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Marketing In Minutes
REFERRAL ARMY MARKETING! with Michael Cuevas!
Placing your real estate marketing on auto-pilot for generating direct sales and
referrals through your RELATIONSHIPS Before we get started here’s something to think about…
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How much is each person you have a relationship with worth to you? You have many of relationships with people you know or know of you, but do you see the power behind those connections you share with others. It’s the relationships in life that get you into that “hard to get in” restaurant or those tickets to that “sold out” game or concert. Your relationships are also what will get your real estate business to start generating direct sales and referrals quickly!
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Relationships are what you have with people whom you personally like or they like you. It may be from someone you know on Facebook to your in laws. It is anyone you know whom you share a mutual respect with one another. It is a fact that real estate is a referral-based business, which originate from the relationships you have in your life. It is no surprise that the agents with the most relationships and best networking abilities often are the ones with the most sales. The key to receiving many referrals in real estate is to fully understand how to leverage and market the relationships you have in your life.
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Referral Army Marketing is about marketing your current relationships so that you may stay on top of mind when real estate comes to mind. It is about having a system that you repeat month in and month out which is automated and streamlined. It is using direct mail, e-mail, and social media to stay on top of mind with those who know you or know of you in a very non chalant way. What if you had a system to stay in front of your all of your relationships in a very non-salesy way that only took you 15-20 minutes a month? Have you ever heard the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”? When you are out of sight amongst your sphere of influence, you are more likely to be forgotten when a possible referral situation comes about.
Think about it this way. Many agents like to farm neighborhoods for business. The strategy still works in today’s market but it is something that takes time with repetition and can be very costly. It is over time that true farming really works well. Let’s take that same concept and apply it to the relationships you have in life? When you market your relationships you do not have to build that trust with them like you would when you farm a random area. They already know and trust you which allows them to immediately feel comfortable in referring you or using your services directly. Would you rather work with people whom you already know or that were referred to you from someone you know or a complete stranger? It is a fact that when you work with people whom you already know or someone who was referred to you that your closing ratio and quality of your working relationship with your client both increase. Referral Army marketing is all about farming your relationships to secure you clients from both your direct network and the networks of your direct network.
Meet The World’s Most Successful Salesman !
Joe Girard has set the record for Guinness World Records in one year by selling 1,425 cars out of a Chevy dealer in Detroit. Every car that he sold was a belly to belly sale one at a time. To sell several cars a day for an entire year is unheard of.
How did he do it? !
He later wrote a book, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, that sold over 2 million copies in print. The underlying basic principle to the secrets to his success was his centerpiece, “Girard’s Rule of 250”. It states that each one of us has 250 people in our lives we know well enough to invite to a birthday party, wedding, or even a funeral. If you can reach one person in your network of 250 people and they buy from you they will connect you to others in their 250-person network and so on. You build off of that and work from there.
The bottom line premise is people with whom you share relationships with will use your services personally as well as refer you to their network if 1.) they like you; 2.) feel you are reputable and provide good service. People just want a good product at a fair price. The best part of your business in real estate is that every single person you know is a future client simply because we all live somewhere don’t we?
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When you market your business to your relationships you must first understand that you will receive two types of sales from them. The first kind of sale will result in a direct sale or client, meaning that the person you are marketing to, needs to buy or sell a property.
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Marketing your relationships is necessary because everyone you know remembers what it is you do for a living unless you constantly remind them. It’s very difficult to stay in touch with virtually every single person you know in a systematic way. If you were to remind them of what it is you do for a living in a nonchalant way, the chances of them using you for their upcoming real estate purchase greatly increases, because you remain top of mind for them when they think of hiring an agent. It also increases the chances for your relationships to introduce you to someone in their network who is looking for an agent and a referral is born! The average person will buy 3-5 properties in their lifetime. If each person buys 3 houses at an average sales price of $250,000, that equates to roughly $18,750.00 in total potential commissions.
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Now, I ask you again, how much are each one of your relationships worth to you? If you do not have a system in place to stay in front of your relationships in a systematic way, the chances of them forgetting about you when the time comes to buy or sell a property will decrease. People buy real estate from people they like, but they have to remember what it is you do for a living! The direct sales you get from marketing to your relationships is a given because they are more likely to think of you when they need your services. The bigger play here is programming them to refer you business from the relationships they have with others you don’t know!
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Marketing your relationships will create referrals for you. Imagine all of the conversations that take place amongst all of your relationships. How many opportunities do they come across to possibly refer you business? They WANT TO REFER you business because people, in general, like solving problems. The only reason people refer others anything is because they feel as if they are solving a problem for someone by doing so.
Real estate agents solve problems for people looking to buy or sell homes. The key is becoming the “known real estate problem solver” amongst all of the relationships you have in your life. This is where you hit critical mass! To get started you need need to learn why people refer business or things to others. I want you to think about the following question: how many referrals do you think your relationships can send you over the course of your career if you programmed them to send you referrals?
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The problem most agents have is that they only look at their “database” for direct sales when it’s the complete opposite. Your database or relationship list should primarily be marketed to for obtaining referrals. If they buy a house from you too, then that’s just gravy! You can program your relationships to refer you clients when they come across someone looking to buy or sell property, but it takes a system to do it. It’s like having 200 part-time sales people working for you at all times.
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Many agents want to go and build a big fancy website that with the push of a button that will spit tons of business to them, but the largest source of business is right in front of you. More than half of your business is based on your ability to generate referrals. Receiving direct sales from marketing your relationships is great, but the goldmine can be found through programming your relationships to send you referrals when THEIR relationships need a real estate agent.
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You must look at all of the relationships you have as dollar signs! Real estate is an industry where every single person can be a potential client. We all need somewhere to live don’t we? Doesn’t everyone you know live somewhere? It’s only a matter of time until they move, but think about how many relationships they have who may need your services too? The key is programming them to send you their referrals and stay on the top of their mind as the “go to real estate agent” they know and trust. Why do 50% of agents who get their licenses not make it in real estate after 2 years? The answer is: Lack of leads. Of the 50% who do make it, why do half of those agents not make it past 5 years in real estate? The answer: Lack of leads. Why do 10% of the agents do 90% of the business? The answer: the 90% have a lack of leads.
Most agents do not recognize it is their relationships, which will truly be the resource for constant business and referrals. Take a look at the following chart from NAR to show you the sources of business for agents today:
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All top producing agents are great marketers and networkers.! Agents market their brand first and then their service.! Buyers and Sellers do business with people they like.! It’s crucial for an agent to begin thinking of themselves as a Marketer in order to build a successful career in real estate.! Relationship Marketing will be the most important form of marketing any agent uses for developing leads.
According to the chart, repeat business and direct referrals account for 61% of agent business. The two numbers that prove my points are the two numbers at the top: 38% of agent business was referral based. Where do you think you should spend 38% of your marketing budget and time? If you look at the other sources of lead generation, 23% is from repeat business! Did you know that the 90% of people who buy or sell a home forget their agent’s name in 6 months? What are you doing in your business to stay in touch with past clients? You can only get repeat business and their referrals if they remember you. The key is being remembered!
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THIS ONLY WORKS IF YOU STAY IN TOUCH WITH THEM SO THEY DON’T FORGET YOU.
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Can you see why you will need a system in place to streamline this very important aspect of your business if you want to be successful. Relationship marketing is all about staying in front of your relationships through various ways. This system teaches you how to do that through an automated “done for you” direct mail campaign, video e-mail and social media.
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I am going to show you how to subconsciously train your relationships to do business with you and refer business to you. I will show you the specific marketing steps and automate it for you, but you must first understand the psychology behind relationship marketing. Without it, you will not understand the reason behind implementing everything I am going to show you.
 
Building a Business
Setting up a referral marketing system utilizing direct mail, video email, and social media is core to your business. However once you obtain many referrals it is extremely important to streamline the systems you have in place with the way you work with both buyers and sellers. What is your recipe to success? Think about what McDonald’s or any other large fast food chain has in common. They have a recipe and certain way they prepare their food each time so the taste is identical whether you are in Florida or in Illinois. They have a system in place that provides the consistency to their product and service. That is how they duplicate and sell franchises all across the country.
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You must look at your business the exact same way. What systems and checklists do you have in place when you work with both buyer and seller clients? What customer service touches are in place so that your level of service is consistent with every client? As an agent you are an independent contractor. You are the brand and the brokerage with whom you hang your license should be there for support. As a small business you must understand that people do not buy your brokerage, they buy you. It is astonishing that 90% of consumers forget their agent’s name within 6 months after working with them. Utilizing Referral Army Marketing allows you to stay in touch with your past clients after you do business with them, but when do you think the greatest chance of receiving referrals from that very client? Your best chance to receiving referrals is throughout the course of the transaction vs. after the closing.
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Real estate is going through a HUGE paradigm shift right now to a customer service based industry vs. an information-protected industry. Customer service and customer service systems have never been more important to your long-term success for a career in real estate. Only 24% of consumers tend to use the same agent again which is only 1 in 4? Part of the reason for that is simply because agents fail to stay in touch with their clients. However, the other part can be attributed to you not having ROCKSTAR customer service throughout the course of the transaction. Was your service so good on your last client that they will never forget you? What did you do that other agents not do? Did you do anything to stand out from the rest of your competitors?
Buyer and Seller Systemology is the art of customer service systems for you to implement into your business model. Everything from your initial presentation to the closing gift is all strategic. Real estate is about being remembered and providing the best service imaginable. In addition to implementing a Referral Army Marketing System you now can arm yourself with a system and checklist for both buyer and seller clients that will have your network bragging about your business.
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Rethink your business practices and prospecting focus. Marketing in real estate is easy. Customer service in real estate is easy. However both require systems to go form good to great.