Opinions from REALTORS about referrals (RE agent, closing, fee, buyer)

[Rapture]

My background in marketing, web design and knowledge of search engines has created a huge database of leads generated through my site(s). I plan to build several more and start a referral area of my real estate business.
I want to do this for a couple reasons:
1. I can and it's not that difficult just time consuming.
2. To send leads to Realtors that can help them better than I can. My area is huge and growing. I can't possible know the whole area, so I feel an agent in a specific section of my county can help a client better than I can.


What I need opinions about is I want to send each of the agents a small paragraph of what I expect. I trust all of them but I am a little bit of a control freak. I won't butt in once a buyer is referred to them but I do want them to know what kind of service is expected right from the beginning. They are getting leads from me, so I feel in a way their work should be a reflection of how I work. I feel my reputation is a little at risk, so I want to make sure everyone is on the same page. What do you think and what should I say? Thank you.

[homesweetazhome]

Hi Rapture,
You can write the paragraph but if you don't know the person you are referring to in some way, you are still taking a risk. My suggestion is to look at joining Active Rain if you haven't already. It is a Real Estate blog site where you talk to other realtors and share ideas on every aspect of the business. Once you have a referral to give, you can look up the realtors in the area, read their blogs and get a sense of who they are and how they do business. There is also a referral section on the site.
Check it out...you can look up my blog to see what I mean.

[DMenscha]

Hardly a day goes by without either a spam pitch on referrals or even a telephone call from some referral firm. Almost all of them claim to be a referral system designed by agents, for agents.

I'm not sure what your business model is, it sounds as if you're going to keep it local enough, but how local? I refer people outside of my market area to other professionals that I already know and trust throughout the county and a couple of counties North and South.

I would never pay an upfront fee for a referral like most websites ask.

Good luck in your endeavor

[Silverfall]

I only refer to people that I think are good. So...

I would spend some time reading some blogs, either on AR or not and get a feel for some agents that are in your area. I would just create a list of agents you feel are good and then just refer to them.

[Rapture]

Originally Posted by homesweetazhome

Hi Rapture,
You can write the paragraph but if you don't know the person you are referring to in some way, you are still taking a risk. My suggestion is to look at joining Active Rain if you haven't already. It is a Real Estate blog site where you talk to other realtors and share ideas on every aspect of the business. Once you have a referral to give, you can look up the realtors in the area, read their blogs and get a sense of who they are and how they do business. There is also a referral section on the site.
Check it out...you can look up my blog to see what I mean.

I am a member of Active Rain. I know the agents I'm referring to, they work for my company. They just specialize in other towns that I do not. I don't want to refer people to agents I don't know, I don't think that's really doing my leads a favor.

[Rapture]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I only refer to people that I think are good. So...

I would spend some time reading some blogs, either on AR or not and get a feel for some agents that are in your area. I would just create a list of agents you feel are good and then just refer to them.

I know the agents but I still want to send them a note along with the referral tier, so we all know ahead of time of what's expected.

[Rapture]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

Hardly a day goes by without either a spam pitch on referrals or even a telephone call from some referral firm. Almost all of them claim to be a referral system designed by agents, for agents.

I'm not sure what your business model is, it sounds as if you're going to keep it local enough, but how local? I refer people outside of my market area to other professionals that I already know and trust throughout the county and a couple of counties North and South.

I would never pay an upfront fee for a referral like most websites ask.

Good luck in your endeavor

Yes, I know the agents and I'm not asking for an upfront referral payment. I will just refer them to the lead that's looking in their area. If it goes anywhere and there is a closing then I will receive a referral fee for generating the lead. I will probably do some qualifying before I forward the lead. I'm going to do it in my area but I also have friends that are agents in two other states. Eventually I will build a site for their area also. I only get paid if there is a closing and they get paid.

[DMenscha]

When you get your site up and running, ship us a link so we can see what ya got goin

[Silverfall]

If these are people that you know, then I don't see a problem sending them a letter outlining your expectations.

[TampaKaren]

Why don't you just create another web form for the referral and when the agent accepts the terms (your expectations, their promise, etc.), you either display the potential customer info or kickoff an email? It shouldn't be that hard to do and you'll have tracking info if you save the data. Did this make sense?