accomplish this, you will begin attracting business. The key to this is through top of mind brand awareness and being everywhere with consistent content creation.
Think about the last time you referred someone something or someone.
Ask yourself, why did you refer that person or thing?
When people refer services/professionals to others, they do not get any type of award, big shiny trophy, or anything monetary, do they? There is no tangible incentive to refer anyone to anything. We are genetically programmed to refer our friends, co-workers, and family to things we like, which includes referring Realtors.
Real estate is based on word of mouth marketing
Everyone always “has a guy”. Everyone always wants you to use “their guy”. In some markets you can literally trip over a real estate agent there are so many.
Go ahead and make a post on Facebook right now asking for any type of service provider and people will respond with several of their “guys”, but the question is why do they care? What’s in it for them?
People refer Realtors when the following three things are present:
- They have to like the agent they are referring them to;
- They have to like the person that is asking or suggesting for a referral for an agent; and
- The person referring the agent has to notice that an ongoing conversation is taking place (about real estate) and they have to THINK OF YOU (this is the key).
People Refer Realtors because they like helping others.
Who doesn’t like to be thanked or acknowledged? People refer others to things or services they like, it is only because they feel like they helped someone solve a problem. It’s the way God made us.
That’s it. Word of mouth marketing is embedded in our DNA to be natural problem solvers, but you have to become more referable and thats’ why you have to create content. Don’t you like solving problems for others? Of course you do, we all do. It’s part of being human.
Your database actually wants to refer you business, but it’s your job to become more referable. If you are not marketing your database, I promise you that somebody is.
You must look at your career as a popularity contest because everyone knows a Realtor. Did you know that roughly 75% of people use the first agent they come into contact with? How do you become the first person they talk to or be the agent that is given the referral? You do it by being top of mind.
The problem most real estate agents face is; how do I stay in touch with my database and increase referrals through word of mouth marketing? It starts by finding a marketing strategy that is authentic to you, but that’s another conversation.
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