How To Ask For (And Get) Referrals

Prospecting is vital. You must prospect every day. But if cold-calling and cold-knocking are your only ways into finding new listings and new buyers, you're going to burn yourself out – and fast.

Eventually, you want to get to the point where most of your calls are to people who already know your name, what you do and what you're calling about. That's the Promised Land for a real estate agent, and there are two paths to it: effective marketing and referrals.

Of the two, I like referrals much better. Marketing costs money. Referrals are free.

Referral Basics

First, let's define our terms: What is a referral? It's more than someone you know saying "You should call this guy." To be worthy of the name, a quality referral should possess as many of these aspects as possible:

• The referral should have respect for and confidence in your contact's judgment.
• The client is willing to introduce you to the referral on a favorable basis.
• The referrer understands what it is you do and your unique value proposition.
• The referral is financially qualified to begin shopping for a house, or has a house and a reason to be selling soon. Referrals to homeowners with no plans to move or invest in property don't help you much.