What do you imagine if you hear the marketing expression, referral letter marketing? I’ll give you a clue; it’s not about solicting testimonials from all your old clients.

That’s not a shabby marketing tactic for Realtors either. Although, I’m talking about getting yourself an outpouring of clients sent to you by professionals like attorneys, contractors, CPA’s and landscapers. And the only thing you’ll need to do is create a nice little letter, written by the greatest real estate agent (you!).

This is how I’d sum up referral letter marketing for real estate agents: Grab a list of respected professionals in your community that may have the same type of clients you do. Then you simply 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 distinctive and use an envelope that stands out from every other white, stock envelope in the mail. Be consistent about following up with each professional by telephone, regular mail or email at least 1 time each month.

First, let’s create a list of professionals that in fact have the clients you could work with…

– Certified Public Accountants

– Mortgage Brokers (as you would expect)

– Financial Advisors

– Attorneys

– General Contractors

– Interior Decorators

– Appraisers (residential or commercial)

– Title and Escrow Officers

– Residential Electricians

– Residential Plumbers

– Residential Landscapers

– Roofers (residential)

– Tree Trimming Professionals

– Handymen (residential)

– That should get you started…

Countless other professionals can be added but that will have you off and running.

Are you wondering how to get the data for these professionals so you can mail them your letter? Excellent question. Depending on how many marketing dollars you have, there are a duo of options for you.

The online yellow pages is certainly an alternative for you. You should already have a geographical area you stick to so you’ll want to remain within that region, for the most part. With the yellow pages option, the downside is that it can be time consuming.

You’ll need to sort through each professional listed and get their address, name and phone number. This direction can take a long time but if your marketing budget is small, this is the free of charge way to go.

A separate choice for compiling your list of respected professionals is to simply purchase a list. Virtually every profession has their own list that the public can pay money for, exactly like you’re on a list of Realtors out there somewhere.

These types of lists aren’t illegal at all (sadly for some of us). These types of professional lists are out there because professionals (like us Realtors or agents) intentionally sign up for numerous publications, organizations, events, etc.

Surprised? Now you realize why you get so much real estate junk mail and email.

There are quite a few list companies out there to pick from. The list company you choose ought be able to furnish you with every profession you’ll require, 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 type of list but it’ll salvage you a pant load of time!

Once you’ve obtained your marketing list (whichever way you decide to acquire it), it’s time to kickoff penning this personal letter to send to your list. I don’t have space here to advise you about copywriting, unfortunately. That’s a topic all by itself.

All you need to know right now is that this letter can’t be “salesy” like a letter you’d mail to your farm list of homeowners.

When one of these professionals gets this referral marketing letter, they need to feel like they’re the only one who got it, even though you possibly could replicate most of it and mail it to other professionals.

The trick is writing your letter as if you were speaking to each professional in-person. Do not be like your local bank and jot down some kind of “this is so boring I could vomit” referral marketing letter. Grab the reader’s attention, write to them like a sincere human being and not like an institution.

The “jist” of this referral marketing letter needs to express that you’re interested in building a “mutually advantageous” relationship where you can both refer business to each another. Your aim is to be their “pocket Realtor” who gets all their referrals, for free! Don’t tick off these professionals by “selling” them, but instead, show them however they’re going to benefit, o.k.?

You possibly could happen to know something about the company one of these professionals work 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 too. There’s no way you can actually screw up this “personal” touch unless you start talking rubbish about their mom, but you won’t do that, right?

I would kindly urge you to compose this letter yourself, in your own words. But, if you’re the kind who can’t stand writing any type of letter to anyone, you can just look for a solid free-lance writer who can compose it for you.

To find various self-employed writers, you can Google “free-lance writers for hire” and check out a number of of your options there for companies to utilize. With several of the sites you’ll find, you can choose independent writers from all over the globe, which is somewhat handy. You can see reviews on most of the writers, determine their hourly rates, forward them “interview” questions, etc. On a number of sites, you can post an opening for the project you need written and have independent writers apply to you. really slick.

Okay, so now that you have your marketing list and referral letter scripted, it’s time to send it out. But whatever you do, please do not mail your letter in a simple white envelope like we see everyday of our lives… pretty please!

Alternatively, look for a distinctive envelope or box that will stand out from all the mail these professionals will be receiving. Your goal is to stick out similar to a sore thumb, in a good way, from all the mail your list will be receiving. Don’t forget, hand-penning the return address and mailing address will help to have your envelope or box opened and not thrown in the rubbish.

Simply consider how you opened your mail today. The precedence goes to letters where the sender hand-wrote the address, everytime!

In addition to the referral letter you wrote, the next item you’ll want is to drop in a unique marketing piece. This might be a video you produce using Animoto that showcases who you are and why they must pay attention.

I have a buddy who sold life insurance and had the superb idea to send out tiny poker chips with his information printed on them. This buddy of mine printed “Do not gamble with your life” on all the poker chips.

Talk about getting your creative juices flowing! If you wish to be a top producing Realtor like the “big boys”, that’s the sort of idea you need to come up with, or at least understand where to get them!

By the way, and this is critical, you’ll want to aim these professionals to both your site and your phone number, within your marketing letter. It’s crucial to offer them the option of how to contact you. A number of Individuals would rather call you and others would preferably look over your website first.

This final step is probably the most significant. Repetition is king when it comes to marketing. Marketing industry statistics indicate a consumer needs to see your message or hear from you at least 7 times before they become familiar enough with you to act.

So it’s clearly important to continue following-up with these professionals on your list. After you’ve sent your initial referral letter, try following up by regular mail or a phone call about 1 time a month. If you have their email address, you can start using that for the follow ups also.

As it is with dating, you want to be careful to not smother and bother them or else you can count on never receiving referrals from them, ever. It’s a fine line but you need to inform them why you must be their “go-to” Realtor without coming across in a rude or irritating manner.

One final tip, if you want to save yourself a pant load of time, pay your teen to stuff these envelopes and mailers. Your college kid or teen can stuff all the envelopes and address them but I’d still suggest for you to pen the referral letter yourself.

It’s cheap labor, just like US companies do when they employ overseas workers for their customer service call centers (did I just drop in a cheap shot?).

In all seriousness, when it comes to Realtor marketing advice, referral letter marketing will set you up as a top real estate agent for years and years to come. In the long-run, you can see yourself with a substantial flood of client referrals from these professionals, as long as you devote yourself to forming these relationships.

Article Source: sooperarticles.com/business-articles/marketing-articles/realtor-letters-how-single-referral-letter-can-generate-career-long-source-leads-69257.html

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Shiloh Street University is an online marketing school for Realtors, providing step-by-step video lead-generation tutorials and real estate agent marketing tactics. Get your “FREE 5 Day Sneak Peek” at ShilohStreetUniversity.com

Author: Josh Sanders