REFERRALS.....would you like more?

A 4X Agent Receives Referrals

Hey Everyone….thanks for tuning in again to 4X Formula Radio where we are talking to Real Estate business professionals who want to become their best, position themselves as a great option, make great money and enjoy life while building solid self feeding, Real Estate businesses…

Today we are going to talk about the most important, crucial, biggest game changer, the maximizer for real estate businesses and the ultimate, ultimate thing that all Real Estate professionals should be shooting for…..

This is #8 in our 9 part series of What IS a 4X Agent – ok….are you ready? A 4X Agent RECEIVES REFERRALS

Ok captain obvious…I already know that. Not really earth shattering news…what is your name again….Kelly? Johansen….OH Johnston.

I get it. You may be thinking that. That’s ok. Stick with me.

Before you get all “judgy”, ask yourself this question. Where does all of my business come from? Do you know the answer? That’s the first thing. What are the most valuable business sources that come to me? What should I invest in, spend my time on, and focus on most in order to create a Dream Real Estate Business? DO I currently spend 80% of my time and money and mental effort and focus on strategy’s that result in only 20% of my income?

You can’t improve or change what you don’t measure. That’s the first lesson here. Do you know for certain where your business comes from mostly? DO you know for certain where the most economical business comes from? The most desirable business? The easiest business? The Least Stressful business? The most gratifying business? The most profitable business?

Before I go off on a tangent here…This podcast is for you. No matter what stage you are at in your business. No matter how long you have been in this business. No matter what company you work for and no matter what role you have with your company. Whether you are have been in the business for 10 seconds, 10 months or 10 years.

I am fully aware that everyone needs something a little different so when I write these podcasts, I try to put together material that will ring in the ears of everyone in some way…At least a couple “take-aways” that are either re-enforcing something that you know or need to be reminded of, or (what I am hoping can happen) you get an “aha!” moment…something that gets your juices flowing!

SO…with that in mind. If you have just received your real estate license…your business will come from your first circle of influence. The people that know you from your past life and current life…that first circle of family and friends. But keep in mind that will run out pretty quick. Figure out how to leverage that as best you can.

If you have been in the business for under a year or right around that time frame, you may be feeling the pinch already of the dwindling “First Circle” or “Sphere of Influence” leads. If you have been in the business for a longer period of time but are hungry for information then BRAVO to you and I hope that we can take you to the next level quickly…you already have experience…you have run into situations that you must totally relate to when I am talking about things and this is definitely for you too….but I want to ask you to do one thing….

Draw a line in the sand – step over it – (mentally) and let’s start fresh.

Ok…so here we go. A 4X Agent RECEIVES REFERRALS. The reason this is part of the 9 facets is that it is crucial to the system that I teach. It is part of the 4X formula. It is what we strive for. When you implant something into your DNA – your Psyche, what will happen is; your habits – your mental focus begin to transform. That is why these things are all about what you BECOME. You Become a person, a Real Estate Professional that simply – RECEIVES REFERRALS. Its just who you are. Its what you are. It’s the business that you build. It is not a surprise. Its not a “luck” thing. It is part of the plan and part of who you are. See the difference? This is serious. This is transformative thinking. I want this for you.

Because it is so awesome!!

IF you have listened to my other podcasts you will have heard me talk about this. I have measured my business and in the last few years, when I finally began to understand the value of my existing clientele as amazing resources, that I was able to realize that, over 50% of my business comes from referrals. Over 50%. That’s amazing! That really fires me up.

Nicole and I who operate our business just so…its just us. We have no assistant or staff members. Its just us. We took vacations – numerous vacations – 2 to Europe alone, various camping trips, and a couple of other trips, one to California, one to Cuba etc…and we enjoyed our best income year ever last year, as an example, and its only getting better. I have no billboards. I don’t do very much newspaper advertising outside of our company ad, I don’t have my car wrapped with marketing material which is not a bad idea if you are starting out but I don’t do it anymore, I don’t pay for bus bench Ads, or magazine ads or anything like that. I don’t even totally maximize our social media presence as much as I teach to be honest…mostly because I have had to spend a lot of time on this course and publishing these podcast episodes etc. Just being honest. But somehow – we managed to do more business in a market that has flattened out in our board area.

I know the answer – because I measure. I know how many leads came in last year. I know how many I converted to business. I know where the leads came from and I can tell you that over 50% of my business came from past business and referrals from past clients and strategic alliances.

SO there. There’s my brag portion of this episode.

Here’s the humbling part. I was a screw up for so long in my business. I had no systems. I did nothing to nurture referrals. I had no plan. I had no intention in line with any plan. I was a ship with no rudder floating around in the ocean with holes in the hull just working on keeping the stupid thing afloat. That’s what my business was for about 17 to 18 years… complete survival mode. I did manage to get some return business from the old days, thank God for that from clients that I managed to impact positively and who were the type of people that just had a character of loyalty. You know the rare few out there? But that accounts for such a small percentage. If you operate in the real estate business long enough you can’t help but get some referrals. You would have to be a real jerk or simply really intentionally decide to tick everyone off to get 0 referrals.

If you only do 5 deals a year and tell me that you are receiving over 50% referrals to your business then, way to go, but I am not impressed. Sorry. I’m not. BUT I am impressed that you are listening right now and I know you will do better because you want to. The shear “will” of that will allow you to double that very shortly. That’s great….

I am talking about almost 50 deals! Came from referrals last year! That’s over 4 deals per month from referrals!! Do the math. That business is the best business. They are already pre-qualified and prepared to meet you. They are usually already excited to meet you. There is no selling in the presentation really. The relationship begins at a different level right away. The cost of obtaining the business is so minimal. They are more often than not a total joy to do business with.

So – why do so many Real Estate agents miss this? Why is this not a major focus of their business? Why is this not “top of mind” for all Real Estate professionals? Or Any business person for that matter. I think that people think that they would like to have more referrals. OR, it would be great to experience more referrals OR, when it happens they get this sense of pride when they receive a referrals but don’t think about the intention or the action or figure out what motivated the referral. Sometimes we get this false sense of greatness. Oh it is because I am so awesome, obviously, that’s why I was referred. Sometimes it is luck. Truly.

Here’s the test. You can’t have it both ways

Who do you blame, when these things happen?

You find out later that one of your clients actually referred business to another real estate agent.

Do you habitually say to yourself, “well that guys a jerk, he should have referred those people to me”

You find out later that a person that you do business with or a person that you pay to do something for you, refers business to another Real Estate agent.

How do you react? Do you think to yourself, “well that makes sense, that Realtor is way better than me and a much nicer person, I get it”

I don’t know if that is what goes through your mind.

What goes through your mind, when one of your past clients, lists their home with another Real Estate professional? Do you get ticked off at that person? Do you blame them? How would you treat that person if you walk by them in the mall?

WHO should be carrying the blame? Who should be the one that gets a “talking to”! Who? 

YOU…..sorry man. YOU.

Your absolute first reaction, should be this:

“Shoot. Ok. What could I have done better? What did I miss? Where can improve next time? What did they need that I did not give to them? Where did I fall down on this? How can I fix this?

This is what should be going through your mind immediately. Right away. Go there mentally. Figure out how to fix, tweek, create a system, put out more effort, over-deliver, nurture, contact more, re-enforce the relationship more…all of these types of thoughts need to be going through your mind. To eliminate that possibility from happening.

Has is happened to me many many many times? Oh ya. You betcha. A lot. Do I like it? Absolutely not. But it happens. I am not perfect but I can tell you where my mind goes right away. I go to fix mode immediately. Then I erase that negative from my brain and do something as fast as possible that is positive to replace that event from effecting my success. That’s what I do. I suggest that you do the same. Make that your habit.

Do you want to build you business on luck? Or do you want to stack the cards in your favour? Create your own Certainty. Create Consistency. You are in control of this. Only you. It has nothing to do with your clients. Remember that. Take responsibility for all parts of your business. You always will get the credit. Positive or Negative. What I mean is; if you want to take the credit and pat yourself on the back when something goes your way, then you have to look at yourself and give yourself a smack when it doesn’t. Look to yourself first. It is all about you. You are in the drivers seat. You drive the bus.

Who do you want on the bus with you? Think about that. You control that too.

Have you ever went on a really long bus ride? When I was a kid, about 9 years old or so, we went on a bus ride to Disneyland in California. We are on the West Coast of British Columbia so this is quite a trek. I think it took about 3 or 4 days to get there. We got to know a lot of those people on that bus during that trip. Some were nice. Come were aggravating and kept pinching my cheeks. Some were indifferent. Some were old and some were young. The people travelling on that bus paid to be there and had no other control on who else would be on that bus. At the time, they still allowed smoking on busses. I remember that. It was gross. The people on the bus effected the experience to all of the passengers. Now we were heading to Disneyland so we were all pretty fired up. As you work your way to the destination it is exciting and you forgive a lot of things. Its kind of like a Real Estate deal….everybody is excited and its all magical as you work your way towards the destination, the purchase right? But then its over.

The dishwasher doesn’t work two days after they move in. The sellers idea of a clean home was a little bit different than the Buyer’s idea of a clean home. So they had to re-clean the home before moving their stuff in. Have you ever had that happen? I can’t tell you how many times we have paid for cleaning ladies to make our clients happy in those situations…but I will tell you that pays dividends later when they refer business to you.

So the bus ride home after Disneyland was a lot different. It was gruelling. The smoke smell was aggravating. The people were getting on our nerves…we probably got on the nerves of a lot of people in the bus too, being kids. We had a lot of energy and being contained in that metal prison on wheels was not fun for us.

The same thing happens after your Buyer’s move in. The magic is over now. The “honeymoon phase” of our relationship is now fading.

How can we do better at maintaining and solidifying ourselves as a positive force in peoples lives? How?

That’s the question that we need to ask ourselves. Ask that question.

So if a 4X Agent RECEIVES REFERRALS and that is what you are:

How do you operate? What thoughts go through your mind when you have a client who is a little more needy? What thoughts go through your mind when a client wants information on something that you feel is insignificant? What goes through your mind when someone is a little snappy with you because they are stressed? What goes through your mind when you have a client who is always telling you how they feel? Depending on your personality type, other personality types will grind on you and you will habitually decide to; allow that to bother you; avoid that person; or fail to deliver what they need no matter how insignificant because you are thinking “transactionally”.

The frustration comes from this place in your brain. Don’t worry this is not being ‘judgy’ at all. I have gone there. I have thought these thoughts. I am not perfect at all. BUT when you make a decision to Be a Person that Receives Referrals, you have to change your habitual thinking. I still have to keep myself in check. All the time. This is something that I am constantly working on. You have to change to Relational thinking and figure out how a “good friend” or a “loved one” or a “family member” would approach that. Step back for a second and think with a little empathy and approach it from their point of view…as soon as you do that you begin to create an understanding and you empathize with that person and suddenly your outlook changes and you suddenly get a gift of more patience and understanding entering in. Take a breath.

Then deliver. Deliver what they need completely, cheerfully, with understanding and do it quickly so that you satisfy that need for them. It costs nothing most of the time or it costs very little compared to the effect that you will have on that person and suddenly they are like a walking billboard for you!

The WOW factor for that person, is whatever is important to them. Full stop. Not what you think should be important to them.

The law of sewing and reaping is always in effect. People call it Karma but I don’t believe in Karma. There is no such thing. IT is the law of sewing and reaping that is the dominant force.

Ya, gotta give before ya get….and you can quote me on that.

My sister in law….strangely enough her name is Nicole too. Weird huh? We call her “Nic” for short. Anyway she is awesome. She is an amazing “gift giver”. By her own nature, she is extremely empathetic. Its just how she is. She really goes deep into thinking about the perfect gift for each person. We do this every year at Christmas time. All the adults draw names and we all buy a really good gift for one person each and then the kids get all the gifts from each of our families and we have a fun day of opening presents together usually either a day before or the day after Christmas after we have all had our days with our families. That’s our traditional way of doing Christmas. We never know who any of us are buying for…but I am always secretly hoping that Nic gets my name, because she always seems to get the perfect gift. She goes to great lengths to figure it out. Then she settles on the perfect thing and I watch every year, and whoever gets a gift from Nic is always so elated. Its pretty cool.

So that’s kind of my point. We need to be like that for our clients. We need to give them that perfect gift that is tailor made to them…its not always easy. But in order to build a solid relational business it goes a long way to creating a lot of happy, satisfied, “wowed” and “raving fan” clients that are extremely loyal to help build your business.

We go into this concept in a more practical way in the 4X Formula Real Estate Training mastery course which I totally encourage you to sign up for….at least get on the waiting list. I think that the first 100 people will get a really cool bonus but we are still working our way through that so that we create an amazing amount of value for you.

But real quick I want you to leave this podcast with this:

Every single person that you come into contact with is a potential referral source. In every circumstance are you someone that you would refer business to?

Every Buyer, Every Seller, Every interview, Every strategic alliance, Every Realtor that is 40 or more minutes away from you, every single person you hire to do something for you, Every single person that meet on a daily basis, Every Waitres, or Hairstylist, or Nail person or Grocery Store clerk, or Secretary, or Neighbor, or Church member….

Every single person that enters into your vortex, into your little gravitational field….is an opportunity for business. How do you treat these people? Are you an energy giver or an energy sucker? Do you make other people feel bigger or do you make other people feel small so that you can feel bigger? Are you someone that people remember when you leave or are you totally insignificant and forgetful? Are you someone worthy of referrals? Are you someone that people want to support and give business to? Think about that.

People who get referrals are worthy of those referrals. They deserve it. Stack the cards in your favour. Create your own success by building a great business that is relevant to those you serve and they will sing your praises and intentionally support your business by sending people your way.

I am so thankful for you. Thank you for listening once again to 4X Formula Radio. This is Kelly Johnston signing off. Take care and Make a Great Day!