Maybe the best referral story Fred McElroy has happened at Sell-a-bration.
McElroy, CRS with Dickson Realty in Reno, Nevada, was sitting at a table in Orlando with other CRSs and talking casually about his granddaughter playing volleyball. He made an immediate connection with Jen Ward, a CRS with Cummings & Co. Realtors, sitting across the table, whose best friend’s daughter also played volleyball.
That’s nice, McElroy thought, but Ward is from Maryland and his granddaughter is from California, so that’s where he thought the connection would stop.
Turns out, however, that his granddaughter and Ward’s friend’s daughter were teammates and knew each other well.
The coincidence turned into a referral connection that is helping both of them close deals right now. While this is a a pretty lucky coincidence and a rare example, connections are something McElroy does well–his sphere of influence is about 600 people deep–and it starts with being involved with CRS.
1. Get involved
Because CRS is, in part, a giant referral network, McElroy suggests getting started there because the networking is designed to boost referrals.
“It’s critical to go to those meetings and have people know who you are,” he says. “When you go, you’ve got to create some kind of relationship with them by working on a focus group or task group or something on CRS or get involved in leadership. That really is important and then it’s important to have some personal connection.”
Listening is key, he says.
“If you listen to people talk long enough you will have a connection somehow,” he says. “It shouldn’t be business related it should be personal.”
2. Offer genuine help
Your willingness to be genuinely helpful creates connections. Put yourself aside and offer something genuinely valuable.
Take Morris Lyles, CRS at ERA Wilder Realty in Columbia, South Carolina:
“I was driving down a street in Columbia and helped an elderly lady who had fallen by her mailbox. I helped her in her house, and she had bumped her head and was bleeding. We got that situated, and a summer thunderstorm came up and I waited through it to make sure she was OK and then left,” he says. “About two months later she called me to list the home and help her sell it. Came to find out that she had worked for one of the largest real estate developers in Columbia and still run into referral sources that knew her when she worked with them. Still, 15 years later, I come across referrals from that one good deed.”
McElroy says he now often networks by being the wingman. By introducing two people you know or even making a cold introduction for a friend, you can deepen the connection with the person you already know and meet new people yourself. He recently introduced a woman in waste management and a young business owner by asking her about single-stream recycling and cracking a joke. It worked and they made a connection, and so did he.
“Everyone needs a REALTOR,” McElroy says.
3. Connect where you feel comfortable
The old business stereotype of connecting on the golf green isn’t one that works for McElroy.
“I don’t play golf, so I’m not going to go out there and shoot in the 90s and impress anybody,” he says. “Work within the social environment you’re comfortable. Be good at what you do.”
So instead he invites connections onto his invite them onto his boat, where he’s good at making everyone feel comfortable. They also get a hat and join his crew–he takes a pictures and creates an album of the crew every year, which he says people get a kick out of and it creates a way to reinforce that connection after the experience is over.
