What's the first thought that pops in your head when somebody talks to you about a referral letter marketing method for Realtors? Want to bet $50 that you think I'm talking about getting letters of recommendation from your past clients? That's a marvelous thought for marketing as well. But, I'm talking about getting yourself an overflow of clients sent to you by professionals like attorneys, contractors, CPA's and landscapers. And all you'll need is a "down-to-earth" letter that you compose yourself.
Here's the referral letter marketing concept for Realtors or agents in a nutshell: create a list of professionals that are likely to have clients that could potentially be your clients too. Then, sending it by regular mail, write a personal letter to your list of respected professionals.
Get creative on the envelope or package you mail it in, as well as some type of additional marketing piece, like a DVD you formulate using Animoto. Be consistent about following up with each professional by telephone, regular mail or email at least 1 time each month.
There are a ton of "top producing" Realtors who utilize this one approach to bring about the bulk of their closings. There's nothing unethical with following the leader.
The number one step in this process is making a list of these well-thought-of professionals that you wish to build relationships with...
- CPA's
- Mortgage Brokers (obviously)
- Certified Financial Planners
- Real Estate Attorneys
- General Contractors
- Appraisers
- Title Reps
- Residential Electricians
- Plumbers (residential)
- Landscape Contractors
- Roofers (residential)
- Tree Service Companies
- Handymen (residential)
- That should get you started...
Of course, there are countless more professionals to add to the list but that'll get you going for now.
So how can you get a full list of all the professionals you'll wish to work with? Excellent question. You've got a duo of options but they depend on your marketing budget.
One option is to lookup the yellow pages online. You should already have a geographical area you stick to so you'll want to stay within that region, for the most part. The time consuming part about this choice is the manual labor.
You have to run through each person listed and find their name, phone number and mailing address. It might take you a while but if you have more time than marketing dollars, this is the way to go.
A different option for compiling your list of well-thought-of professionals is to easily pay money for a list. Precisely like you're probably on a Realtor list for sale to people, practically every other profession has their own list for sale also.
These types of lists aren't immoral at all (sorry to say for a number of of us). When professionals, such as us Realtors and agents, sign up for random publications and associations, these lists are compiled and made available for sale to anyone.
Surprised?
When it comes to purchasing this list of professionals, you have a crowd of list companies to select from. Whichever list company you choose, ideally, they should provide you with each profession you'll require for your list, rather than going to a separate company for each profession. I tell you, it'll cost you a few dollars for this list but it's going to salvage you hours of valued time!
So once you have this marketing list of professionals (however you prefer to get it), it's time to create your very personalized "referral letter". Regrettably, copywriting is a topic of its own and we simply can't get into it right now, or else you'll be studying a novel today. Learning to write sales copy is a time-consuming matter by itself.
Just understand for now that you don't want your referral letter to be a "sales letter".
You can replicate and re-use your letter for each professional however the referral letter itself needs to make each professional who gets it, to feel like they're the only one in the universe that you sent it to.
The trick is penning your letter as if you were speaking to each professional in-person. Don't use a lot of "salsey" cliches` and standard "professional jargon" that you read in the letters you get from your bank. Grab the reader's curiosity, write to them like a genuine human being and not like an institution.
This is off subject but this manner of "real person" marketing goes for all your marketing pieces: classified ads, emails, postcards, etc.
The crux of your letter absolutely must demonstrate that you'd like to begin a mutually beneficial, professional relationship with them (but express it in a personal way, of course). Your intention is to be their "pocket Realtor" who gets all their referrals, for free! Underscore how they'll benefit without trying to "sell" them on it, you know?
One line of attack to personalize your letter is to throw in something you know about their company, if you happen to know an interesting tid bit. If you know of a client who's worked with them, throw that in there too. Unless you set off talking about their momma, there's no way you can get excessively personal.
I would kindly suggest you to compose this letter yourself, in your own words. However, if you absolutely hate penning this kind of marketing letter, your other option is to get a good independent writer to do it.
To see various free-lance writers, you can Google "freelance writers for hire" and check out some of your options there for companies to use. With a number of companies, they even permit you to screen through their writers from across the world. You can see reviews on most of the writers, find their hourly rates, forward them "interview" questions, etc. On a few sites, you can post an opening for the project you need written and have free-lance writers apply to you. It's pretty terrific.
Now that you have your referral marketing letter completed and your list of professionals to mail it to, let's have them mailed out. Only please don't simply mail it in a simple white envelope like everybody else... Please.
Get another distinctive mailing package or envelope with a little color or size to it. Your goal is to stick out like a sore thumb, in a good way, from all the mail your list will be receiving. Don't forget, hand-penning the return address and mailing address will help to get your envelope or package opened and not thrown in the trash.
When you gather your mail, which pieces do you open straight away and which ones do you toss without a second look? The priority goes to letters where the sender hand-wrote the address, everytime!
Next, you want to enclose a marketing piece, other than only your letter. This could be a video you make using Animoto that showcases who you are and why they must pay attention.
An unbelievable thought my insurance salesman buddy had was to mail out poker chips to prospects, which had his contact information on each one. His theme was "Don't gamble with your life".
Talk about getting your creative juices flowing! That's an example of what I'm talking about when it comes to getting creative with your marketing, precisely like the top real estate agents do.
By the way, and this is vital, you'll want to point these professionals to both your website and your phone number, within your marketing letter. Offer them the option but make certain you give them both. You just don't know which professionals prefer the telephone or to suss you out on your website first.
The final step we'll cover is absolutely vital. The mother of all marketing principles is "repetition". Stats in the marketing world have proven that in order for individuals to get familiar enough and reply to an ad or marketing piece, they need to see or hear it 7 times or more.
So the clear "take-away" is that you have to continue to market to these professionals on your list, more than once. After you've sent your initial referral letter, try following up by regular mail or a phone call about 1 time a month. Emailing them would be an option too, if you have it.
The thing to watch for is coming on too strong and smothering them, much like a dating relationship. Be nice and give them space but at the same time, don't let them forget which Realtor or agent they have to be sending clients to.
One last tip, if you need to save yourself a pant load of time, pay your teenager to stuff these envelopes and mailers. jot down the letters yourself but have your hired-assistant stuff the envelopes with your letters and marketing pieces.
The hired labor will be inexpensive and you can focus on other things like home tours and follow up calls.
In all seriousness, when it comes to Realtor marketing tips, referral letter marketing will set you up as a top real estate agent for years and years to come. As long as you are consistent about building these relationships, you can earn yourself a career-long stream of free customer referrals.
Focus on serving them as much as you want them to serve you and the cash will flow in!
Josh F. Sanders is a Real Estate Broker and the Founder of Shiloh Street University in Seattle, WA. SSU is an online marketing school for Realtors, dedicated to “Creating Wealthy Agents through World-Class Marketing” by providing step-by-step video lead-generation tutorials. Get your "FREE 5 Day Sneak Peek" at Shiloh Street University.
