The more experience you have as an agent, the larger your network grows. Of course you can use that network to gain more leads and get the word out about your real estate business, but what if you could use that network even further to directly add to your flow of income and increase your authority as a real estate agent?
Thanks to the new official eXp Referral Tool, you can! Real estate referrals are great for agents who have a vast (or growing) network outside of their service area. Referrals allow an agent to identify someone outside of their direct service area who needs real estate services and connect them with another agent that is local to them. Or, you have people moving outside of your service area every year. By staying in touch with them, you can help them in the initial stages of their search by referring them to a qualified local agent.
The referred agent gets an instant lead, the client gets to successfully buy or sell a home, and the referring agent (you!) gets a percentage of the commission from that sale and further credibility in the industry. Everyone wins!
Here’s an example of a real estate referral in action:
Bob is one of the best real estate agents in the Chicago area, but he has moved around a lot and has met people all over the country who come to him for real estate insights. One of his old college buddies is making the move to San Diego and needs a real estate agent to help him search. Luckily, Bob knows that his friend Sandra is an excellent real estate agent in the Southern California area. Bob sends a referral agreement over to Sandra, agreeing to a 25% referral fee. Both parties sign, Bob’s friend finds the perfect home, Sandra locks down the deal, and Bob gets part of the commission made from the sale.
Steps To Making A Real Estate Referral
How do you get started in real estate referrals? The new agent referral tool from eXp Realty makes the process easier than ever in just a few clicks. Keep reading to see the step by step process to making a referral, and how to use eXp’s referral tool to make it a breeze!
1. Become a Referral Agent
Becoming a referral agent isn’t something you have to take courses and get an additional license for, but it’s an exceptional way to move your real estate career forward and give your name a bit more credibility. Once you have your real estate license and have aligned yourself with a brokerage, you can instantly begin networking, making connections, and marketing yourself as a referral agent.
2. Create Your Own Referral Network
It’s important to know that when you send out a referral, the client and the sale are in good hands. With that in mind, have a list of your preferred agents that you are ready to send referrals to at any given time. These agents should ideally be reliable and have a good history of closing down deals. If you’re on a team or coach other agents, that is a great list of agents to refer clients to and receive intros to potential clients.
Yes, it would be nice to send your agent friend a referral to get them started, but if they can’t complete the sale, the referral is moot.
Create a list or spreadsheet of quality referral agents, their niches, and locations. Something as simple as a Google Sheet can save you time when searching for receiving agents and it’s easy to add to as your network grows.
I like to keep a list of known servant leaders tagged in my CRM that I use explicitly for referring business to. This also allows me to stay in regular contact with those individuals and send them personalized messages that are unique from my regular clients. Whatever your system of choice, it is important to carve out a little time to set up this initial list and to keep it up to date each month.
3. Identify People Looking for Real Estate Outside of Your Service Area or Niche
Once you have a solid referral network, start paying attention to those around you. Take note when a family member tells you they are moving or when a client transfers to a different city. Every person who moves outside of your service area can be a referral opportunity, and it never hurts to ask if they want some help finding their new home.
In some cases, you could know of someone moving to your service area, but you serve a different niche than what they fall into. There’s another great referral opportunity close to home! When you make an effort to intentionally offer help to those who are moving in and out of your service area, the process becomes second nature overtime, and soon you will be referring people left and right.
4. Get the Word Out That You Have a Strong Referral Network
When trying to grow your business as a referral agent, it’s imperative that you intentionally make time for events, conferences, meetings, and other networking events. However, the work doesn’t stop there; the goal is to create meaningful connections with trustworthy real estate professionals.
My biggest tip for this is to focus on NetWeaving instead of networking. In short, networking is simply making the connection, and netweaving is fostering that connection by helping those in your network achieve success without consideration for if that will benefit you in the short-term. With this technique, you will not only come to mind as a referral agent, but you will also come to mind as one of the best people to work with in the industry and your local community. Word of mouth is your number one success tool when it comes to networking and netweaving.
Something else that you can do to help establish yourself as a referral agent is by adding the title to your real estate website, business cards, social media, and other marketing materials. I’ve also seen agents find great success simply reminding their clients a few times a year in a newsletter or on social that they can help people wherever they are looking to purchase or sell real estate. In addition, eXp’s new referral tool creates a bridge between agents and makes it easy to put yourself out there as a referral source without much marketing work on your end. Simply update your bio to clearly show the niches you focus on, your service areas, and anything else that would be meaningful to a potential client (e.g. Military Relocation Professional certification).
5. Send the Referral Agreement
The final step in the referral process is to draft and send over a referral agreement. The referral agreement includes crucial information for both parties, including client information (this may be held back until all parties have signed), the referral fee, your agent information, the receiving agent’s information, and any additional terms you’ve agreed upon. The referral fee can be a fixed number or it can be a specific percentage of the commission; typically the percentage is around 25%. After both parties sign, all you have to do is wait for closing and get paid.
There are several online tools and templates available to make writing referral agreements easier, but none make it quite as easy as eXp Realty’s new inside referral tool. Continue reading the next section to learn more about this incredible tool and how it can elevate your referral game and your real estate business as a whole.
How To Use the Official eXp Referral Platform
Real estate referrals without excellent proptech can be a pain for several reasons. It includes a lot of preemptive work on your part, it leaves a lot of room for error, and payment can get complicated if it’s not clearly discussed before the agreement. However, for eXp agents, the hard way of making real estate referrals can be left in the past.
eXp Realty consists of 85,000+ real estate agents and REALTORS across the globe. Simply by being a part of this massive brokerage, your network greatly expands with agents only minutes away from most properties in the country. The new eXp agent referral tool allows eXp agents to login, fill out a super simple form, choose a trusted referral agent, and sign the referral agreement all in one place. There’s no drafting a fresh agreement every time or scanning the web for a bunch of Facebook groups to join; you’ll simply fill out the form, sign, and then get paid securely.
Here is a walkthrough of this simple process:
This is what the home page of the referral portal will look like. To get started with a referral, just click “new” in the top right corner.
When you open a new referral, a form will appear asking for the referred client’s information. One of the best features of eXp’s tool is that your client information is protected and secured until the receiving agent signs (and any brokers that need to sign) the agreement. This ensures that your client’s information is safe and transferred in a controlled manner.
Below your client’s information, you’ll input the terms of your referral agreement. This includes how much the referral fee is, the timeline of the referral, and the nature of the referral (buying, selling, leasing, etc.). At the end of this section, there is a box where you can include any other information necessary to the agreement.
Next, it’s time to input your information and the receiving eXp agent’s information. This tool is directly connected to your eXp Realty account and auto populates your information and the information of the receiving agent. All you have to do is click on “Select Agent” and then search their name from eXp’s live agent directory.
Once you’ve found the right agent, simply click on their name and their information will appear in the appropriate section. The referral tool also identifies any brokers that need to sign the agreement and will include them when the agreement is sent for signature.
Now you’re ready to submit; it’s that easy! There’s no need for copywriting or editing back and forth; eXp’s team of consumer technology experts have worked with legal real estate professionals to ensure that the final agreement is legally binding and compliant across all boards and regions.
This eXp agent referral tool creates a Dropbox Sign document for you and emails it to you, the receiving agent, and any brokers that need to sign.
You’ll be able to see a list of all your pending and completed referrals on the “My Referrals” tab of the tool. You can click into each referral, see which parties have signed and which haven’t, and you can revisit the information you put into the form.
Once all parties have signed, the “Signed Agreement” button will turn blue, and you can now download a PDF of your completed and signed referral agreement.
Start Referring Clients Now!
It’s never been easier to become a referral agent, serve more clients, and start generating even more income to your real estate business. Looking for a brokerage that will give you the best networking opportunities and tools to thrive? Join eXp Realty and get connected with a community of real estate professionals who all work together to help one another succeed. When you are ready to start making referrals, go try eXp’s new Official Referral Platform
Meet Kurt Uhlir
Kurt is a successful entrepreneur that’s been called “the 10x operator and revenue leader for high-growth companies”. He currently serves as VP of Marketing & Operations at eXp helping to lead eXp Consumer Technology. Kurt has built and run multiple businesses from early-stage to those with $500M+ in annual revenue, assembled teams across six continents, been part of the small team leading an IPO and later multi-billion dollar acquisition, and participated in dozens of acquisitions. Kurt was at the front lines of creating several of the marketing & technology channels we all use today, including social media management, influencer marketing, and location-based marketing. He’s been asked to advise thousands of leaders, from VC-backed founders to the President of the United States. Want to learn how to take your business to the next level? Visit Kurt’s personal site learn more about high-achieving servant leadership at kurtuhlir.com
