2 Tips to get Buyer Referrals from Realtors
Every mortgage loan originator understands that the money maker source of referrals can be from Realtors.
The challenge is it’s not easy to get a consistent stream of referrals from real estate agents heading your way.
What doesn’t work anymore so effectively is inviting a realtor out for coffee or lunch and giving each other his or her contact information. The competition is very intense, and experienced producing agents are becoming bored with the same old pattern.
Tip #1: Generate Loan Referrals From Realtors Without Asking
“When a loan officer applies the ‘prospecting hustle’ mentality to their referral efforts, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
— Stacey Brown Randall, a national speaker, best selling author, and a founder at Stacey Brown Randall Coaching.
Stacey Brown Randall has helped d hundreds of professionals develop plans to generate referrals and increase their referrals numbers threefold in a matter of months. She labels this experience as the “referral explosion”.
The astonishing change
Prospecting for new clients is ingrained into loan officers and the mistake is using that same approach to get referrals from real estate agents for business, the end result is usually poor.
The “always be closing” or someone else is closing you mentality from the wall street movies is more powerful than ever. Branch managers and originators adopt that mindset in regards to lead gen and sales.
Rather than do that, Stacey recommends that you work on building relationships with your referral partners.
‘‘My philosophy and methodology shifts the way you think of referrals,” Stacey points out, “It gives you a roadmap to follow where you focus on partner relationships for long-term success.”
The following are just some ideas that will enable you to build strong, lasting relationships with real estate agents and get a constant flow of referrals that doesn’t require having to ask:
• Research agents. Prior to starting a conversation with any realtor, try looking for any information about them. What is it they do very well? What do they enjoy? What do you have in common? How can you help them?
• Lose the sales pitch personality. Real estate agents are not your borrowers. You are creating a relationship. Agents will send referrals to you if they like who you are. Try to find common ground you both have. Don’t discuss real estate every time you talk.
• Make it about them. Each realtor understands the reason you’re contacting them. You won’t be the last loan officer to offer to take them out for coffee. Be unique, personable, and yourself. During the initial meeting your sole purpose should be to find out how to help this real estate agent. You should never ask for business at the first meeting.
• Plant seeds of confidence. By no means specifically ask for referrals, but give out soft signals that you’re available. To illustrate, rather than begging “How many referrals can you give me?” you can share stories about the referrals you’ve worked on and how you helped those buyers.
Once you fully grasp the idea of nurturing and establishing a relationship your entire outlook on how you want to manage your business.