Referrals, referrals, referrals. That’s where business is at.
I get much of my business from referrals, either from previous clients, or from attorneys, accountants, and Realtors.
Every time a new client is referred to me, I feel that someone has trusted me with something special, her word and her reputation.
The time this person took to refer a friend, family member or client to me indicates a level of trust you just can’t get by advertising any other way. I take each referral as a vote of confidence in my experience, talent, forthrightness, and product.
I refer my clients to other professionals, too.
A new client asked me recently, “How does an attorney get on your list?” I confess my reply was lengthier than I thought it would be. I ran down some experiences I’d had with different attorneys on my list; how I came to know them, the quality of their work, ethics and communication. I realized at the end of a rambling monologue the bottom line for me was the fact that I could put my personal reputation on the line and refer my client to these attorneys with complete confidence in their professional abilities.
Listen, if I want a bad reputation, I can do that myself, I don’t need help from anyone else! When I refer my client to any other person for any reason, I do so with the knowledge that my good name will remain intact. Indeed, very likely my reputation will be enhanced through such a referral experience. I love when a client calls me later and says, “Wow, thank you so much for referring me to that accountant/attorney/engineer, etc!” That client’s good experience reflects handsomely on my good name.
I decided to write this week’s article on this topic because of some recent experiences with clients referred to me.
In one case, the client and her daughter are purchasing their first home. They were approved for a mortgage through a mortgage broker. The loan they were approved for was a Sub-Prime loan. Unfortunately, the Sub-Prime bank that approved their loan fell victim to the recent disaster in the marketplace and went out of business. The mortgage broker could not find any other way to approve their loan.
This First Time Buyer was left not only without a loan approval, not only with her dream of homeownership about to be smashed to smithereens, but also with her contract deposit of $22,000 at jeopardy.
I found a way to approve her loan and we’ll be closing in about two weeks. The client had an attorney referred to her by the original mortgage broker. I called this attorney, left detailed messages, and never heard from him until almost a week later.
Now, in any real estate transaction, you hire an attorney to protect your interests, and, in this particular instance, your downpayment of $22,000. To my mind, any atorney who doesn’t respond to a message from a mortgage professional in the way of, “I’ve preapproved your client’s loan, she wont’ lose the house, please call me immediately,” with his client’s dreams and downpayment at stake is an attorney who doesn’t deserve the referrals he’s receiving. He doesn’t seem to really care about his client. Needless to say, that attorney will never be on my referral list.
(The client is now working with a brand new attorney from my list who spoke with the Seller’s attorney within minutes of the client retaining her, then updated me via email and telephone)
The second client recently referred to me is a young woman whose mother passed away recently with no will. This woman lives in the house with her children, but the deed and the mortgage are both in her mother’s name. Her first words to me were, “I’ve been getting a lot of advice and I don’t know who to trust. I just want to work with someone who will guide me correctly.”
I immediately referred this woman to an attorney whose practice includes estates. I also managed to get a preapproval for a mortgage for the client, even though her credit score is quite low.
These two situations inspired me to write about referrals because I feel that my referral “team” is one of the best any finance professional could have. At the best of times, it’s good to be referred to a competent professional for whatever service it is you need. And now, in these very uncertain real estate and mortgage “times” it is more important than ever to get the right referral to a team of professionals who work in the best of all ways: competently and with confidence their work mutually supports their own reputation and the good name of the source of the referral.
