Not all agents enjoy prospecting, and some of them aren’t even good at it. What happens when your strength is building relationships as opposed to cold calls? How do referrals work, and why do people give referrals in the first place? How can you flip the script and make the referral be all about how your clients benefit from recommending you? In this episode, Chad Durfee talks how he build his business on relationships and referrals.
Not everyone is going to refer you. So the trick is to identify the potential referral centers. -Chad Durfee
Three Things We Learned
Don’t make the referrals about you
When you ask about referrals for your own interests, it’s very hard to get them, Instead, you should flip the script and make referrals about clients and how them referring you makes helps their sphere.
When you get recommended, you have a big advantage over other agents
Working with referrals is far easier because the trust is already there. Plus, if you’re referred, there isn’t the risk of having your work taken away by another agent who has convinced your client that they can do a better job.
Your clients want to validate their decision of working with you
People seek to validate their buying decisions, and one of the ways they do this is by sharing what services or products they purchased in order to receive feedback. As agents, we have to be aware that in the first days after a new client works with us, they’re in doubt about their decision, so they need feedback from other people. This is the best time to start the conversation about referrals because your client wants their family to give them an opinion about his agent.
Your clients will only refer you if they believe your expertise will make them look good in their social sphere and increase their status. When you deliver an excellent customer experience to a referral, the client who referred you will be seen in a favorable light as well. To make the deal even sweeter for the client who refers you, and to encourage a stream of referrals, encourage your current client to sign a thank you card and send it to the person who recommended you. This way, the client who sends you the referral will feel flattered and encouraged to make a recommendation in the future as well.
Guest Bio
Chad Durfee is the owner of Referral Consulting, Inc., where he teaches individual agents and teams how to put systems and processes in place to maximize their referability.
He created the Referral Academy Mastery Program, R.A.M.P., to teach others how to not only keep their clients for a lifetime but also spend fewer hours on prospecting and more time actually closing deals.
If you want to find out more about Chad’s programs, click here.