Mastering Real Estate Referrals

Mastering Real Estate Referrals: Strategies for Guaranteed Success

 

Nazar Kalayji [00:00:00]:

Welcome to another week, another masterclass. We are excited to be able to have Mike Babakhanyan today from Glendale, California. And he is, I would say, a phenomenal agent that specializes in working his database, something that I suck in and that he’s phenomenal in. So I’m excited about learning from him, and hopefully all of us can implement those that are a part of my team can learn from him because you most certainly don’t get this type of training from me directly.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:00:30]:

That’s funny.

Nazar Kalayji [00:00:31]:

I do believe in the saying that there’s gold in our database or however that saying goes, and so he’s really got that dialed in, and so I’m excited about learning from him. So without further ado, mike, take it away.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:00:48]:

Thank you.

Nazar Kalayji [00:00:49]:

Before you begin, I think it’d be really cool for you to be able to acknowledge what percentage of your business has been your sphere and your past clients. And then maybe if you were to quantify that by saying, hey, in the last however many years you’ve been doing this, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars have you made just from your sphere? Even if it’s just like a rough number, that’d be kind of cool to share.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:01:10]:

Okay, well, my business partner Martin, and I would say last year, 83% of our business was from our database, and we started a very specific system. Maybe ten years ago, we were averaging about 35% referrals from our database. Now we’re at 83%, and we’ve generated literally over a couple of million dollars throughout this decade in referrals from our database. So our average commission is 2020 $5,000. So you could do the numbers there. But let’s talk about referrals, and I’m going to share a lot of information that I’ve learned throughout the years with my coaches. And you probably do have a level of resistance when it comes to asking for referrals in a predictable and consistent manner. Okay.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:01:56]:

I did a self assessment with my coach maybe nine years ago, and he asked me five questions. I’m going to ask you guys the same questions. Number one, have you forgotten to ask for referrals? Yes or no? I’m sure it’s a yes. Number two, do you feel uncomfortable when you ask for a referral? Number three, do you feel by asking for a referral it’s a sign of weakness and you sound desperate? Most agents feel that way. And number four, do you feel asking for a referral is unprofessional? And number five, do you feel do you even deserve a referral? Okay, so if you answered yes to at least four of those questions, my coach will say you have what’s called a referral resistance. And the reason why you have a referral resistance is it’s very simple. It’s really your mindset about asking for referrals. Okay.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:02:52]:

We have a lot of great scripts from Mike Ferry, tom Ferry, and other great coaches, and I see this mistake a lot. I’ve made it. My team members have made it where we memorize these scripts and we try to use it on clients, and then when it doesn’t work, we get discouraged. The reason why it doesn’t work is because we don’t have the proper mindset around asking the client for a referral. The clients always will sense it from your tonality and your body language. They’ll get a feeling of it, right? So we need to rise from that fear of asking for referrals. And if you think about it, I’ve been taught that the reason why we refer products, businesses to one another is simple. It makes us feel good.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:03:38]:

I’ll give you an example. If you go to a restaurant, you love the food, it’s delicious. The experience was wonderful. You can’t wait to share that experience with your friends and your family members because you want them to go to that same restaurant so they could experience it, right? Why? Because it makes you feel good. So this entire script I’m going to be sharing with you, these dialogues. You have to come from a place that how does it make my clients feel? Does it make them feel good? Okay? Now, if you want to write them down, great. You don’t have to, because I will email Christina all my notes. Most agents make the mistake of asking for a referral after the transaction closes.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:04:21]:

If they’re even following up with the database, they may ask for a referral at that time if they’re lucky, right? However, we’ve been taught that if you want to increase the referrals from your database, it literally starts the day you meet the client. Okay? And here’s what I mean. You’re not going to be direct and say, hey, give me business, give me business. It’s not the way you approach them. It’s all about planting seeds in their subconscious mind. Every time you’re in a conversation with a client, you want to, in a very subtle way, plant a seed in their subconscious mind. So when the time comes, when they hear about real estate, they could think of you. That’s the objective here, okay? As an example, after I do a buyer consultation or a listing appointment, very subtly, at the end, I’ll let the client know the following hey, Nazar, my purpose is for you to be so happy with the help I give you that you’re gladly introducing to people you care about.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:05:20]:

Very subtle. I’m not saying give me a referral. My purpose is for you to be happy with the level of help I give you that you’ll gladly introduce me to the people you care about.

Nazar Kalayji [00:05:29]:

Just stop right there. Who does that? Raise your hand. Who does that in just their first beginning conversation that they have?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:05:39]:

No one does. Nobody does. So here’s the thing, guys. You have to change the word service to help, okay? This was taught to me by Bill Pipes, okay? When we say service, I want to be a service to you. It’s a cliche. Change it to the word help. Because when someone says, I need your help, or Would you help me? Subconsciously, you’re like, what could I do? I want to be of service. I want to help you.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:06:06]:

Right? So take out the word service from your dialogue. So in that example I gave you, I’m telling the client, hey, my purpose is for you to be happy with the level of help I give you that you’ll gladly introduce me to the people you care about. Or another version of that would be the purpose of my business is to bring you enough value that it makes you feel comfortable introducing me to the people you care about. Now, the embedded command is feel comfortable. So I’m pausing. Okay, so the purpose of my business, Nazar, is to bring you enough value that you feel comfortable introducing me to the people you care about. I’ll see you next time. Hang up the phone or walk away.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:06:45]:

See, I just planted the seed in your mind. Okay, now, we’ve been taught to say, who do you know that wants to buy a home? Who do you know that wants to sell home? Right? It’s the Mike Ferry script we’re all used to I learned this from a gentleman named Joe Stump. I learned a lot of this NLP from Joe Stump. And he says, add the word next into the sentence so it will sound like this. Hey, Nazar, who’s the next person you know that’s most likely to buy or sell home that I could help right now? So when you say the word who, do you know? It’s a reflex. No, I don’t know nobody. But when you say, hey, Nazar, who’s the next person that’s most likely to buy or sell that I could help, they’ll think, hmm, who is the next person I know? Now, if you want to make it a little better, you can, nazar, I’m curious. Who’s the next person that’s looking to buy or sell that I could help? Or I’m just wondering who’s the next person you guys follow? Okay, now, every transaction is a different scenario.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:07:49]:

Someone wants to buy their first home. Someone wants to downsize. Someone wants to sell and buy at the same time. Why don’t we use that opportunity to plant the seed in their mind? Okay? And here’s a script you could use. Hey, Nazar, who’s the next person that most likely wants to do what you just did? You guys are renting, and we were able to help you buy your first condo in a payment that you feel very comfortable. So I’m just curious, who comes to my next do you see how all that is versus me saying, hey, Nazar, who do you know that wants to buy home? Or if another example will be like, hey, Nazar, I’m curious. Who do you know that wants to accomplish what you guys just did? Where we were able to put your condo on the market, get it sold and help you buy a single family home at the same time. And we got you guys a 30 day rent back.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:08:39]:

So it made you feel comfortable that you’re not rushed to move out. I’m just curious who comes to mind first. Do you see how different that approach is versus me saying, hey, Nazar, yeah, I need business. Who do you know that wants to buy a home? I’m painting a picture in their mind, like whatever they’ve accomplished, trust me, they know someone else that wants to do the same thing. And in a very subtle way, you’re bringing it up. Okay, so I’m going to give you a lot of scenarios. The next one our clients offer gets accepted. They’re emotionally very excited.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:09:14]:

They’re excited to buy their first home. Do we ever ask for a referral at that point? Do you guys ever say, hey, ask for a referral when they’re excited? No. Right? So here is a very subtle way you could again plant the seed in their subconscious mind. I tell Nazar, hey, congratulations, your offer has been accepted, the whole nine yards. Hey, Nazar, before I let you go, the next time you’re in a conversation with a person that’s thinking of buying a home, would you feel comfortable introducing them to me? Do you see how I pause? I’m like, hey, the next time you’re in a conversation with a person that wants to buy a home, would you feel comfortable? Again, that’s the embedded command introducing them to me. Great. I’ll see you later. By the way, don’t forget your EMD is doing three days.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:09:58]:

Talk to you later. Again, they may not give you a referral at that point. That’s not the objective here. The objective here is just to plant a referral seed in their mind. Do you guys follow? Okay, this is one of my favorite strategies, and this works if you have a CRM, if you actually follow through with your okay. Try to track the referral sources. Okay. We have that in our CRM.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:10:28]:

Let’s say as an example, Robert introduces me to Peter, right? I’m going to call Robert and thank him for introducing me to Peter, right? So I’ll say, hey, Robert, I just want to say thank you for introducing me to Peter. Peter and I had an opportunity to connect, and he came to a buyer consultation, and I’m going to make sure he’s going to be so happy with the level of service and grateful for you that you introduced me to him. So I’ll keep you posted on our progress. Okay? I’ll talk to you later, Robert. So what do I do there? I’m letting Robert know that, hey, I appreciate the referral. I’ve already connected with Peter, and I’ll keep you posted how things play out. Obviously, I’m going to let him know after we close escrow that, hey, we close escrow for Peter. Okay? But follow this.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:11:09]:

Now imagine Peter who’s my past client now a year later introduces me to as an example to Christina. This is such a beautiful strategy. I’m shocked that agents don’t even know about this. Obviously, I’m going to call Peter and thank him for introducing me to Christina. Right. But I’m going to take it a step further. I’m actually going to call Robert, okay. And I’m going to tell Robert, hey, Robert, thank you so much for introducing me to you know, because of the introduction, Peter introducing me to Christina, and I’m going to be helping her by her very first home.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:11:45]:

So I just want to say thank you so much for introducing me to Peter, because now I have the opportunity to help Christina. So what does that do? Number one, it makes Robert feel like, oh, wow. It makes him feel good that, hey, Mike. I referred Peter to Mike. Mike helped Peter. Peter was so happy that he referred Christina to Mike. Well, you know, Mike is doing a good job, so I should know my radars open for future referrals for Mike. Okay.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:12:16]:

All right, moving along, let me know if you guys have questions in between. If I’m going too fast, let me know, because I have a lot I want to cover. But like I said, I’ll get you guys all these notes. Any questions at this point? Okay, perfect. So what happens when a client says thank you? Nazar, do you guys do anything when the client says thank you? A past client calls you out of the blue, says, hey, could you refer me to a painter as an example? And you refer them to a painter, and they say, thank you so much. What do you say? I’m curious, nazar, what would you say?

Nazar Kalayji [00:12:50]:

My pleasure. You’re welcome.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:12:52]:

That’s it, right? My pleasure. You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you later. Right? So how about you again, plant the seed for future referrals? And you could say something like this, hey, Nazar, isn’t it nice to know that you have a friend in the business you could count on? I’m planting the seed by saying, hey, isn’t it nice to know that you have a friend in the business that you could count on? I’m not saying, Nazar, give me a referral. Did I ask for a referral? But did I subtly say, we’re friends? Isn’t it nice to know that you could count on me? So that, again, is another way of planning the seed in their subconscious mind.

Nazar Kalayji [00:13:24]:

Mike, how do you handle when you refer someone that does service painter, plumber, whatever, and they suck and they do a horrible job?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:13:37]:

Okay, I’ve had that happen. I’m not going to lie. And before I even introduce them, say I have a referral, right? I say, John is my referral. He’s a painter. Here’s his contact information. I will call John. I’ll be like, hey, John, nazar, who’s a very dear friend of mine, a client of mine, he’s going to be calling you. I need to make sure you take good care of him.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:13:57]:

I will always give them heads up so they’re not blindsided. And I tell them, listen, you and I have a great relationship. I always try to give you business, so please make sure you take care of my tribe. Most of the time, they will go over and beyond. But has it happened where they dropped the ball? Yeah. And guess what? That person is no longer getting business from me.

Nazar Kalayji [00:14:19]:

How do you handle that with the.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:14:20]:

Client, though, of course I take extreme ownership. I apologize to the client. I’ll say, you know what? I’m sorry. I heard you had a bad experience. I want to take extreme ownership on this. I’ve referred so many clients to him, so I’m a little surprised that he dropped the ball. But I owe you an apology because I referred him to you. So I take ownership even though I didn’t drop the ball.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:14:40]:

And 99% of the time, they’re going to say, mike, don’t worry about it’s not your fault. How would you have known, right? But the client feels comfortable. Like I said, feels good. Remember, you want to create an experience of them feeling good. They feel comfortable that you had their back. Okay.

Nazar Kalayji [00:15:01]:

Recently learned, I sometimes want to avoid that situation because I’m like, I gave them this referral and they screwed up and reflect poorly on me. But taking ownership and be like, hey, look, I’m extremely sorry. I would have never referred you to them because I have done business with them in the past, and I really apologize that they totally screwed up.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:15:24]:

You have to take ownership. You have to because you’re letting the client vent. When you call them and you talk to them, they will loosen up. They’ll tell you what happened, and they just need to share that experience because they don’t even know that you know, right? So they want you to feel it. Okay? So what do you do when you have a client who’s private? We’ve had clients like that where they don’t want their confidentiality, all their personal information shared. We have certain clients like that, right. And at times, if you don’t approach them, they may not send you referrals. So here’s a script for that.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:16:02]:

Hey, Nazar, you probably already know that when you do introduce me to your family and friends, I will always respect the confidentiality of our relationship, okay? I promise I will never share your private business. And I know this is important to you, Nazar, so I imagine by you knowing this, it’ll make it easier for you to introduce me to the people you care about. So what am I doing here? I’m letting Nazar know that, hey, I respect your privacy. I understand that you don’t want your personal information. You’re going to refer me to your best friend. You don’t want them to know your financials. I get it. I’m going to respect that privacy.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:16:38]:

So it makes you feel a little more comfortable that in the future, if someone wants to refer business, you’ll call me. Does that make sense? Okay, here’s another good one. We tend to lose business by not following through or actually guiding the client to take next step. So here’s what I mean, okay? It’s happened a lot to me in the past where a client will call me, hey, my coworker Jack, he’s thinking about buying a home. I gave him your number, so I’ll have him call you. And we tend to say, oh, that’s thanks. Thank you so much. I’ll wait for Jack’s call or, yeah, give him my business card.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:17:15]:

Right. Typically, that’s the approach most agents take. So here’s a great script for that scenario where, you know, hey, Nazar, thank you so much for thinking about me and telling Jack about me. I know that that’s the easy part, but I’ve also learned that connect me and Jack together at times could be the hard part. So I’m curious, what could we do now for us to get into conversation? Could you do a quick group text right now, or could you send a quick email introducing him to me? So I’m telling the client that, hey, it’s easy for you to mention about me, but the hard part is actually me putting me into conversation with Jack. So would you do quick group text? Nine out of ten times, they’ll say, oh, yeah, let me do a quick group text right now, or Let me send him an email right now. So you took control and you told the client, this is exactly what I need you to do. Makes sense.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:18:06]:

Okay. Clients have said to me in the past, mike, I know you’re busy. I have a quick question for you. Right. And that’s not a good feeling when the client thinks they’re too busy for that. So what I like to say is, if you know, I know you’re busy, I have a quick question. I’ll be like, hey, Nazar, is it nice to know that I have time for you and your family members that need my help? So what’s going on, my friend? Tell me. Don’t rush.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:18:31]:

What’s going on? Again, the referral plan. See, this, isn’t it nice to know I have time for you? I’m not busy. I always will have time for you. So isn’t it nice to know that I have time for you? Good.

Nazar Kalayji [00:18:47]:

Yeah. What I would add to that is I’d say, isn’t it nice to know that I always make time for you?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:18:52]:

There you go. That’s another version. Exactly. Here’s one that I know a lot of agents are not going to want to do. And I’ve actually had this happen maybe three or four times in my career where I’ve confronted the client. Okay. And this is a scenario where you have a past client or a family or friend that you’ve helped them do a transaction, and you guys are in good rapport. They’ll call you every now and then with questions.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:19:19]:

You’ll touch base with them. So you guys are in a relationship, right? But you never get a referral from this client ever. So I approached, actually, one of my friends. His name is Hike. I called him like, hey, hike, I appreciate our friendship. You and I have known each other for what, 1213 years? And I’m just curious what would have to happen for you to feel comfortable introducing me to the people you care about? I literally call them out, like, what would have to happen? And you pause for you to feel comfortable introducing me to the people you care about? And they’re like, what do you mean? I’m like, well, you and I have been friends for twelve years. I always love to help you. And I’m just curious, like, literally, what needs to happen for you to feel comfortable? You’ll be shocked by their surprise.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:20:04]:

Either a, they’ll straight out say, gosh, you’re right. I’ve never sent a client to you. I’m so sorry. Yeah, of course. Next time I’ll send someone your way, or B, they’ll tell you why they don’t feel comfortable. They’ll actually tell you maybe they had a bad experience. So this actually gives you the ability to handle that objection and let them know that you’re going to take good care of them. Because again, you want them to feel good, right? It’s all about making them feel good.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:20:33]:

I’ll give you guys a few quick ones as well, and then I’ll end it with that. So, hey, Nazar, the next time you’re talking to someone that wants to get a larger space, would you feel comfortable introducing that person to me? Again, do you guys notice a trend? It’s all about the next time. Would you feel comfortable? That’s all it’s about. And just constantly plant the seeds in their subconscious mind. So, in closing, I would say three things need to happen for you to get a referral. Number one, people need to notice other people. Number two, they need to think of you when they notice people wants to do some type of real estate transaction. And number three, they need to introduce that person to you.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:21:13]:

So you need all three elements. Okay? And I read this quote a couple of days ago, caught my attention. I was like, wow, it really hit home. I said, the magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding. The magic that you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding. So if you guys want more referrals from your database, then do the work that you know needs to be done. Just plant the seeds, help them out. That’s all I got for you guys.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:21:51]:

What happened to your audio?

Nazar Kalayji [00:21:52]:

Let’s open up to some Q A who’s got a question for Mike when.

Kristina Kendig [00:21:57]:

It comes to his I thought Mike, I was writing down that quote, and I thought that I wasn’t looking up, and it just went silent, and I’m like, he’s done. That’s it, folks.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:22:09]:

Hey, I have a question. Guys, can you hear me? So what can you say to a client that you had that maybe the escrow or the ending didn’t go so well, but you still have them in your database, but you still want to reach out to them? Is there, like, a certain way I could approach that person?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:22:30]:

The escrow fell apart. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:22:33]:

Right.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:22:34]:

So the first call, I wouldn’t ask for any type of a referral. My initial call would be like, hey, Nazar, it’s been a while since you and I have spoken, and I owe you an apology. I know things didn’t go too well when we’re buying your first home, but I just want to let you know that whenever you have any questions, I want to be a resource to you. Feel comfortable calling me. Regardless of your past experience, just know that I’m always here for you. I’m here to help you. Something very simple, and you don’t want to talk too much about the negative most of the time, I promise you. They forgot about it.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:23:08]:

They moved on. They don’t even know what happened. They don’t even know why they’re upset. If it’s been a long time, they don’t even remember. So just touch base, apologize that you haven’t connected, and just try to resume the relationship in a very subtle way.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:23:24]:

Okay?

Nazar Kalayji [00:23:25]:

When I was younger, a newer agent, and it was a Sphere transaction that I did, it was a young couple buying their first home. I showed them a ton of property. They ultimately bought a home. It was in a super competitive market back in 2006. And they bought the house. They were super grateful for it. And then they went ahead and decided they were going to gut the kitchen and put a new kitchen in. And in the process of doing that, they discovered black mold all in the back of the kitchen.

Nazar Kalayji [00:23:56]:

And so they freaked out. They called me. They’re upset with me, and I was like, it wasn’t disclosed. The seller disclosed that they probably didn’t know about it, right, because it was behind the cabinets. They did what was I supposed to do? So they got super frustrated and upset with me, and I didn’t know what to do. I just stopped talking to them. And what’s really frustrating to me is that I know that that experience led me to lose out all kinds of opportunities because we had so many mutual friends. So just taking ownership and being like, hey, I am so sorry that that happened.

Nazar Kalayji [00:24:33]:

Obviously taking responsibility for what I had control over, but then also realizing there’s stuff that I did not have control over and then help them along the way as much as I possibly could. To be able to figure out what to do in that situation, obviously they would have had to just get their HOA or their homeowners insurance involved. I don’t even know what happened. I literally stopped talking to them. But what I learned from that unfortunate experience is that if we run away from problems, that they will lead to opportunities or they will lead to missed opportunities versus saying, hey, we’re going to deal with this.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:25:08]:

This is the issue.

Nazar Kalayji [00:25:09]:

Let’s resolve it and let’s move forward. I think people respect that. It’s not how we deal with when everything is smooth and easy. It’s how we show up when things get hard and difficult. I think that’s what people care about, right? Like, people know and acknowledge that things happen. It’s just how we show up and just figure things out along the way.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:25:29]:

I’ll give you the perfect example, Lazar. It’s all about taking extreme ownership. Even stuff that it’s not our fault still, it’s your client try to take ownership, right? About two months ago, I closed in escrow about a 1.31.35 purchase in my neighborhood. Two weeks after the closing, the client calls me. He’s like, Mike, we’re having a water leak from the back of the kitchen. I got a plumber out. It’s frustrating. He’s just venting.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:25:54]:

And it’s not my fault you did your inspections. You know what I mean? So I say, you know what? On the way home, I’ll stop by. If you don’t mind, I’ll pop by on my way home. So I stopped by. I looked at the problem. I’m trying to be a solution to them. I’m like, So do you guys get a plumber out here? They’re like, yes. What’s the cost here? I’m like about $1,500.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:26:13]:

I said, Tell you what. How about I sell you guys $1,000 right now? I didn’t have to. Okay. No, Mike, you don’t have I’m like, no, it’s my pleasure. I’ve enjoyed working with you. We have a relationship, and I told you during our transaction that our relationship does not end at the close of escrow. I zelled them a left, right? 2 hours later, I get a thank you message. Mike, thank you so much.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:26:37]:

We really appreciate your friendship. You didn’t have to, but thank you so much for stopping by and helping us. So I know for a fact that client will always refer me business because I helped them solve a problem. Did it cost me money?

Tessa Wilkerson [00:26:50]:

Yeah.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:26:50]:

But who cares? In the long run, you’re going to make more money. You can’t have that limited mindset of, oh, my God, I’m losing $1,000. Who cares?

Nazar Kalayji [00:26:57]:

You know what’s so funny about that experience is I literally also gave them $1,000.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:27:02]:

That’s all I did.

Nazar Kalayji [00:27:02]:

I gave them $1,000, never talked to them again, never went to the house, never did any of that stuff, and I get nothing thing. And then I’m sure that you know.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:27:09]:

What the differences are because I called that client 30, 45 days after closing all of our. Clients. After closing about 30 to 45 days, we’ll touch base with them. So I met with them two weeks after the closing. I call them about 30, 45 days later. I’m like, hey, how’s everything else going? Oh, Mike, everything is perfect. Great. Thanks again, Mike, for $1,000, you didn’t have to.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:27:28]:

We really appreciate it. See, it’s the follow through.

Nazar Kalayji [00:27:31]:

It’s also the fact that you went there, right?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:27:34]:

Yeah, it was on my way home. I was like, I’ll stop by.

Nazar Kalayji [00:27:36]:

Well, yeah, this house was not on my way home, but if I had made the concerted effort to actually go to the home, show up, sit in the pain with them of the difficult thing that happened and just sit there, all they want to do is just be heard. That would go so much farther along than just throwing money at a problem or ignoring the problem altogether.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:27:58]:

Even if you don’t go in the Czar, you say, here, I’ll give you $1,000. Not because you need it, because I just want to really help you. The key is to call them back maybe two weeks or three weeks. They’re like, hey, just checking how things are going. It’s a follow up. So they feel like you care for them. You were not there just to make a quick sale and get the commission and take off. It’s all about the follow up.

Nazar Kalayji [00:28:20]:

Well, makes it feel good.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:28:22]:

Remember, feel good.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:28:23]:

Yeah.

Nazar Kalayji [00:28:24]:

What I appreciate about you, Mike, is that it’s not a facade, it’s not an act that you do just so that you can get like that’s just who you genuinely are. And I think people can naturally feel that about you. And I think that’s, like, if we are genuine as we are, and we care about our people, and obviously I know that Matt does the same thing and they’re in Vegas. Just all about the client experience can go a long way. And I’ve been a lot more transactional with my business over the years just because I just want to get the work done and be done. I should have been a freaking brain surgeon or something so I don’t have to ever talk to clients. It is what it is. I think if you apply both those things right, one way is going to be constant source of business.

Nazar Kalayji [00:29:12]:

The other way, you’re going to have to always be fishing for new opportunities.

Kristina Kendig [00:29:16]:

But with that too, because I know a lot of us are worried about super apps and other things and people having access to our database. When you’re doing these things, like Matt and Mike taking care of your clients, they’re not going to go somewhere, and so you don’t have to worry about that. And I know that you guys, those two have it in place where they have every step of the way what they’re going to do, but it is genuine. It’s not like, oh, I’m just another date on the calendar. They’re doing all of these things and they’re taking care of their clients and they’re not going to go somewhere else and they’re going to tell their friends, oh, don’t go there. Go here, go to my friend Mike or go to my friend Matt skip nazar because he’s not going to have a conversation but move on.

Matt Farnham [00:29:56]:

And I think there’s a whole nother element of relevancy for this. Now, for those that focus like this is that you want to talk about $1.8 billion. Well, Mike’s clients that have been loved on and appreciated and expressed gratitude to are extremely unlikely to pursue him for some commission. When you’re working with people that know you, like you trust you and you build rapport with them versus the transactional stuff, there’s no relationship there. They have no problem hiring an attorney.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:30:24]:

To get a know right. Yeah. Matt, one of these days I got to pick your brand. I’m curious to see what you do with your database and I’ll share what I do.

Matt Farnham [00:30:33]:

Great, man. Return on.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:30:35]:

Mike, I have a question.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:30:37]:

What’s up? How are? Good.

Tessa Wilkerson [00:30:39]:

I’m good. How are you? My good good. So I’m sure you’ve maybe come across this before. I have with a specific clientele I’ve had. They’re like nurses and they refer me a ton of business. Sometimes I’ve had one in particular ask for a referral fee and I’ve overcome that in other ways. But how have you overcome that if that’s an issue you’ve dealt with before?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:31:05]:

I’ve had a few people ask me, hey, Mike, just out of curiosity, how much would you give me from your commission? And I tell them, listen, the relationship that we have goes further than money for me. Tell you what, how about I take you and your family out for dinner? I throw something else out. Don’t, I’m not going to give him a commission, right? So I’ll give him some type of an got. I know your daughter likes to go to Disneyland. How about what if I send you guys to Disneyland for a day? You know what I mean? I’m giving them the experience. I’m not going to give them cash or money, but I just want to give them some type of an experience. Like three weeks ago, I invited three of my VIP clients. I took them out to dinner.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:31:44]:

We went to a Mediterranean restaurant. We had food, we danced, we drank. We had a great time. You know what I mean? It’s all experience. Now we’re planning our movie day, which is going to be on November 19. We have 200 seats at the AMC reserve for our database. Come out, enjoy a movie. So if they ask for a referral, I will level shift it.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:32:05]:

And I’m like, hey, I appreciate you thinking about me. Tell you what, and Matt does this. When you meet with a client, you should have like a checklist of finding out what are the items they like to do what’s their Hobies, what sport activities like, and put it in your CRM and be like, hey, I know you like the Lakers. How about if you and I go to the Lakers game?

Kristina Kendig [00:32:25]:

Can you guys share? Matt and I know Mike, you’ve shared that with us, but can you share that checklist or that list that you do to find out those things? And how do you get those from your clients? Oh, Matt’s on the phone, but how do you have that conversation without it feeling like, what’s your favorite sports team?

Mike Babakhanyan [00:32:41]:

What’s your what we do is I don’t do it during the initial consultation, okay? I’m still trying to build a relationship with them, but during the escrow phase, we’re having them sign disclosures. We’re having them go through all the paperwork just for us to have a deeper relationship. Would you mind just filling this out? They never say no.

Nazar Kalayji [00:33:03]:

I love it. One thing that in the Asian community, asking for referrals is a pretty big part of their thing in our main.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:33:11]:

Community, too, trust me.

Nazar Kalayji [00:33:13]:

This one lady that I know that sells, I don’t know, know someone in La county that’s very know Chinese based. What she does, which I thought was genius, she’s like, what I do is I know that when people sell their homes or when they buy a property, they’re going to buy furniture. It’s kind of the process. You buy new stuff, whatever. And so what I’ve done is I go to local furniture shops and I’ll work on an arrangement with them where I’ll be able to get because I tell them, hey, I’m going to send a ton of my clients here to buy furniture.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:33:48]:

I need to be able to give.

Nazar Kalayji [00:33:49]:

Me a code to give my clients 25 30% off whatever that percent off is. And so what she does, she goes when someone asks me for referrals, she’s like, hey, listen, I can’t give you 5000 $10,000 in referrals, but what I will do is I’ll save you 15 $20,000 in cost that you can incur buying furniture. If you go to my buddy here, I’m going to give you this code that’s going to save you 25 30% on all the furniture you’re going to buy and, you know, you’re going to spend 50, $60,000 in furniture. So it’s going to save you a ton of money there. And so it’s just that giving something makes it to where, okay, cool. You’re saving money. It’s all the same, right? Anyway, as an idea.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:34:30]:

Good stuff.

Nazar Kalayji [00:34:32]:

All right, well, you guys, thank you so much. This is another great master class on how to make those small shifts in our mindset, first of all, and then taking it up to the next level and changing our verbiage to be able to make that connection for our clients so they can have a better experience and then we can get those referrals. Make sure that you make your transactions not transactional, but relational, and I promise you that will lead to more transactions along the way. And I personally wanted to invite all of you guys. I’m curious, what can we do to help you guys? Invite more people to come to these master classes. So we’d love to be able to extend the invitation out. If anyone of any agents that you come across that you feel like would benefit from this, I invite you guys to invite them to come to this class as well. All right, you guys have an awesome Thursday.

Nazar Kalayji [00:35:20]:

Have a great weekend, and we’ll talk to you guys next Thursday.

Mike Babakhanyan [00:35:23]:

See you guys. Bye.

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