Making Sure Your Referral Partnerships Work

It’s quite common to expect results from a relationship with a Realtor (or other referral partner), but what if months pass and you’re still not seeing any results? While it takes time to build trust and develop any relationship, it’s also important to evaluate if there’s anything keeping that relationship from becoming productive. Here are a few simple tips to make your referral partnerships work:

Communication

It’s not enough to have a successful meeting, agree to send each other referrals when appropriate, and then expect the relationship to flourish without taking additional steps. You’ll need to do more— namely, keep in touch. Maintaining connection and touching base with your referral partner regularly will speed the development of the relationship, and highlight your professionalism and commitment.

Collaboration

Referral partnerships are not just about sending and receiving referrals. That may be the initial draw, but without maximizing the full potential of the partnership, you’ll be leaving short-and long-term business on the table. The greater your collaborative effort, the more frequently you’ll get in front of your partner’s audience and vice versa. It’s mutually beneficial, as it helps both of you expand your visibility and network, and provides you with creative marketing options to work on together.

Online Presence

For the last few years, one of the best places to collaborate has been through social media. Many of your potential clients are on social-media platforms, and often on a daily basis. You and your referral partners should have strong online presences already, but if not, sharing your own strategies to build and engage with your online network may give both businesses an immediate boost. From there, you can work on building a strategy to promote one another.

Goals

Your idea of a ‘working’ partnership might be differ from your referral partner’s idea. It’s important to share your goals and expectations early in the relationship, and then get together occasionally to revise and refine them. By setting shared goals for the partnership, you’ll be aligned to work much more efficiently and with better results.

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If you’re interested in learning more about how to strengthen these relationships, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d be happy to set up a time to connect.