There are some out there who would but you should know a little bit about the person you are going to be spending some time with before you decide to take your relationship to any other level. We don’t write relationship advice here so let me give you quick story of what I mean.

Meeting Agents on Facebook

I like facebook, great tool, it is fun, and has worlds of opportunity to generate referrals from past clients and other agents. You can find me on Facebook by looking for Joseph Bridges but I am not trying to climb to the top of facebook but I do like adding new people to my network that I can help as well as they can hopefully help me as well. That is the whole point of networking.

The issue is comes down to where agents are only out for themselves and never invest anything in the “relationship”. For example I was on facebook profile of the guy who does real estate agent blog sites for many of our clients (and he does a great job at it and we should be having a call with him shortly). I saw an agent that was affiliated at the same brokerage my brother and I run our team at and added her as a friend and also asked if she was going to be at the upcoming company wide convention (which I happen to be speaking at).

The response of the agent was “I won’t be attending [EVENT] this year! :o( But if you know anyone relocating to the [MY] area, please let me know I pay a 30% referral fee!

I only removed the agents area and event name because my goal isn’t to be cruel but to make a point that this agent barely knows me (only a slight introduction) and is already asking for something. I am not expecting much but maybe the agent could have taken a more subtle approach and built a little repoir first before asking for a referral. After all you don’t propose to someone on the first date so why start asking for something right away especially in social networking where you have to put forth some “work” first.

Build a “Relationship” First

I am not saying you have to be best friends with a real estate agent all the way across the country prior to asking for a referral. What I am saying is that you need to build a relationship with them so they truly do think of you and actively work to send people your way when they are speaking with the clients.

Try the following actions first:

  1. Send them a link to your website and tell the success you are having with a certain feature (and not one that you make money for sending them to).
  2. Share with them a recent success story or testimonial that you had and relate it to them and how it might help their business. For example maybe you used Craigslist, Adwords, or blogging to gain a new client. Let them know about it.
  3. Let them know about a course you just tool that helped you and that might help them.
  4. Share your pain and ask for suggestions on how to fix it. I am not talking about personal issues but your business ones.
  5. Let them know when you might be in the area and ask to say hi in person.

There are many others and I look forward to hearing the successes of others and how they work for you. Just remember if you give first it is much easier to receive!

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