Those new to having their own business or who are just getting started in real estate investing may only be immediately concerned with finding leads and getting deals closed for immediate income. However making a sale is actually just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to income from a lead.
Each and every seller and buyer you deal with are potential customers for life and incredibly powerful referral sources. Yes, you must be constantly generating new leads, but no matter how inexpensively you can do it referrals and repeat business will always be the most cost effective source of revenues your real estate investing business has. Once you create a system for following up with past clients you can even put it on autopilot and may be pleasantly surprised at the extra influx of new deals every month you were not even expecting.
Making the most of your leads should actually start even before you close by asking for referrals for your real estate investing business. If you don’t ask you can’t expect to receive. Surely every buyer you come into contact with knows someone who needs to sell their home or could benefit from buying a new one. Plus you will find it a lot easier to close the deal when you are referred to someone than dealing with cold leads. Then at the closing table you should ask for a list of at least 5-10 of their friends and family that may be in need of your services. You may even want to offer a referral fee of a few hundred dollars for anyone they send to you in the future that buys a home from your real estate investing business. Who couldn’t benefit from an extra $500 or even a $100 Home Depot gift card for simply passing on a name and number?
You can build on this even further with automated email marketing campaigns, direct mail and your social media to stay in front of your past customers to let them know how they can better prepare for life’s demands like paying for college, taking care of aging parents and retirement through getting involved in real estate investing themselves.
