On average, 21% of real estate agents get more than half of their business from referrals.
But in my opinion, that number SHOULD be even higher! Even more importantly, your referral game doesn’t have to rely solely on past clients.
There are five key sources of real estate referrals, and with the right system in place, referrals can become a major driver of your deal flow. Let me show you how to tap into these sources and level up your referral strategy!
The five key sources of referrals in a real estate business are:
- Past Clients
- Sphere of Influence
- Strategic Partnerships (⭐️ my fave)
- Other Agents
- Strangers (Advanced Strategy ⚠️)
Today, I’m going to give you an overview of these referral sources, how they work, and how to increase your referrals from each category!
Strategy #1: Past Clients
Your existing and past clients are one of the most crucial sources of referrals—and when you consistently deliver an exceptional experience, they can become one of the easiest sources of referral business. The foundation of this starts with doing a stellar job for your current clients, every single time.
My favorite way to ensure that we always do an incredible job for our clients is by having a Custom Methodology.
If you’re not familiar, a custom methodology is a branded, standardized approach to how you deliver your services. It’s what makes your process memorable, repeatable, and referral-worthy. Ultimately, it’s the differentiating factor between you… and every other agent in your market.
The reason this is so important is simple: when someone refers you, they need to feel confident about the experience their friend or contact will have with you. Ideally, they already know what to expect based on their own transaction, but the more you establish that your process is repeatable and results-driven, the stronger that confidence becomes.
When it comes to past clients specifically, there are three key areas to focus on to maximize your referrals:
- Frequency: You need to ask for referrals more often—but it doesn’t always have to be a direct ask. Staying top of mind is the name of the game. The more visible and engaged you are, the more likely you’ll be thought of when someone’s ready to refer. This is why an active social media presence and a solid follow-up strategy are non-negotiables.
- Convenience: Make it extremely EASY and convenient for them to send you a referral. Never assume that anyone knows how to do something, much less how to do it the way you want them to.
- Do they text someone’s contact info?
- Do you have a referral form to fill out?
- Do you want them to introduce you via email?
- Do they know what a good referral even looks like for you?
- Specific: Most of the time, agents are not nearly specific enough with what a good referral looks like. You could even make this a part of your monthly strategy to post to social and market to your database what you are looking for:
“This month, I have a special program that is PERFECT for buyers who may have struggled with credit in the past! This is especially great if you’re a first time buyer or want to learn my signature ‘house hacking’ strategy!
“I wish someone had taught me this when I was in my 20s! If you want to help one of the 20-somethings in your life… this is definitely a program they should explore!”
Do you see how that post to social media would pique interest, and communicate a specific person that I am trying to connect to?
NOW, people seeing this post will begin to think of the 20-somethings in their lives who might want to purchase! Remember, the more specific your ask, the better.
Strategy #2: Sphere of Influence (SOI)
Your sphere shouldn’t vary too much from your past clients, because the assumption is your sphere will (hopefully) work with you at some point!
With this strategy, we can lean a bit more into the ‘I owe you’ effect.
See, people in your SOI will likely be more willing than any other category to refer someone to you not ONLY because they like, know and trust you, but also because if they haven’t yet worked with you, they may feel more inclined to send someone your way in the meantime!
For your sphere, you’ll want to follow a similar strategy that we discussed for your past clients: lean into the “Frequency,” “Convenience” and “Specific” details that I broke down above.
Another really powerful way that you can leverage your sphere (particularly those close to you) is to give them a quick win!
Though they may not be ready to buy or sell with you (yet), you may be able to add value in another way:
- Clarity on the buying process
- Bulletproof Budget
- Specific Marketing Plan
- Strategy to prepare to purchase in the next 3-5 years
- Credit Boosting
- Investment Properties
- Rentals
With my sphere, I am always looking for ways to provide value that they will still be able to give me feedback on, and sing my praises!
Strategy #3: Strategic Partnerships
Referrals can come in all shapes and sizes. When you list out your strategic partners on the list below, you should start by asking yourself “Do I know what a good referral looks like to this person?” If the answer is no, that is the perfect place to start!
Kick off a conversation by asking something like…
“Hey, I want to make sure that I can add value to you in your business. Would you mind telling me what a good referral looks like for you?”
Chances are they will gladly tell you what a good referral looks like. And bonus: they will most likely ask you the same question!
Pro Tip: Make sure you have a great response ready to go whenever someone asks you what a good referral looks like! Don’t just say, “Anyone who wants to buy or sell!” Try getting more specific with your ask, and you’ll likely see an increase in referrals.
Now that you’ve started this conversation, make sure that you actually keep note of what they are looking for and do your best to actively send them referrals whenever possible.
If you find that their ideal referral is similar to yours, that might be the perfect opportunity to suggest collaborating on some marketing efforts, content or sharing databases.
Example: If a wedding planner is looking for young, newly engaged couples who have a household income of $150,000 or higher and are 12-24 months out from their desired wedding date, that might also check a lot of the boxes that you’re looking for in an ‘ideal client.’ It could sense to collaborate on a webinar series called Honeymoons & Homeownership, where you talk about how, when and why they should buy a home before (or after) the wedding and how to effectively save for both.
BONUS: This is a great way to also add other streams of income leveraging affiliate marketing—but more on that another time.
Strategy #4: Other Agents
If you have not yet built out your agent referral network, you’re missing OUT! Here is a great way to get started:
- Step One: Research the top migration cities for your area (these are the top 5+ places that people are moving to or from)
- Step Two: Start looking for other agents in these cities; I recommend starting on social media.
Pro Tip: you can even make a post on all of your social media networks saying something like:
“I am currently looking for a referral agent in (city/state of the market you want to connect with) – Does anyone have a Realtor in (city/state) that they love?”
You’ll likely get a lot of names. I recommend reaching out to them and trying to form a solid connection. My preference is that my referral agent partners are people who share a similar mindset and/or approach to working with clients. This way, I can confidently know that my referred client will have a great experience.
That said, I also think it’s helpful to have multiple agents you can refer to. Sometimes, you may need to pair a client with someone based more on personality or life experience.
- Step Three: Create your own “REFERRAL KIT.” This should contain examples of your branding, details of your experience, a bit about your brokerage or team and details of your approach. I also recommend including a quick video of yourself “pitching” your services and why someone should work with you!
- Step Four: Reach out to these agents and form relationships. I like to hop on a zoom call so that we can chat and get to know one another, but do what feels right to you! When you find someone you’re comfortable with, propose being referral partners and set the terms of your own agreement and partnership.
- Step Five: This is essential (and might seem obvious to some), but make sure that you ACTUALLY put effort into sending them deals, and staying in touch as much as possible!
I’d even make a post to social media saying something like:
“My business is expanding to (city/state), and I am so excited to have an incredible team of agents who can help you buy, sell, invest in (list out the areas you service). If you have anyone in your network in need of real estate services in (area) please reach out!”
Position it as a growth opportunity for your business—because it is! This will remind people that you service multiple areas and that you are willing and able to help more people.
Strategy #5: Strangers
The best way to effectively generate referrals from a stranger is with something called OMNIPRESENCE.
Your goal here is to communicate (quickly) to a stranger that you are everywhere at once.
And, remind them that you are the one. The one who helps (first-time home buyers, military families, out-of-state relocations, etc).
This will largely be done through social media.
I can’t tell you how many referrals we’ve received from random people (yes, people I’ve never, ever met) because they see my content consistently. They see evidence of success, and they see my personality and style shine through.
This will be a longer-term strategy, but I’d highly recommend that you focus your content around:
- Results: Displaying what you can do, and what you’ve done before.
- Process: How you do what you do.
- Promise: Do you have some sort of promise, guarantee or commitment around the results that you can get for people?
Do this consistently, and then focus some intentional time on actively pursuing engagement with other agents and people in your market (and beyond!)
When you take this full five-source approach to referrals, you’ll undoubtedly increase the number of inbound referrals you receive, which can become a really lucrative source of deal flow in your business.
