Are you hearing from friends, coworkers and cousins of former clients? You can. Here is how.

In 1990, we sold a former business associate's home and helped him by a new one. Two months later his brother contacted us to sell his home, which we did, then sold him a new home also. Six months later, we heard from his parents who had a home in New York they wanted to sell. So, we referred them to a new York agent who sold their home, then we helped them to buy a new one in Orlando. In all our original contact has netted five referrals so far.

When we first started selling real estate together in 1990 we spent a fortune on sales trainers, books and tapes, all what aimed at teaching us how to get new business. However, what we eventually learned is that the best new business comes from the old business.

1. Do it right
The key of course is delivering excellent service. You need to give your clients and customers something to refer.

With your action s and your energy prove to sellers and to buyers that you care about selling their home or helping them buy a new home. If they know you are doing everything in your power to help them, you can bet they will tell their friends, relatives and neighbors.

We call sellers within, 48 hours after their home has been shown to give them feedback from. The prospective buyers. This also helps us get price reductions or home improvements if the listing doesn't sell quickly. Sellers generally give a great deal of weight to the opinions at prospective buyers and are more willing to make improvements if it appears they will sell the house faster.

We also send sellers a monthly update. It includes a list or who saw the home the date and what they had to say about it and copies of any advertising we did on the home. The update also includes a list of any phone calls we received or made on behalf of the property. This allows sellers to see exactly what we're doing to market their home.

2. Exceed Expectations
Recently we received a card from a man who barely spoke English. He told us that his mother wanted to move from her mortgage free house, but the IRS's lien on the property was being foreclosed because she owed $6,000 in back taxes on it. Two banks had rejected the son in his attempt to get a second mortgage on the home.

Many agents would have walked away from this listing but we decided to meet with them, because we really felt for this woman's predicament. The house was a shambles, but we saw some potential for future business. So, we helped the woman and her son qualify for a loan and they used it to pay the back taxes and complete some much-needed repairs. Within two weeks of finishing the repairs we had a contract on the house and it quickly closed. The attorney handling the fore-closure was so impressed by our serv-ice that he vowed to use us for all his business needs. And he has. We earned his business by exceeding the expecta-tions of the sellers with whom we were working. So far we've received at least three referrals from the sellers and the attorney

3. Continue from the Closing
Your relationship with buyers and sellers doesn't end when the transaction closes - it just enters a new phase. Remember: you're building relationships. We tell buyers and sellers up front that we're with them for the long haul. We make sure that they know they can call us anytime - even if they need directions to the nearest shopping mall. On moving day, we have pizza and sodas delivered to buyers with whom we've worked. It's a small thing that pays off with mountains of goodwill.

4. Stick to a Plan
When we decided to aim our marketing at past customers and clients we realized that we'd need a solid, consis-tent promotional plan to remind buy-ers and sellers that we're available and ready in serve them.

We came up with a system that includes weekly phone calls to sections of our area. twice monthly post cards and a monthly newsletter. Susan writes, edits and publishes the newsletter. We encourage homeowners in our area to advertise for free in the newsletter any services such as baby sitting or lawn maintenance. People view this newsletter, which includes "Who's Moving In or Out" section and market updates, as community service rather than a promotion.

Our two full time personal assis-tants help us keep up with the twice monthly mailings of 1,500 postcards and newsletters. We make the phone calls ourselves since we want to have personal contact. We try to spend at least one hour each day on the phone.

We also send different mailings to influential professionals who can help us gain referrals. David makes these business contacts and works with real estate attorneys accountants reloca-tion companies and human resource departments.

5. Be a Resource
Our goal is to convince buyers and sellers that there aren't any other real estate agent like the Cramers. We don't do this by cutting down other agents. Rather, we aim to deliver the best - and to keep on delivering.

We are neighborhood resource. Our clients and customers know that we can help them find baby sitters, the best area restaurants and even offer advice on home improvements. We also send out postcards advertising free market analysis or refinancing information. People call us all the time asking where they can get their furniture reupholstered or find lenders to handle their refinancing. They know we can help them. with almost anything in Southwest Orlando.

6. Build a Community Presence
You can get only so much mileage from mailings and phone calls. We further build our presence with personal involvement in our community. For example at Easter we hold an Easter egg coloring contest and present the winners with an Easter egg hunt in a community park. The Easter Bunny (our assistant) presents the prizes and poses for photos with the kids. At Christmas. we bring Santa Claus to our communi-ties so the kids can have pictures taken with him. We advertise these events in our newsletter and find that the holiday activities build a posi-tive rapport in our community. We also sponsor a "Yard of the Quarter" contest in our area and have a local land-scaper do the judging we place a sign with our name and logo in the winner's yard and award the homeowner a gift certificate to Home Depot.

Does all of this Pay oft? You bet! We once overheard a woman at one of our community functions telling a neighbor what a great job we did sell her home. The funny thing was that we were the listing agents of the property she bought - so we were representing the sellers and didn't even work with her that much. She was working with another broker to pur-chase the home but, we're the ones whose names she remembers while her "real" selling agent is long forgotten.

7. Don't Ask for the Referral
When we contact past customers or clients, we make it a policy never to ask for referrals. People don't want to be used. But they will be more than happy to volunteer a referral if you've developed a real relationship with them.

We call past buyers and sellers because we really care about how they're doing. We know that if we do our job, the referrals will naturally follow. So far, our method is working we do excellent job when we are working with clients and customers and then we work hard to make them aware that we're still working in their community

When this article was written in 1994 David and Susan Cramer were top realtors in their community but not even in the top 100 in Florida, now they are #8 for the entire RE/MAX. Quality service never goes out of style and pays big dividends. Contact: cramer@gate.net - RE/MAX Properties S.W., Orlando, Florida, phone 1-800-541-5666

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Wanda Loskot - Success Connection
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