What I really like about referral marketing strategic alliances is that it is a joint venture in its simplest form. What do I mean by that? You're typically asking someone to refer to you as you refer to them. How does that work? For example, let's say you're a landscaper and you want to get more clients for your business. You think to yourself okay, who is it that is servicing my potential and perfect client prior to me providing service to that perfect and potential client?
Next, you ask who is providing service to my perfect and potential client after I provide service to my perfect and potential client? You find the people that service your perfect client before you do, before they need you. Then you find the people who service them after you do typically, and after they need you, so you form an easy alliance of referral marketing with each of those people.
For example, for a landscaper, who would that be? Typically, a landscaper is going to have a homeowner for a client, not an apartment owner.
How do we find out who the new home owners are? Who services the home owner today typically in today's real estate market before that person would need landscaping by purchasing a home? A lot of times it could be a realtor.
Could you arrange referral marketing strategic alliances with a couple of realtors where you refer business to each other? Perhaps one of your accounts as a landscaper you happen to know is thinking about selling their house and the reason you know that’s very simple; they stopped paying you landscaping. It's very simple.
You call Mr.
Realtor and you say Mr. Realtor, I have an opportunity to list this house. I know that they're thinking about selling it and in fact, they stopped even paying me for landscaping. They no longer want to keep up their property in such a way, I think they need to sell it, you should give them a call. Please, Mr. Realtor, do me a favor; the next time that you service a new client and you place them in a new home, feel free to let them know about Harry's Landscaping. It can be as simple as that.
What happens if you are a realtor for example and you have a two and 10 closing ratio? Let's say you do have a two and 10 closing ratio of people you meet with that want to list and sell their house with you. What happens to those other eight prospects that do have a house to sell and yet for whatever reason, whether it was a conflict of personality, whether they didn't like you, you had bad breath - whatever it is - they did not list their house with you to sell?
There are eight other clients there. Is there a possibility that you can form an alliance with another realtor who may also have a two and ten closing ratio and swap those clients via referral marketing? Are there some ethical considerations there? Probably. Is there a way to do it without occluding the entire structure of ethical considerations?
Absolutely!
It's sitting down with your client, actually calling another realtor while you're in their house after they've turned down your listing presentation. I hear some of you saying oh my God, that sounds crazy why would I do that? Why would I give business to my competitors?
The bottom line is your time is better spent with new prospects in that game a lot of times than it is following up with presentations you made with people you didn't connect with. Am I basing that on theory or hocus pocus? No, I'm basing that on the sold and solid facts of real estate marketing agents that I trained.
And they found, if they instituted this one simple little technique with one realtor, now they find that instead of closing two out of ten they're still closing two out of ten, but now they have eight more fresh prospects to deal with because they were referred to them by Betty, for example.
John closed two out of 10, Betty referred them eight more, they got 20% of that which is 1.6, there's really not a 0.6 of a person but you get the point, now their entire volume of business went up 80% and it didn't cost them a dime. Do the math. From two to 3.6 or from four to 7.2 or what have you.
Of course, the metrics will depend on your particular business and there is nothing to say you can't start an alliance with seven to ten realtors, instead of just one so keep that in mind, that's a huge issue.
Does this easy referral marketing strategic alliances strategy only work for realtors and lanscapers? Of course, not don't be ridiculous, that's just an example, but I hope that this article has given you some ideas of how you can use referral marketing in your own business or career.
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