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Five referrals in one week. Two listing appointments from automated emails. Closings happening while I’m focused on strategy instead of scrambling for my next deal.

Sounds like a fantasy? It’s NOT. It’s what happens when you stop chasing new leads and start building the referral systems your business desperately needs.

Let me break down the exact system I use to get 50+ agent referrals per year. While other agents are door knocking, cold calling, and dancing on Instagram, I built a system that brings me ready-to-go clients who are already motivated to buy or sell.

Here’s what I want you to understand: some of the best deals I’ve ever had – and easiest for that matter – came from agents who referred me business. I liked referral business as a new agent because most of the time those people came to me ready to go. When they came to me ready to buy, ready to sell, because they had something going on with another agent, those became my easiest to close transactions.

I decided to create a system around that. If you know anything about me, the CEO of Real Estate, it’s all about systems.

Step 1: Identify Your Referral Zones

This is where the planning comes in. This is where the strategy comes in. This is where I need you to really get into your thinking bag.

Start by thinking about where people are moving from into your market. If you’re with KW, you can go to Command and track referral patterns, but you can also use Google. You could even use tools like ChatGPT and ask: “In 2024, according to the US Census, when people moved to Tampa, where did they move from?”

You’ll find that a lot of people move from places like New York, LA, Chicago. Those are some of the big cities, but you want to look at stuff like relocation trends, military hubs, big city exits.

Here’s the other thing: what corporations are coming to your area? And where are their headquarters? For example, when Amazon moved to Tampa, we saw a big influx of people moving here because people that were in cold hubs where Amazon operated were relocated to Tampa. So we set up referral relationships with agents in those areas.

I suggest creating a list of five, no more than 10 cities, and then look up agents in those markets. When you look up agents in those markets, you want to start to build relationships with them.

Let me be very clear: when I talk about building a referral system, I’m not talking about doing this absent of relationships. All of this is predicated on the fact that you are good at relationship building, because **real estate is nothing more than relationships and conversations.**

Step 2: Personally Reach Out to These Agents

I do not like getting emails from people that I’ve never spoken to before. I prefer to have that first initial contact with any new person that I’m trying to be in relationship with to be by phone.

Here’s the thing – it’s just an introduction. You’re not asking them to join your referral network. I would never use those words. I’m calling and introducing myself and saying, “Hey, I service the Tampa Bay area. If you ever have clients that need anything in this area, I’d love to be of service to you. However, I’d also like to know more about the areas that you service and how I could be of service to you.”

One of the things that I did in my referral database is I tracked the city they were calling from, and then I noted who gave me referrals. Because if I had a referral from New Jersey, when I get a referral opportunity in New Jersey, the first person I’m reaching out to is the person that referred me first because I want to do mutually beneficial business.

When I connect with agents, I am connecting with one angle in mind: to add value. The referral that I’m trying to facilitate for later is future use, future benefits. But initially my goal is to add value. So I’ll call them and say, “This is what I’m doing that’s working. This is what I’m doing that’s not working.”

Believe it or not, this agent referral program is what led to my coaching program, because I started emailing agents adding value to them and the next thing you know, they were hiring me to do the backend stuff, to do their systemization, to help with automation.

Step 3: Build an Agent Database

Please understand that does not mean doing a whole other database. It does not mean building a separate database. You can use tags to have a database within a database.

In my database, I have a tag that says “agent database.” When I pull up everybody on that tag, it lets me email all those people, text all those people. But be very clear that the goal for the agent database is so that I have their name, their phone number, their contact information, their specialty, and then I can keep notes when I talk to them.

The purpose of that is it’s not guesswork. That’s what makes it systematized. That’s why you can scale it.

Everybody goes on a birthday plan so that every year on their birthday, they’re gonna get a call from me. Everybody goes on a quarterly call plan so that I actually pick up the phone every quarter. Even if we’re not doing any business: “Hey, this is Cheesette, just checking in, want to make sure you’re okay.”

Now I will be honest – this is what I’m saying about the evolution of your systems. My systems have evolved to a point where instead of calling every 90 days, I might just send them a voice note or a message on Instagram, but I’m checking in for connection every 90 days. Why? Because that’s the basis of building the relationship.

Step 4: Automate the Follow-Up

This is where the magic happens. We all know this: the fortune is in the follow-up. It don’t matter how you connect with people. If you’re not following up with them, you can go ahead and forget about it.

So you want to make sure that you have a follow-up system mapped out. I just told you some of the touch points of mine. Everybody gets a quarterly call. Everybody gets a birthday call. Everybody gets something from me once a month, whether it’s a newsletter, whether it’s an email shout out, it could be a TikTok, but I count down touches.

When I add somebody to this database, they automatically get an email back saying you’ve been added to my database. Thanks. I’m looking forward to working with you. So it’s automated. That stuff happens without me having to touch it.

You want to use tools like MailChimp, Flodesk. You don’t need anything fancy. You just need to be consistent. I think a lot of people think their emails gotta be pretty. No, they just need to be consistent.

In a year, I might want to touch agents 20 times. So if I’m doing a quarterly call, that’s four. If I’m doing a monthly newsletter, that’s 12 plus four, that’s 16. Then I only have four other times where I need to touch them. I could send a quarterly email about what the market is doing and how I can service them in their referrals in the Tampa area. And I can automate all that.

Step 5: Post Like a Local Expert

Don’t be afraid to send emails – part of your touches could be to send emails and ask them to follow you on socials. One of the first things that I do is follow people on socials.

I’m posting stuff about Tampa Bay. I used to post about what the local market is doing, little known facts about Tampa. Like, a lot of people don’t know that Tampa Bay is the lightning capital of the United States. And where the Tampa Bay Lightning got their name from is because lightning struck more in Tampa historically than any other US city.

People also don’t know Tampa’s in Florida, but it’s never been above 100 degrees in Tampa. I had these Tampa facts. Why? Because I want people to associate Cheesette with Tampa.

I’m following them. I’m engaging with them. I am posting that so they know that I am the Tampa person that they can go to, but also letting them know I specialize in relocation. You got to show up like somebody that people can trust their clients with.

I did one sample reel about the job market in Tampa Bay, that is very granular and it just shows, “Hey, this girl knows her Tampa stuff. So if I’m referring a client in Tampa, hey, I want to give it to her.”

Step 6: Stay Connected – Don’t Miss Touch Points

Every 90 days, you should be having a conversation with them. And again, it doesn’t have to be you pick up the phone. It could be a voice text. It could be you leaving a message in their inbox, but you want to make sure that you’re not just asking for business, but staying human with them – a DM, a voice note, a quick hello.

I’ve had agents send me referrals just because I’ve consistently called and checked on them. It’s not anything more than persistence and presence.

I’ve had agents that I call and I’m like, “Hey, what’s going on?” They’re like, “It’s not good this week. This is what’s going on with my family” and I prayed with them and they’re like, “I appreciate you.” That’s the relationship part. That’s not me trying to pray with you so I can get your business. That’s not my heart.

My heart is we’re agents trying to grow together. If an agent that I know is going through a struggle, I want to be present. I want to have the opportunity to pray for them and be there for them.

Step 7: Make It Easier for People to Refer You

I have a link on my link tree that says “refer a client to me.” It is so easy that if you don’t have time to do the referral, if you click that you can’t do the referral, I will do it for you. I will sign it and send it to you. Why? Because I just wanna take the guesswork out of that thing. I want you to be able to refer to me with no problem.

When somebody says, “I have a referral for you,” I just drop the link. And here’s the thing: once they use the link and they say, “Hey, I didn’t have time to do the referrals,” you know how much time I saved them? And they’re going to remember that. When I referred to Cheesette, she said I don’t even have to do the referral form because she takes care of it.

Why This System Works Better Than Cold Calling

What I want you to understand is this is not cold calling. This is warm calling. This is systematizing. This is building relationships and using automation to your advantage.

Short term strategies are great, but long term strategies like this really work long term and help you build a business that lasts. This is the system I’ve used to generate 50+ referrals consistently every single year.

When the market was hot, everybody was closing deals not because they were skilled at business, but because it was just easy to convert leads. Now that things have slowed down? It’s exposing gaps in our businesses. But when you have systems like this in place, you don’t have to worry about market fluctuations because your business keeps working even when you’re not actively prospecting.

If you want to learn more about building systems that work for your real estate business, check out my Blueprint Program where I teach you how to build the backend systems your business needs to thrive in any market.