Referral Marketing Tools

6 Things You Should Know Before Getting Started With Referral Marketing

1. Don’t Work With Realtors You Don’t Like

   If you want to develop a steady stream of referrals from realtors, you’re going to need to spend a lot of time developing relationships. So, be sure you like working with them before you start. If your values do not align, working with them could cause branding issues for you in the long term in exchange for short-term gain.

2. Be Prepared for an Audit Before You Start

   If you make your loan officer marketing to realtors process audit-ready from the get-go, you’ll save time and eliminate headaches in the future. You can easily make it audit ready for compliance with a CRM.

3. Email Marketing Isn’t Enough

   To get mortgage referrals from realtors, you’ll have to give them something of value. So, leverage email marketing, print real estate flyers, and co-branded property websites to truly win over realtor partners.

4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

   The number one way to provide value to your realtor partners is to fund quickly, but we all know that already. A close second is to keep the real estate agent informed throughout escrow. If you use a service, like Reffinity, that automatically sends clients and realtor partners loan milestone emails based on loan progress, you’ll be able to keep everyone informed and not lose any sleep doing so.

5. Don’t Stop Marketing After Closing

   Sending post-close gifts and cards is a great way to maintain client relationships after closing. Co-branding these gifts with your realtor partner will help you maintain a relationship with your realtor partner as well your client. In addition, co-branding can reduce your marketing costs. We suggest using an automated solution like this concierge program so you do not have to remember all those special dates.

6. Always Split Payment (And Show Proof)

   If you are in the mortgage or real estate business, then you are probably familiar with RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act). In order to be compliant with RESPA, all loan officer/real estate agent marketing materials and expenses need to be split and documented.