Turning The Client Into A Referral Source

We spent the last few months covering the sphere of a transaction as the end of trigger leads will require a good portion of loan originators to turn each deal they close into an opportunity to grow their sphere. And the sphere of each transaction is huge.

While we cannot develop a relationship with every part of this sphere, what if you were able to turn one actor into a referral source for each loan you close? That actor could be the client themselves or another participant, such as the client’s accountant … or even both.

It makes no sense to grow your sphere unless some of the components of this sphere become referral sources. I have always followed this line of reasoning:

• Top producers get their business from referrals.
• These referrals come from their sphere.

Therefore, the larger your sphere and the more value you deliver to your sphere, the more referrals you will receive.

Turning the client into a referral source requires more than just delivering great service and asking for referrals. Asking is not enough. You must time the “ask” most efficiently and you also must deliver value.

You should not wait until the transaction is closed and the service is delivered. While a client is involved in a real estate transaction they are more likely to be exposed to potential referrals. Thus, the earlier the better. This is called the “law of selective perception.”

Think of the last time you purchased a new/used car. Did you start noticing others driving the same car on the road — especially the same color? You cannot notice every car on the road — but you will take note of cars that are the same as yours — especially directly after you just purchased your car.

When someone is purchasing a home, they are asking questions that they don’t normally ask such as:

• Is this a good neighborhood to live in?
• How is the traffic?
• How long have you lived here?
• Did you buy or rent?
• How many bedrooms do you have?
• What interest rate did you get on your mortgage?

These questions are designed to satisfy their curiosity regarding the home buying process.

And during this time of curiosity, they are more likely to uncover possible referrals. After they close, the questions turn to such things as renovations and the purchase of furniture. It is easy to see why the earlier timing can be more fruitful, but it is not as easy to ask earlier in the process before you have delivered significant value.

As you may have guessed, the second point regarding timing relates to value. That is because the best time to ask for referrals is when you deliver value. Without value delivery, it's easy to see why the typical loan officer waits until the loan is closed before they ask for referrals — if they ask at all. Thus, you must deliver value earlier — and highlight when that value is delivered. For example, if you solve a problem for them or perhaps their appraisal comes in high. When they are thanking you for your help, it is a great time to ask whether they know someone else who could use your services because you love helping people become homeowners.

Remember the last time you spent an hour on the phone with them late at night because that is the only time they could talk to you? They were appreciative of your efforts and thus it should have triggered an ask for a referral opportunity.

Not all value has to be related to the loan process. Going back to quoting Money on the Table by Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, he suggests asking this question:

What other challenges do you have in your life right now?

Perhaps they are downsizing in preparation for retirement, and they need help figuring out what to do with 30 years of accumulation. And in your sphere, you have someone who specializes in these services. When they thank you for the referral, it is a great time to point out that you specialize in helping others through referrals, and those you help become great referral sources. You find that helping people and receiving referrals is much more satisfying than advertising for business. That way you can concentrate on delivering great service instead of marketing.

With that referral to a professional within your sphere, we also come full circle to the opportunity of building your sphere through each loan transaction. The larger you build your sphere, the greater the chance you will have a contact that could help your clients (and others) meet their individual challenges. Imagine a sphere of 10,000 and how productive that could be if used in the right way. Think 20,000 is unachievable? Add 15 contacts per week and your database will have about 10,000 in 12 years. They key is to be constantly adding. That takes discipline.

Imagine your top agent is holding an open house and you can email or post a message to such a huge sphere. Or it is tax season and you can let your sphere know that you have three top accounting professionals you can refer them to. Your sphere does not just exist to produce referrals. Your sphere exists so that you can deliver more value to the members of your sphere. And that will produce even more referrals.

Thus, each loan can increase your sphere. But the key is to deliver value to your sphere so that you can increase your referral momentum. And the sphere itself is one major key which will help you deliver that value.