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Recently, Bridget McCrea of the Illinois REALTOR® Magazine asked me some questions on how to build a superstar referral system. Below is our communication exchange, and I hope it helps you!

As some trends die, others are born. Short sales and REOs are in their last days, and we need some inventory! Builders have been hurt. They are being careful, and the banks are not backing them like the "old days." We are seeing the "stirrings" with small and medium-sized builders. The builders will need contact (call, letter, email, or personal visit) to remind them that you are their friend and colleague in this business. It is always easier to talk to with a potential client when you are delivering value. You feel better, and they listen better. The reason our clients are so successful is that they have the best value propositions to the best seller demographics. Builders are no different. Offer value that eliminates the competition and causes the builders to talk about you, their new agent, at the golf course, at business dinners, etc. Begin putting together your local, small and medium builder list. I would recommend starting with a letter explaining the value that your builder services offer and your promise of future contacts.

My coaching clients are beginning to find more success with their online listing leads. Whether the lead is coming from postcard-generated invites to complete forms on their site or third-party consolidator leads, the web leads are coming in. The problem with a lot of these leads is bad phone numbers but good email addresses. The question is – how do we engage them in a conversation that leads to an appointment?

Real estate agents are competitors, but affiliates can be team members. An affiliate is a service provider who affiliates with your business to earn a piece of the transaction. They can be lenders, home warranty providers, title representatives, inspectors, etc. For our purposes here, we're going to use lenders but really the same principles apply to all.

Last month, we covered the first five ways to increase your commission, and we’re wrapping up the year with the last five ways to increase your commission.

Recently, I received an inquiry John, an old friend and super-agent. Here is his question.

My coaching clients are always working not where the puck is, but where the puck is going just like the hockey greats. If you have been watching the premier home builder Toll Brothers, then you see a lot of new hires and new stock prices. Building will be coming back.

Maybe you don’t achieve success because you wrote that goal down incorrectly. With everyone telling you to set your goals and to write them down, too -- why don’t you get everything you want?

When I coach, we set up consistent, inexpensive lead generation activities for sellers. Some require a complete overhaul, and some require only small tweaks. Do you look for the small tweaks? You know, tweaks like those easy-to-include, natural moves taken within a mundane (but necessary) real estate activity. I have devised hundreds of these "tweaks" over the years. Proven and tested, each produces a new client when implemented. You have to be smart in this business while trying to get it done well - all within 50 hours a week. This is why efficiency is so important. Here are a few of the hundreds of small tweaks that don't add much to time or overhead but will produce big results...

When an interested buyer drove by a property then followed the directions for more information (easy-to-remember URL, QR code, text back system, or IVR system), I always made sure they had reasons beyond a great listing to contact me personally. The buyers are out looking at listings without their agent so maybe their real estate agent is inefficient! Why not attract them to the most professional representation in the area? I would provide a list of reasons for them to call me directly via an attachment to the listing flyer in the brochure box, on my website in the buyer’s section, and even on the fax/text/call back systems. This list worked like a charm!