Real Estate Lead Generation for Agents - Why You Don't Need to Advertise Anymore

If you hear the term "referral letter marketing", as a Realtor, what instantly comes to mind? I'll bet you $20 you suppose I'm talking about getting letters of recommendation and testimonials from your former clients, correct?

That's a wonderful idea for marketing as well. However, how about having a steady stream of motivated clients given to you by other respected professionals like atto
eys, financial planners, tax accountants and remodeling contractors? And the only thing you'll need to do is jot down a nice little letter, written by the greatest real estate agent (you!).

In a nutshell, referral marketing letters for Realtors can be summed up like this: find a list of other professionals in your "farm area" that will have the sort of clients and prospects you're looking for. Then you just pen a personal letter that accurately 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, standard envelope in the mail. If doable, telephone each professional that receives your letter, as a follow up project.

Don't worry, there's nothing dishonest with copying what the "big boys" practice.

Let's start off with a sample list of these professionals that have the clients you're searching for...

• CPA's

• Home Loan Consultants (I'm sure you know this one)

• Certified Financial Planners

- Real Estate Atto
eys

• Building Contractors

• Real Estate Appraisers

• Title Reps

• Electricians (residential or maybe commercial, depending on your business)

• Plumbers (residential)

• Landscapers

• Residential Roofers

• Handymen (residential)

• Makes sense?

Of course, there are countless more professionals to add to the list but that'll get you going for today.

So how can you get a thorough list of all the professionals you'll wish to work with? Wonderful question. You've got a pair of options but they depend on your marketing budget.

The on-line yellow pages is definitely an option for you. You must already have a geographic area you stick to so you'll want to stay within that region, for the most part. With the yellow pages option, the downside is that it can be time consuming.

You have to run through each individual listed and find their name, phone number and mailing address. Like I said, this could require a bit of time but it's free.

Easily purchasing a list of these professionals would be your other choice. Virtually every profession has their own list that people can purchase, just like you're on a list of Realtors out there somewhere.

These types of lists aren't dishonest at all (sorry to say for some 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.

A bit surprising, huh? Well, now you understand where all that junk mail and spam comes from.

You have more than enough choices when it comes to picking a list company to buy your list from. The list company you choose ought be able to furnish you with every profession you'll want, rather than going to one company for a CPA list, another company for an lawyer list, and so on. It'll cost you a few bucks to obtain this sort of list but it'll save you a pant load of time!

So once you get this marketing list of professionals (however you prefer to obtain it), it's time to create your highly personalized "referral letter". I don't have space here to tell you about copywriting, regrettably. That's surely a topic all on it's own.

What you need to understand for right now is that this referral letter can not be the same kind of "sales" letter that you would mail out, trying to get listing prospects.

When one of these professionals gets this referral marketing letter, they need to feel like they're the sole one who got it, even though you might copy most of it and send it to other professionals.

It's all about writing the letter as if you were talking to the individual face-to-face. Do not be like your local bank and write some kind of "this is so boring I could vomit" referral marketing letter. Grab the reader's curiosity, write to them like a genuine human being and not like an institution.

The crux of your letter absolutely must put in plain words that you'd like to start a mutually beneficial, professional relationship with them (but say it in a personal way, of course). Your goal is to be their "pocket Realtor" who gets all their referrals, for free! You want to emphasize how they'll gain from this relationship without doing any selling, got it?

You could happen to know something about the company one of these professionals operate for so feel free to throw that in your letter to make it more personal. If you know of a client who's worked with them, throw that in there also. There's no way you can actually screw up this "personal" touch unless you start off talking junk about their momma, but you won't do that, right?

Penning this marketing letter yourself would be my big, critical suggestion. However, if there's no chance you'll even ponder about penning your own referral letter, then go ahead and hire a freelance copywriter to take care of it for you.

To locate some self-employed writers, you can Google "independent writers for hire" and check out several of your options there for companies to utilize. On a number of of them you can sift through freelance writers from all over the country and world. You can check reviews on them, find what they're charging for prices, reach them to ask questions, etc. In a few cases, posting a project you need written and letting freelance writers apply, is allowed. very slick.

Ok, so now that you have your marketing list and referral letter scripted, it's time to send it out. But please don't simply mail it in a plain white envelope like everyone else... please!

Get another unique mailing package or envelope with a little color or size to it. What you're trying to do is have their eyes go to your envelope or box first and open it before every other piece of mail they receive that day. I'd also urge you to compose the mailing and return addresses by hand so that you increase the "personal" effect of your letter.

Think about how you prioritize your mail. The priority goes to letters where the sender hand-wrote the address, everytime!

In addition to the referral letter you wrote, the next thing you'll need is to drop in a special marketing piece. A creative marketing thought possibly could be a DVD that you make through Animoto, showcasing yourself (not as daunting as it sounds).

One of my friends, a life insurance salesman, sent out a similar mailing and included poker chips with his contact information on them. His slogan on the poker chips was "Don't Gamble on Your Life".

Utter brilliance! That's an example of what I'm talking about when it comes to getting creative with your marketing, just like the top real estate agents do.

Getting back to this referral letter, I'd advise that you point them not only to your telephone number but also your website or blog. It's vital to give them the choice of how to contact you. You can never know who hates talking on the phone and who hates looking at websites.

Our final step could be more crucial than all the others. The mother of all keys to marketing is "repetition". If you look at marketing stats in general, it's been shown that consumers and prospects need to hear or see the same marketing message more than 6-7 times before they feel comfy enough to respond.

So continue following up with these professionals on your marketing list. After your initial mailing, I'd advise you to follow up with them by telephone or another letter about 1 time a month. Emailing them would be an option as well, if you have it.

But please be careful about not suffocating them, however you decide to follow-up. It's a fine line but you need to inform them why you should be their "go-to" Realtor without coming across in a rude or annoying style.

Quick tip if you have the marketing funds: rent a college kid to process all these mailers and save yourself the time. write the letters yourself but have your hired-help stuff the envelopes with your letters and marketing pieces.

The hired labor will be cheap and you can focus on other things like home tours and follow up calls.

Bottom line, I simply think this is one of the most amazing marketing ideas for Realtors or agents out there. If you establish these relationships right, they can create you so many leads that you won't need to actively promote or market your real estate business in any other way.

If you truly serve these professionals as much as you need them to serve you, your closings will increase and you'll work your way up to being the top real estate agent in your area.