Marketing Tools for Realtors That Can Triple Your Closings and Client Referrals

When you hear the term "referral letter marketing", as a Realtor, what instantly comes to mind? I'll bet you $100 you're guessing that I'm talking about testimonials and recommendations from former clients.

That can also be an outstanding marketing idea for Realtors. Although, what I'm getting at is collecting a stream of customer referrals from other professionals such as mortgage brokers, landscapers, atto
eys and contractors. And the only thing you'll need to do is write a nice little letter, written by the greatest real estate agent (you!).

This is how I'd sum up referral letter marketing for real estate agents: Grab a list of well-thought-of professionals in your region that may have the same type of clients you do. Then you simply write down a personal letter that genuinely shows off who you are and send it to this list in the regular mail (no email).

Be sure you get unique and use an envelope that stands out from every other white, stock envelope in the mail. Follow up with each professional by telephone, if doable, and continue to mail/contact them once per month.

A lot of Savvy Realtors and agents apply this single marketing technique to fuel their real estate businesses for their entire careers!

First off, how about we form a list of professionals who are most likely to have real estate buyers and/or sellers for you...

• Certified Public Accountants

• Mortgage Brokers (unsurprisingly)

• Financial Advisors

- Atto
eys

• General Contractors

• Appraisers (residential or commercial)

• Title and Escrow Officers

• Electrician Contractors

• Residential Plumbers

• Landscapers

• Roofing Contractors

• Tree Trimming Professionals

• Residential Handymen

• That should get you started...

So how do you generate this full list of specific professionals to market to? Terrific question. You've got a couple of options but they depend on your marketing budget.

Probing through the yellow pages, on-line, is a cheap choice. I'm positive you already have a certain area you work in, as a Realtor, so it'll be best to stick to that. The manual labor is the time consuming aspect about this choice.

You need to compile each professional's phone number, name and mailing address. This direction can take a long time but if your marketing budget is tight, this is the free of charge way to go.

Another alte
ative for building this marketing list of professionals is to easily pay money for a list. Exactly like you're probably on a Realtor list for sale to the public, almost every other profession has their own list for sale also.

This isn't some kind of "black market" or illegal list, don't be conce
ed. If 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.

Well, now you comprehend where all that junk mail and spam comes from.

Now, there are a few list companies out there to pick from, who will sell you these lists. Whichever list company you choose, ideally, they should provide you with each profession you'll need for your list, rather than going to a separate company for each profession. If you need to salvage a pant load of trouble and time, use up a few bucks on buying your list.

So once you have this marketing list of professionals (however you choose to obtain it), it's time to write your highly personalized "referral letter". I don't have space here to instruct you about copywriting, regrettably. Copywriting and writing sales copy are topics totally on their own.

All you need to comprehend right now is that this letter can't be "salesy" like a letter you'd send to your farm list of homeowners.

Even though you could copy some or most of your referral marketing letter and send it to other professionals on your list, whenever these professionals get your letter, they ought to feel like they're the only one who received it.

Ponder about how you'd speak to these professionals face-to-face and create your letter in that way, that's the big idea here. Don't make use of the same bland language that your bank does when they send you a dull letter in the mail. Talk to them like a real individual and capture their interest.

Also, since we're on the topic, this kind of "personalized" marketing goes for all your emails, newspapers ads, postcards and every additional marketing element of yours.

The "meat and potatoes" of the letter needs to describe that you desire to create a professional relationship with them where you can refer business to one another. The end result you're looking for is to be their favorite Realtor for all their clients who want real estate services. Stress how they'll gain without trying to "sell" them on it, you know?

One line of attack to personalize your letter is to drop 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, drop that in there too. There's no way you can truly screw up this "personal" touch unless you start talking trash about their momma, but you won't do that, right?

My suggestion would be to certainly compose this referral marketing letter in your own words. However, if there's no chance you'll even think about writing your own referral letter, then go ahead and rent a independent copywriter to take care of it for you.

To find a number of self-employed writers, you can Google "self-employed writers for hire" and check out some of your options there for companies to utilize. On some of them you can sift through free-lance writers from all throughout the country and world. You can see reviews on most of the writers, find their hourly rates, forward them "interview" questions, etc. In a few cases, posting a project you want written and letting freelance writers apply, is allowed. It's actually pretty convenient.

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 whatever you do, please do not send your letter in a regular white envelope like we see everyday of our lives... Please.

Look for a mailing box or another envelope that will stick out amongst all the mail these professionals will be sorting through. What you're trying to do is have their eyes go to your envelope or package first and open it before every other piece of mail they receive that day. Also, a good way to personalize your letter and have it opened, is to have the mailing and return addresses hand-scripted.

Ponder about how you prioritize your mail. Hand-written addresses move to the top of the stack, every time.

Next, you need to enclose a marketing piece, other than only your letter. A creative marketing idea may be a DVD that you make through Animoto, showcasing yourself (not as overwhelming as it sounds).

I have a buddy who sold life insurance and had the brilliant plan to mail out tiny poker chips with his information printed on them. This friend of mine printed "Do not gamble with your life" on all the poker chips.

Absolute genius. That's the sort of creative juice you want to have flowing if you want to be the top dog Realtor or agent in your area.

By the way, in this referral letter, I would point them towards your website and telephone number. Provide them the option but make sure you give them both. A number of professionals prefer to speak on the phone and others like to suss you out online first.

Our final step could be more vital than all the others. Repetition is major with any marketing method you select, especially when mailing letters, as we're talking about. Marketing industry stats demonstrate a consumer needs to view your message or hear from you at least 7 times before they get familiar enough with you to act.

So it's evidently important to keep following-up with these professionals on your list. I'd say shoot for once per month, either by phone or another letter, after you make the initial follow up telephone call after your first mailing. If you have their e-mail address, you can start using that for the follow ups too.

As it is with dating, you need to be careful to not smother and irritate them or else you can count on never receiving referrals from them, ever. You don't need to let them forget who you are but you also don't need to be calling or mailing them every other day.

One final tip, if you need to save yourself a pant load of time, pay your teen to stuff these envelopes and mailers. I'd still tell you to write down your referral letter yourself but feel free to pay someone else to address the envelopes and stick the letters inside.

In all seriousness, when it comes to Realtor marketing ideas, referral letter marketing will set you up as a top real estate agent for years and years to follow. If you build these relationships correctly, they can bring you so many leads that you won't need to actively advertise or market your real estate business in any other way.

Focus on helping them as much as you want them to serve you and the cash will flow in!