In this article, I’m going to show you how to use a combination of LinkedIn and Email Marketing to increase your moving company’s referrals from real estate agents, property managers, and other referral targets.
Note: This is the exact method we at Moversville use to connect with moving companies around the U.S. and get them on board with Email Newsletter Marketing. And it works. So ask yourself, how can you as a mover use the same method to connect with realtors and ultimately get them to refer your moving services?
Here’s how:
Step One: Provide Great Service and Have the Online Reputation to Back it Up
One of the first things realtors do when moving companies reach out to them is check online reputations. Remember, people don’t refer moving companies because of cheap price, they refer because they provide great services. If you pass the “reputation test”, congratulations, your networking efforts are on-track to be effective.
Step Two: Build Out Your LinkedIn Profile To Act As A Moving Company Sales Page
- Have a professional headshot of yourself or sales representative that is memorable.
- Write the headline to stand out & mention your moving company (ex. ABC Moving Company – Residential Moving Specialist).
- Write your summary to include your contact info and get straight to who you are and why you’re the best at what you do. Link to your website, testimonials, and any helpful information.
- Provide detailed information about your experience and list as many professional past jobs as possible.
- Write & post a few LinkedIn articles to show that you’re an expert in your field and you know what you’re talking about. The articles & activity show after the Summary.
You can check out my LinkedIn profile to use as a template.
Step 3: Connect With Something To Give
Something to give is like an article about how to save the most money on your move or a checklist for hiring moving companies – a link to one of your blog posts. Here are 65+ Blog Post Ideas For Movers.
Your content NEEDS be the most helpful, resourceful, and impressive piece of content that they’ve ever seen on that topic that will encourage the realtor to want to share it with clients.
After you have something to give, search in the top bar of LinkedIn “realtors los angeles” (or your target cities). Hit search and click below on “people”.
Find the first one you want to connect with and click Connect. Always send a message to each one when connecting, something like this…
Hello [name],
I am connecting with you today because I want to share with you our article on how your clients can save the most money on their move. Here it is:
[article link]Our blog has more helpful content written by relocation professionals that your clients can benefit from, so feel free to check it out and refer to it whenever you like.
Also, if you ever have any moving related question for me, I am always here to help. Thanks for your time [name], have a great day!
Sincerely,[Your Name] [Moving Company Name] [Title (Relocation Specialist)] [Phone Number]
The goal on this first connection attempt is to simply provide something helpful and become a resource for realtors. Being helpful on first connections, rather than desperate for referrals, makes you stand out more, especially if what you give is helpful & impressive.
Each day (or at least a few times a week) for the entire life of your moving company, use this method to connect with 50 or so realtors in your target cities. You can do this for realtors, property managers etc.
People who respond with “thank you’s” etc, respond back with something simple like “Your welcome [name]! I’m always here to help you and your clients”. ALWAYS RESPOND and be social. You’re here to help them and provide value on this first step, not be overly promotional.
Step Four: Create A Spreadsheet To Collect Email Addresses
As you begin to connect with people and they accept your request, you’ll then be able to see their email address. For each person who accepts, visit their profile and put their information into a spreadsheet – First Name, Last Name, Email Address.
After a few months of this, you should have a few hundred email addresses of potential referral prospects, and hopefully along the way you’ve landed some referrals.
Step Five: Start Your Monthly Email Newsletter
Your email newsletter should go out to every person you’ve connected with on LinkedIn, done business with in the past, and anyone else in your email database that might send a referral your way.
A good size email list to start is at least 500-1000 email addresses of previous customers and referral contacts.
Use Moversville to properly connect with your email list and stay connected month after month. Moversville does everything for you when it comes to creating, managing and sending your branded monthly email newsletter. All you have to do is continue to add email addresses to the pipeline, whether it be using the LinkedIn Method, asking real estate offices for their rosters, or out in the field etc. and Moversville takes care of the rest.
Moversville has been providing email newsletter marketing services for movers for years now so movers can be streamlined into an already successful system that works month after month.
Step Six: Circling Back
After about a month of making your initial connections with realtors, circle back with another helpful piece of content along with an ask for a referral.
Something like this:
Hi [Name],
I am reaching out again to share one of our latest articles on…
[article link]I also want to offer you and your clients a special deal we have going on for 5% off of our moving services, along with a $100 referral fee to agents who refer our moving services.
If your clients would like a free moving estimate, please give me a call or email.
Thanks [Name] if there’s anything else I can help you or your clients with, please let me know.
Sincerely,
[Your Name] [Moving Company Name] [Title (Relocation Specialist)] [Phone Number] [Email Address]
Step Seven: Commit to the process
This is not a quick solution to increasing your moving leads, rather a long-term networking approach that over the course of a few months will create deep roots for your moving company and land you a steady flow of referrals that keep coming.
One last thing…
If you don’t have retargeting set up for your moving company, get that set up ASAP. I go further into this in my Moving Company Advertising & Marketing Tips Guide, explaining why movers should have this set up before attempting any type of outbound marketing.
