When the housing market turns sluggish and projects dry up, it can feel like an endless race just to maintain the status quo. As a builder, keeping your sales pipeline full during choppy economic waters requires steadfast effort—and more than a little creativity.

In this series, we’ll show you some Guerrilla Marketing tips that will help you ATTRACT, CAPTURE, CONVERT, and SELL more new home leads in a challenging market. This week, we’re diving into an often-overlooked strategy that can significantly impact your bottom line with minimal effort—leveraging your enthusiastic clients to gain quality referrals.

Referrals are the lifeblood that keeps any business pumping, but setting up a structured process to maximize this golden source of leads takes finesse.

Watch/Listen/Read on to learn how getting referral-happy can make all the difference when times get tough.

Builder Lead Converter ATTRACTS, CAPTURES & CONVERTS high-quality leads for builders so they can pick & choose their clients & jobs. Find out how at https://www.builderleadconverter.com

 

Transcript:

Rick: Today on Conversations That Convert, we will be talking about how to keep your pipeline full in a tough market. And today we’re going to talk about how to put your referral partners To work, to bring in more business. Let’s get started. 

Welcome to conversations that convert every week. We’ll spend about 10 to 15 minutes tackling relevant lead generation, marketing, and sales topics for remodelers, home improvement companies, and home builders. Conversations that Convert is brought to you by Builder Lead Converter, your perfect sales assistant. And now here’s Rick and Daiana.  

Rick: Welcome to conversations that convert everyone. How are you today, Daiana?  

Daiana: Welcome, everybody. Thanks. I’m very well. Thank you. And you? 

Rick: I’m doing very well. Thank you. You know, it’s that time of the year. I’m getting a little bit of a sniffle as well. And how about you? How are you faring with the weather?

Daiana: Yes, same here. It’s rainy and foggy, and it’s getting colder and colder. 

Rick: It’s time to go on vacation, right? 

Daiana: Yes, it is. That’s true. 

Rick: But before we do that, we do have a new show for everyone. What are we talking about today? Today? 

Daiana: How builders can keep their sales pipeline full in a tough market. 

Rick: That’s absolutely right. This is a series called Gorilla Marketing for Builders, and it’s all based on the number one marketing challenge, as reported by the Association of Professional Builders State of the Residential Construction Industry survey. This is an annual survey. They do this for 1000-plus builders across the world. And of course, number one marketing challenges high-quality leads and just a little peek at what’s coming up.

I just saw the survey results for the 2024 survey. Guess what? Is still the number one marketing challenge for builders. It is high-quality leads really hasn’t changed. So we’re going into our second year. And this is a topic that continues to be top of mind and we’re going to continue to focus on it. 

So, today, this is part three of this series, and we titled this, “Put Your Referral Partners to Work”. Now, Diana, one thing that seems to be consistent across the board is that when I talk to a builder who is lacking high-quality leads, they start asking me questions about advertising, redoing their website, and things like that.

And my first go-to place is saying, look, why not go and talk to the people that already trust you and have done business with you and try to get some referral or repeat business from them? What do you think about that?  

Daiana: Yes, that’s the easiest way, and sometimes it’s the hardest way because we don’t do it. 

Rick: You don’t do it right and I think a lot of times it’s like I don’t know how to do it You know Is it people feel weird about asking people to you know Say nice things about their company or to ask them to for business or referral for more business.

So that’s what we’ll talk about today. It’s sort of the how to how to put your referral partners to work for you. And just so everyone understands. I think everyone understands this, but it doesn’t matter if you’re selling 25,000 bathrooms or, you know, 5 million dollars in custom homes. The number one source for high-quality leads is a referral lead. Everyone understands that. And the reason the course is because that person that you’ve already done business with, trusts you.

And when they refer you to another person that you have not done business with, they transfer that trust to that person because that person already has a relationship. So it’s the referrer has a relationship with the referral. That trust is transferred to them. So by the time they get to you, you have a very, very high probability of converting them into a sale. 

And that’s why referral leads are always the number one source for not only high-quality leads but conversions going from that lead into a buyer. Any thoughts there, Daiana?

Daiana: Yeah, it makes sense because they know you and they trust the one who refers, so they said, Oh. It should be a quality and I will just move forward. 

Rick: But yeah, it’s a little bit like, well, you were the guinea pig and it worked out for you. So the test is complete. So now I’m safe. So yeah, I’ll go ahead and I’ll call so and so as well. Interestingly enough, and this is a little side note is even when they’re referred to you, oftentimes they might get two or three different referrals. They’re still going to go to your website. They’re still going to check you out there. They’re still trying to eliminate you. 

So keep that in mind. It’s not a slam dunk. You and one of the mistakes I see a lot of builders make is that they when a referral leads, they will change their sales process. And that is a huge mistake. Even though it’s a referral lead and you look at it from a, you know, a trusted source, i. e. one of your past clients, do not change your sales process and understand they’re still going to your website.

So, they might come in through your website still but understand that they were referred. So you always ask people,  do you happen to talk to anyone that’s done business with us? How did you happen to find this? That sort of thing. All right. So number one source for high-quality leads. Now there’s two ways that a referral lead can help you.

Number one, they can help you indirectly. And so somebody that’s done business with you, they can leave a review. They can give you a testimonial. So that’s indirect help to build confidence with somebody else who does not know you. They can also help you directly. And of course, that direct help is I am going to send you somebody who is also interested in building a custom home or remodeling their home.

Or I am ready for a second project. So remodeler is obvious if you’re in business long enough. You’re going to start getting repeat business and it’s typically every five to seven years. Somebody’s ready to do another project sometimes.  So there’s indirect and direct help. Now, I think the question we have to answer here is how do you make yourself relevant to your referral partners?

And this goes back to what Daiana mentioned is, how do I do this? Why don’t more builders have a consistent referral partner program, and it’s because you really don’t know how to do it. So, you really don’t know how to make yourself relevant. So, oftentimes we just get busy in the day-to-day and we don’t take time to work on our referral program. We just hope, keep our fingers crossed that somebody will send a lead our way. Let’s talk about how to make yourself relevant.

So, Daiana  What’s that? What’s your favorite radio station? What’s it called again?  

Daina: Well, what’s in it for me? 

Rick: W I I F M. That’s right. So we talked about that on the front end of leads. When they get to your website, you have to give them a W I I F M, but also on the back end, somebody that you’ve done business with, if you’re going to ask them for something, you have to make sure that they feel it’s relevant.

So, what’s in it for me? So, to make yourself relevant, the first thing I like to do is I like to give a sincere compliment to the client. Say you were such a great client to work with. We really appreciate the partnership and the business. Can I ask you a question? You know,  what did you think of the service we provided you? You know, and if they come back and say, Hey, you guys were great. You did a wonderful job. You know, yeah, there were some bumps in the road, but you fixed them up. We’re really happy with the end product. 

Okay, so I’ve asked them for their opinion. Everyone loves it. It’s about an opinion. Everyone has an opinion, right? So now what we’re going to ask them for is, Hey, can you share your opinion with other people that are considering my company? And most of the time people are more than happy to do it. So we want to then move. This is what we’re gonna ask for first. Number one, can I get a video testimonial?

You want to get a testimonial of them telling that future client of yours. How great you were to work with. Now, why is video so powerful? Because video is the only online medium that expresses all three forms of communication. Yeah, yes, when we talk, when we speak, when we communicate, there’s three things going on.

Number one is the spoken word or the written word.  Number two is my tone of voice. And number three is my body language. So, the video captures all three. And it’s the most powerful medium that you can put on your website to show that, hey, you are a trusted builder to work with. Any thoughts, Daiana? 

Daiana: Yeah, I think that that’s interesting to keep in mind those three things, because when you write some testimonials, you only read, and then you have everything, so you can capture the emotion, what’s behind, and you can, that’s impressive. So, keep in mind those three things. 

Rick: Absolutely, yeah, and you’re going to want to hire a local videographer to go into your client’s home to ask them a few questions and then also get some shots of their project. So, whether it’s a remodeling project or if it’s a custom home, get some shots in there. And you can take and put still photos in there as well if it doesn’t work out. But don’t try to do this yourself. Just hire someone to do it. It’s a lot easier, and they’ll also be able to help your client with the camera.

Now, if you have someone that’s really tech savvy, they might record the video for you and just send it to you, which is even better. You still should probably edit it, and put a music background to it, there’s some formatting things to do. But definitely go for the video first. 

Okay. Number two is to get an online review. Google my business. Houzz, Facebook, and the best online reviews will come with an image. So when somebody posts to Google my business, you can also attach an image to it. So, have them take a picture of one part of their project, and post it there. Same thing when it goes on your website. So, there’s website widgets that you can pull your reviews off of Google My Business off of Facebook. I think Houzz has something similar as well. And so you can show them. Here’s the client, here’s the name, and here’s the picture of the project. That is the second-best type of review. 

And then the third would be a written testimonial a written testimonial without a picture. That’s the third best, it’s also the least effective because, you know, right away a prospective client looks at that and goes, well did you make that up, you know, who’s that Daiana person, is she real, did she really say that? Any thoughts on that, Daiana? 

Daiana: Yeah, that’s interesting to just have those, that list, I think it’s very powerful to just have it on your desk and just check all those things to make sure and make it a habit. I think that makes the makes I don’t know. The thing here is the secret. Just do it all the time, right?

Rick: That’s right. Yep. And, and we will talk about that here in a little bit, about consistency. So, I guess the takeaway here is when you’re asking for a referral start. Don’t ask first for them to give you something, ask for their, it’s in the form of a referral, but first, ask for their opinion. How did we do?

I really value your opinion. Where could we improve that sort of thing? And then when they say nice things about you, just ask them, would you be willing to share that with one of our future clients? So, that’s how you start the process here. 

Now, once you get the review, now you want to introduce what’s called a rewards program. So, a reward program is simply It’s where you are going to reward them by sending somebody your way with something, some sort of monetary prize if you will. So, this could be simply cash. It’s like, hey, Diana, if you send somebody my way and they buy from us, I will give you 500 cash. I’ll also give them 500 that they can use towards their project. It’s a win-win.

So, again, I’m incentivizing them to keep you top of minds. Now, you can also do it with some sort of gift. So, it could be you’re going to give them a nice gift certificate for a local restaurant. It could be that you’re going to send them to AB&B. Weekend AB&B, you know, some sort of nice depending on the size of your projects, but incentivize them.

So, now I have a rewards program. So, now when you’re going to ask for something, you’re first saying, Hey, look, if you give this to me, that would be a referral. I am going to reward you for that and remodelers and homebuilders you know, you might be thinking, well, what do my local laws offer me to do?

Most states, and you want to verify this, but most states as long as you are not giving the reward from a real estate licensing standpoint, but you’re doing it from a builder’s perspective. So, if you have to be licensed as a builder in your state, such as a remodeler or a homebuilder. As long as you’re giving it from the homebuilder’s perspective, I have found very few states that have any sort of law against this.

So, that’s what you want to do. If you’re, if you also have a real estate brokerage or you happen to be a licensed real estate agent. You have to be very careful about this because there are laws against that they call the kickback and you you cannot do that. So, it should always come from the builder’s side of things.

Now, you mentioned it already, Daiana? Consistency is key. That’s right. Consistency is key. So this is not something that you do when times get bad. This is something that you would do on a weekly basis. And because it takes time. You want to sit and you have to stay top of mind with this. So, how many times do you have to touch somebody to get so that they know that, hey, you have a rewards program? That you also want to get their feedback and get reviews. It’s probably like seven times. 

So, you have to do a lot of touch points here. So, with consistency, I would recommend you start with your work in process. So, anybody that you’re actually building for and what, how you start there is look at project milestones.

So, you could do something when the sales contract is signed. You could do something when a design is completed. You could do something during construction, such as when the demolition is done from remodeling or maybe at the end of framing. If you’re a home builder again, do something again when usually about a month after completion. I do hesitate to do a review, ask for a review right at completion because people are usually very stressed out and oftentimes they’re a little bit crabby and, you know, there’s, it’s not, it’s just not a good time to ask him. 

So, it’s better to go back and ask him about a month after it’s done when things have settled down, punch lists are done and, you know, you’re there more or less haven’t been able to enjoy the project for about 30 days. 

Closed projects are the next one. So your clients that are closed, they’re maybe in or out of warranty quarterly, I like to ask them quarterly. So, what it means, is that every single week you should have a list of people in front of you that you are reaching out to systematically. Now in here’s how you reach out to them.

Number one, start with a phone call followed up by a text message, and an email. That is the most effective way of doing it. They need to hear from you first, because guess what, even if you’re leaving a voicemail, they hear your tone of voice, you can talk about, how you value their opinion and then let them know that you’ll be sending them a link via a text or SMS message and an email where they can share their opinion online. 

So, that’s the process to follow. And you may have to follow up a couple of times after that. Everyone’s busy, and you’re not top of mind. But continue to do that. So you should have a list of people you’re talking to week in and week out. And just continue to go through your list.

Construction is a little bit different because you’re going to time that ask during that project milestone. But afterward, it’s quarterly. The most important thing I want to end with here. Email alone does not work if you’re just going to send an email and ask it, you’re going to get very little results. You have to add the phone voicemail and or conversation along with the SMS. Daina, final thoughts from you. 

Daiana: Yeah. So use all those techniques and all at once.

Rick: Make it all at once. Absolutely. So, if you would like help on setting up your own referral program, go ahead and schedule your strategy call today, click that link right below and we can show you how we attract, capture, and convert high-quality leads so you too can pick your clients and jobs.

So, from our brothers and sisters in Christ, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit saints be with you all always. We’ll see you next time on Conversations That Convert.