How to Get More Commercial Real Estate Referrals
Commercial real estate agency referrals and leads are essential to the agency. You do need a referral program to help you build more leads and opportunities in the marketplace.
Creating leads and new business from referrals is far easier than anything else. That being said, it is the correct clients and the correct prospects that will help you with referral business. It all comes down to asking the right questions at the right time.
A Referral Program of Contact
Here are some ideas to help you establish a referral-based programme as part of your real estate agency structure.
- It is a fact that sales, leasing, and property management are all linked. This means that one transaction can lead to another. A successful lease transaction of today can be a property management appointment tomorrow. A successful property management appointment today can be a sales or leasing opportunity for the future.
- When working with clients and prospects, the level of connection and the outcome of the services provided will give you leverage for establishing a referral business. With this in mind, all client connections and services provided by you and your agency should be of the highest quality. When the transaction has been completely and successfully finalised, you can ask for the referrals.
- Every client in commercial real estate will usually have an accountant and a solicitor who support them with property information and advice. Ask those clients to introduce you to their legal and financial support professionals. It is a fact that those accountants and solicitors will have other clients that are likely to need property assistance from time to time.
- Most top real estate agents will ask for referral business at the appropriate time. Only you can judge when that time exists, although the question needs to be asked. A sale situation is likely to occur after the settlement has been transacted. Regarding the lease situation, it is likely to be when the lease has been ultimately signed and all parties are satisfied financially.
- Some clients and prospects will expect something in return for a referral, lead or an opportunity. What you can do for them in return for the referral will be subject to professional business protocol, as well as the laws and legalities of property transactions as they apply in your location. There is nothing wrong with contributing to a charity on behalf of the person who gave you a referral.
It is interesting to note that many agents struggle with the referral side of the business or forget to explore it. They either forget the process entirely or don’t do it very well at all. Build your systems so that leads and opportunities can be generated from the people that know you and that you have served.
