by Joe Stumpf
You’re a real estate or lending professional, and as a professional, of course you thank your current or past client when they give you a referral. As you know, recognizing and reinforcing their positive behavior encourages them to repeat that behavior.
So you meet with this referral — her name is Kathryn — and she chooses you to help her buy, sell or borrow. You then call Rob, that current or past client who referred you to Kathryn, and you say…
“Rob, thank you for referring Kathryn to me. I met with her and she’s chosen to work with me. I’ll make sure Kathryn is delighted that you introduced me. And I’ll keep you posted on our progress.”
A very satisfactory conversation all around.
But, let’s say that Rob was also referred to you. What if you took things a step further, and also thanked the person who referred Rob to you? I’ll call that person Jason. Because Jason introduced you to Rob, and Rob introduced you to Kathryn, you’re actually going to call Jason to say thank you — for Kathryn:
“Jason, I just met with Kathryn and she chose to work with me. The reason I’m telling you this is because Rob introduced Kathryn to me. Thank you for introducing Rob to me, because without him, I would never have met Kathryn.”
When you receive a referral, and that referral turns into a client, and then that client refers another client, I call it a “referral chain.” And what I’m encouraging you to do is not just thank people who give you referrals, but to link your referral chain with telephone calls going back as far as the chain reaches, whether it’s one, two, five links, or even more.
Craig LaMar, a Realtor in Huntsville, Alabama, is one of many By Referral Only members who calls people in his referral chain, and he shared some recent results:
“I received an introduction from one of my past clients to a family relocating here. I previewed properties with the family, and when I got back to the office I called the referrer to thank them. Then I connected the links in my referral chain and called the person who had referred me to that past client.
“That person is looking for acreage to build (a $3,750 commission), plus he gave me the name of family member who is moving this year. I then called the next person in the referral chain, and they want me to do a CMA for their home. They said, ‘If the numbers are right, we want to make a move and take advantage of the $6,500 tax credit.’ That will be a $10,500 commission.
“So now,” says Craig (facetiously), “I have to do all this work!”
Wouldn’t you like to be doing “all this work” a well?
People refer because it makes the referring person feel good. Not to boost the business of the restaurant or movie theater or book store or whatever they’ve referred: No.
When you recommend that book or restaurant to someone and then they come back to you and rave about your recommendation, you feel good.
So, when you link your referral chains and call each person in the chain to thank them, think of it as giving them another opportunity to feel good.
And then to feel even better by giving you another referral.
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