There is a new type of referral client, at least for those of us who generate a lot of traffic on our web sites.

I'll use my situation as an example.

From my web site, http://ChrisNewell.com, I receive an average of two requests a week for information from people who are outside the country, and another three from people within Ontario, but outside my market area. Same sort of numbers from various of my other sites. These people are all treated in the same manner; within 24 hours they receive an email that tells them the following:

• Thanks for contacting us.
• The information you requested is in the mail
• As you are outside our service area, we have passed your contact information on to a Realtor in your area.
• The Realtor in your area will be in touch with you in the next day or two.

At this point in time, I locate an agent in their area, and send that agent an email telling them I have a potential referral who has requested information, and ask if they would be interested in helping this person.

When I hear back from that agent, I send them, by email, a copy of the information the person has requested. In a separate email, I send the information request form that the person completed, so they have all the information on hand.

In my contact manager, I have a plan that sends the referral form out after a few days. I chose to not have the form go out immediately for two reasons; the lead may not turn out to be worth the agent expending time on once they've made the initial contact. My other reason is that I tend to put faith in people and that they will honor a referral if they don't get the referral form the first day.

I've recently become aware of the role of the referral coordinator, and now that thinking will definitely be a part of my process from now on, and the referral form will go out on Day 1.

In 85% of the cases where I send out these referrals, I get an email back from the client, thanking me for having someone local contact them. I have never had an email saying "Don't have someone contact me!".

So, there is a new type of referral in the marketplace. It is the internet-empowered consumer. Not the one who wants anonymity, as they fill in a lot of information in the forms on my sites. This is the consumer who has somehow stumbled across one of my sites, and has asked for information. In many of the forms on my sites, they are told that if they are outside my area, I will be passing their information on to a Realtor in their area.

Am I to phone these people, and determine their level of qualification? I can't possibly do that, because I can only give information that is relevant in my marketplace, and I would just be making things more difficult for the agent to whom this person is going to be referred. that's why I believe some minimum requirements for expecting a referral fee should not apply in the case of out-of-your-area internet generated referrals.

On to the question of the quality of these referrals. Many agents will give all kinds of information to people, and consider that person a 'lead' or a 'client', and yet they have far less commitment with the person than they will have with someone who has taken the time to fill in one of these forms, and knows that they will be contacted by a local agent. My web sites, through the depth of information they contain, create a certain amount of respect and trust of me in the minds of the consumer; by association, the agent who contacts them is carrying some of that respect and trust.

So, how do I find these agents? I first check the referral networks that I belong to, and see if there is anyone in the area. My next step is to post a message on RealTalk, mentioning a referral in such and such area, for such and such needs. I then visit their web site, and get a feel for the person. I will often receive recommendations from other people on a listserve that I use called RealTalk, telling me of agents they have dealt with in the area I'm looking for an agent in.

Is it a perfect system? No. Is there a better way to do it? Possibly. Does this method work for me? Yes. Does it work for the person being referred? Yes, if I've done my job in choosing the agent to refer them to. Have I ever received a complaint from one of these out-of-area people? No.

Do you have any suggestions or methods of handling Internet referals? Click Here to Respond

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Published: January 21, 2000

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