292 | How to Sell More Homes by Referral (Part 2)

Want to build exclusively by referral? Book a discovery call to see if the 3-month group cohort is right for you.

Have questions or need help? 

📧  Email Me - garrett@garrettmaroon.com

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Haven't listened to Part 1? Check that out first!

Most real estate agents want a referral-based business. They just don't have a system for it — and good intentions without structure will always lose to life, busyness, and distraction.

In Part 2 of this referral series, Garrett Maroon breaks down the exact 36-touch system he's used to sell 50+ homes a year for ten consecutive years — never missing a single month, even through personal loss. Built from a combination of the Brian Buffini method, Keller Williams systems, and years of field-testing, this isn't theory. It's a repeatable, low-cost, relationship-first framework that any agent can install and run.

Last year, Garrett spent $7,500 on this system and generated $700,000 in GCI. No Facebook ads. No pay-per-click. No cold outreach. Just consistent, intentional touches with the people already in your world.

This episode is the actionable follow-up to Part 1 (mindset). Here, Garrett walks through every single touch — mailers, emails, video texts, handwritten notes, pop-by gifts, and client events — structured on a quarterly calendar so simple you'll know your exact lead generation strategy five years from now. If you've been wanting to build a business by referral but didn't know how to make it consistent, this is the episode.

Key Takeaways

1. Consistency beats creativity — every time. Only 11% of agents consistently send anything to their database. The agents who win in referral-based real estate aren't the most creative — they're the most consistent. Garrett has never missed a single month of his 36-touch system in ten years. That consistency is the pipeline.

2. The 36-touch system broken down. Each month includes three core touches: a mailer sent on the 1st, an email sent on the 15th, and one personal touch. That's 24 low-level touches per year (12 mailers + 12 emails) plus 12 personal touches — structured in a quarterly rotation of phone call/video text → handwritten note/pop-by gift → client event/client coffee. Rinse and repeat.

3. Use Wise Pelican for postcards and keep costs low. Garrett sends a simple postcard every month — not a fancy mailer in an envelope that gets tossed unopened. Postcards work because people see your face before they throw it away. Pro tip: split the cost with a mortgage lender by co-branding the card.

4. Emails don't build relationships — but they still matter. Don't spend hours crafting a polished monthly newsletter. A simple email sent to a blind-copied database on the 15th keeps your name in front of people. Toss the content into ChatGPT and send something clean and easy. The goal isn't a deep read — it's a consistent presence in the inbox.

5. Video texts are the highest-ROI personal touch for most agents. In the first month of every quarter (January, April, July, October), send a 20–30 second personal video text to everyone in your database. No tracking needed — bold their name in your Google Sheet as you go. It's warm, it's human, and it doesn't require a phone call most people don't actually want to receive.

6. The handwritten note is a superpower — less than 0.7% of mail today is handwritten. In the second month of each quarter, send a handwritten note to everyone in your database and do pop-by gifts for your top 10–20 people. The note doesn't need to be long — a single line of genuine gratitude is enough. Hand-address the envelope. They'll open it because they can see a real person wrote it.

7. Pop-by gifts under $2 outperform expensive mailers. The value of a pop-by isn't the gift — it's you showing up. Garrett has used $1 spatulas, chapstick, and turkey basters with clever real estate puns attached. Spend under $2 per person. Pre-plan your route. Don't go inside — protect your time. The relationship deposit happens at the front door.

8. Client events are the highest-touch, highest-yield quarterly activity. In the third month of every quarter, host a client event or aim for 10 client coffees. Garrett's team runs the same four events on repeat every year — a movie event in March, ice cream social in June, family photo event in September, and a Christmas lights drive-through in December. They've done all four for six-plus years. Partner with your mortgage lender to split the cost.

9. Your database doesn't need to be in a CRM — it needs to be worked. Garrett runs his database on a Google Spreadsheet. No expensive software. Just bold the name when the touch is done. Simplicity scales. The system only fails when agents over-complicate it before they've proven they can execute it.

10. A referral business is the only pipeline nobody can take from you. Facebook changes its algorithm. Google updates its search rankings. But no one can take your relationships. A business built on genuine, consistent care for the people in your world is both the most sustainable and the most biblically aligned way to build — because you stop treating people like transactions and start building a real community.

Connect with Me!

Need help in your business? I'm here to help! Shoot me a quick text and we'll figure out the next step in winning at work without losing at life. 

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Transcript

We've got to protect our time. We've got to do the most important things. We've got to protect them. If
you can't control your time, you will never control your business. You will always run around like a
chicken with its head cut off, wondering when's the next still going to come? Answering your phone at
10 p.m.. Always freaking out. Always feeling like you're you're on constantly 24 over seven. This is not
how good business is done. Last episode we talked about the mindset around how to sell more homes by
referral. And today I want to talk about the final piece, the actionable piece where we actually install a
system for you. Because this is where relationships stop being random and start becoming intentional.
And honestly, this is the difference between agents who occasionally get referrals and agents who build
entire businesses around them. Let's dive in. All right, faithful agent, I hope you like this joke. A devout
old shepherd lost his favorite Bible while he was out looking for a wayward lamb. Three weeks later, a
sheep walked up to him, carrying the Bible in its mouth. The shepherd couldn't believe his eyes. He took
the precious book out of the sheep's mouth, raised his eyes heavenward, and exclaimed, it's a miracle!
Not really, said the sheep. Your name is written inside the cover. All right. We're just going to jump right
in. If you haven't listened to part one, go back and listen to it as it helps you think about how to think
about building a business by referral. And what I want this episode to be is actionable. And what I mean
by that is simple because your relationship strategy needs structure. Good intentions are not enough.
Most agents that I know, especially if you're a faithful agent, genuinely care about people. But caring
without consistency creates gaps, and over time, out of sight becomes out of mind. Which is exactly why
I build this 36 touch system. And to give you an idea, what I created was a mix of the Brian Bellini
method, right calls, notes, Popeye's, and what I learned when I was at Keller Williams. That idea of how
do you create a systematic, systematic business, right? What am I going to do each day? How do I make
it duplicate? How do I stop acting like an agent and start thinking like a business owner? And for me it
was putting those two together. My goal was very simple. I wanted something that was going to be so
simple and so actionable and so duplicated, that I knew exactly what I was going to do a year from now
that I know right now, sitting here today, that I could tell you what my Legion strategy is going to be in
November of 2031. I know exactly what it's going to be. We built it. We honed it. I spent three years
making sure this was the right one. I spent three years figuring out how simple and little can I do, how
little money can I spend and still be effective? Because I believe simplicity scales. I believe that
simplicity creates duplication and the opportunity for that where others can go do the same. And I've seen
it happen over and over and over again. This system works. You just have to work it. All right. This is
the 36th such system. Not because people need to hear from you exactly 36 times. It's not some magic
number, but it's because most agents dramatically underestimate how quickly people forget how noisy
the world is and how much consistency matters. The goal is simple stay consistently connected in a way
that feels relational, not transactional. Now, if you don't listen to part one, you hear me talk about the
database. They need to know you're an agent. You need to know who's in there. You need to have the
right people in your database. This is who it's going to receive these 36 touches okay. You got to have the
right people. But let me explain this right from a high level view. This is what you're doing. You're going
to send 12 mailers a year 12 emails a year okay. So one email every single month. One mailer every
single month okay. So that's 12 and 12. There's 24 touches total. And then the power of the the actual
system because a lot of agents will do that. I mean it's actually only 11% of agents consistently send
anything. But a lot of agents will go that far. They'll just send mail. But those are really low value
touches. What I want you to do is actually build relationships with people. So the magic really is that
every single month we're going to be doing a personal touch or reach out to your database, okay? It's
going to just be built in a quarterly structure. I'm going to walk you through that so that you can repeat so
that you can rinse and repeat so that. When I was traveling on the road in 2019, I went to, gosh, I don't
know, 60 different offices and taught this up and down the East Coast was teaching this, and one of the
consistent responses I got was, I want to work by referral. One of my struggles, Garrett, is I get to a
month and think, maybe I should call my people. And so number one, there's a lack of preplanning, but I
get to a month that I need to call my people. And then I wonder, when was the last time I called him? I
don't want to bother them. And so I ended up not calling them. And then it's been six months since I've
talked to him. And that's just how this happens, right? And so my business starts to suffer. We're going to
make sure that you're going to send the same, do the same touch to everyone in the same month, right?
So I no longer have to figure out who did I talk to last week. Who did I send a video text to, for example,
last month? I know that it was everyone in my database, right? I don't have to even track it anymore. We
don't like tracking agents. We struggle with tracking those who win. Often in the relationship space are
those that are high on the disk profile, meaning you love people, you're a people. People. You're you're a
person. Person. I don't know how to say that, but you understand what I'm saying. You love people. Well,
those who love people also happen to be those that hate following systems and significantly lack
structure. I know you're sitting there thinking, that's me, and I am talking to you and I'm talking to me. I
had to create structure around me to make sure I actually did the work. Okay, you don't have to track.
That's a beautiful thing. You just gotta show up and do it. Okay, so here's what's going to happen. I'm
going to explain to you exactly what we're going to do. Okay. That's step one. You're just going to
understand exactly what we're about to do. And then you need to go ahead and put it in your calendar in
advance. And you know, I just need to say this. Most agents are so bad at protecting their time. It's the
reason we're not winning. It is shocking how many times. You know, even in my local market where we
run a mastermind, we're giving it away for free. We're supporting. It's going to significantly help them in
their business. And the answer is, well, I'll come as long as the client doesn't come in from out of town,
you know, or, you know, that morning, it's like, oh, sorry. Uh, you know, someone wanted to see a house,
so I won't make it. Yeah. We've got to protect our time. We've got to do the most important things. We've
got to protect that. If you can't control your time, you will never control your business. You will always
run around like a chicken with its head cut off, wondering when's the next deal going to come?
Answering your phone at 10 p.m.. Always freaking out, always feeling like you're you're on constantly
24 over seven. This is not how good business is done. You got to manage your time. You got to protect
your time. Okay? That's what we're talking about here. So here's how I. Here's what this looks like every
single month on the first day of the month. Send out a mailer, a postcard. What I've often used is why's
Pelican a postcard? Because most people open their mail over the trash can, so they don't need to open
some fancy mailer that you know is inside an envelope. They're going to open it up. No. Like, I don't
know about you. I get stuff, I'm like, I don't want that, and I just throw it away. The reality is, the
postcard is simple. It's easy. They just see your face. That's it. They might just throw it away. That's
okay. They're just seeing you now, you know, uh, if you want to trick, they're just go find a mortgage
lender who will pay half of it for you. Put their name on there, too. That's okay. Right. This is how we
keep costs down. Last year, I spent $7,500 total and we brought in $700,000 of GCI. Right. It doesn't
need to be expensive. Okay. We're going to talk about that. So use wise Pelican. And don't overthink this
I'm talking to you. The person that that always overthink everything. It doesn't need to be perfect. It just
needs to be done. So go to Wise Pelican even grab one of the templates that they have if you want and
boom, just send it out to your list. Just send it, just send it, just send it. Consistency matters more than
creativity. Just get it out right. Just get it out. Just get it out. Just get it out. The perfectionists that are
listening to this like, oh my gosh, how would I do that? Just do it right. Those of you that are like me, that
we just wing it and we're flying by the seat of pants, like, sure, I can do that. Whatever. Who cares? I'll
figure it out. The the, the that morning. I don't want you to do that either. I want you to pre-plan. Okay?
We're going to talk about that in a second. On the 15th of the month, you're going to send an email to
everyone in your database. Don't overthink it. Just use your Gmail account, use your business account
and just blind copy everybody. All that I do is put into ChatGPT. Now write is here's my mailer. Help me
create a simple email around it. That's all you're doing. Or all you have to do is create something nice and
easy and simple. Don't overthinking about think about it. I love how many of you spend time on creating
your well. I do a nice monthly market update and I do my my monthly newsletter and all these things.
That's really awesome. But I don't know that it's moving the needle for you at all, and it's just wasting
your time making you feel good about the things that you're doing. Just send something simple. They're
just going to see your name, the first and the 15th boom in the mail, and then in their email inbox. No
one's going to take the time to truly read those. It just doesn't happen, right? I know that you think, well,
my newsletter is so good and maybe it is. That's fine. It's not moving the needle for you. You don't build
real relationships via email. Send it. Just send it. Just send it the first, a mailer, the 15th and email every
single month like clockwork. Okay, this is just getting you in front of people. And then the personal
touches come in. We structure these quarterly the first month of every quarter. You're going to do some
version of this. A phone call, a video text or a direct text. That's it. Right? A phone call, a video text or
just a text. Now you have to I don't know. You have to decide. How does your database want to be
engaged with? I don't know about you, but my database does not necessarily want me to call. I don't even
want to call them. I hate being on the phone. And so I send a lot of video texts. Right? That's typically
what I do in the first month of the quarter. So that'd be January, April, July and October. The first month
of each quarter. There's four quarters in a year is a video, text or a phone call or just a text. What are you
going to say now? If you get on the phone, you got to be better about this. Just say, hey, I had a quick
minute, wanted to check in and hear how you're doing. You got to control your time. You got to protect
it. Getting into our long conversations is not going to help you get the work done. So when I send video
text, it's a quick 20 to 30 second video text. Let's say I'm sending it to a married couple, right? Hey, use
their name. Hey, just thinking about you all. I say it's January, Thinking about you all. Hope you had an
amazing Christmas and New Years with your family. Can't wait to see you guys this year. If you need
anything at all, real estate related or not, I'm here to help. Boom. Send it right. Don't overthink it. Just do
it. And here's the beauty. You're going to send it to every single person in your database. Every single
person is in your database is going to get that touch right. You don't need to track it. You just I mean, all
I'm looking at my CRM, what's my CRM? It's a Google spreadsheet. I don't need to pay for things. I like
simplicity. All I go down is I look down the list of my database and I just bold the name as I do it. That's
it. All I need to know is have I done that? Because I'm not going to do all of them in a day, right? But as I
go through the month, I just bold it and I just make sure I get all of them done. It's that simple. And the
next month, the second month, I'm not sitting there wondering, well, did I call someone last month? And
so do I. Am I going to call them again or now? I needed to track and I didn't track who I did what to. No,
I know I did everything. I sent a video text to every single person. No tracking needed. I just sent a video
text to every person. The second month. The personal touch is a note or a pop by gift. Now remember,
the first is a mailer. The 15th is an email. Then I'm going to write a note to everyone in my database. Or
I'm going to drop off a pop by gift. Now here's the rules of the Popeye. If you have pop by gift, I know
some people will think I'm saying Popeye, or some people will think I'm saying pot pies, which sounds
delicious. Uh, that's not what I'm saying. Pop by. Right. And so if you have under 100 qualified people in
your database, go listen to episode one. If you don't know what that means under 100 people, you're
going to pick ten. Over 100 people pick 20. Okay, here's my rule of thumb. The gift has to be less than
$2. Less than $2 because we misunderstand the value of the Popeye is not in the value of the gift. It's in
the value of you showing up. Hey, friends, we're pressing pause on today's episode for a second, because
if you're a real estate agent feeling buried by pressure chaos, feeling like you're always on and constantly
chasing the next deal, this is for you. So many of us agents are doing everything we're told to do. Cold
outreach in this training's non-stop hustle. But we still feel stuck, wondering, okay, now what's next?
We're changing that through this three month group cohort designed to help agents build a business
fueled exclusively by referrals. No fluff, no vague motivation, just the exact step by step systems,
strategies and support to help you grow sustainably and finally do business differently. This is the exact
step by step system strategies and support that took Lindsay's business in Wyoming from 15 to 43 sales
in just one year. So if you're ready to stop operating from pressure and start building a business that
honors God with clarity and confidence, check out the show notes of this episode to book a discovery call
with the team and me. Here's how you do a Popeye. Let's say you pick 20 people. We have done so many
different versions. We've done things like a, a, a $1 spatula, right? Says, I flip and love your referrals.
That's funny. And maybe, you know, uh, a little, uh, risky for a faithful agent podcast. Uh, but, you
know, whatever, you could send me hate mail, but but we've done that, right? We've done chapstick, and
it says, don't let your friends get chapped by a bad agent. It's funny. It's it's silly. It's me. Right? It needs
to be you. Don't be me. Be you. But we're just getting them a silly little gift, right? We've, um, um, gotten
turkey pacers, right? The things that, you know, I don't know, you, like squeezed juice into the turkey. I
was weird, and and it's said to tag on it. Said your referrals are the best. Uh. That's hilarious. I think, uh, it
is hilarious. And so all I'm doing is taking those. The point is not the gif. The point is showing up. I'm
going around. I've got 20, I've pre-planned it. I know where I'm going. I've got my list. It's going to take
me a whole day. That's fine. And as I'm head there, hey, so-and-so, whoever, hey, I'm going to be right
near you for an appointment. Wondered if you had a quick minute for me to stop in and say hello. That's
it right now. Excuse me. Some of them are going to say, yeah, we're here. Come on in and say hi. Just the
rule of thumb is just don't go inside. You need to protect your time. Hey, I'd love to. Just wanted to say
hello. I'm actually on the way to an appointment. The appointment is another Popeye. You're telling the
truth. That's okay. Remember, you get to control your time. They don't get to control your time. And then
you say, hey, I just wanted to see you wanted to drop something off. I know it's silly. I really just wanted
to see you and give them a hug. Whatever. Whatever your relationship is. Right? And that's it. You're
showing up. When was the last time someone showed up at your house just to give you a gift? It doesn't
happen. You are going to be the one that is doing it. This is good business. And then for everyone who
doesn't receive a puppy, you're writing them a note. And this is typically the only time I might mention
really anything about real estate. I know I've just talked about that in the video text, but most video texts
have nothing to do with real estate. It's just about the relationship. When I'm writing a note, it's
something as simple as, you know, let's say it's November in the in the month of Thanksgiving. I just
want you to know how grateful and thankful I am for your friendship and support of me in my business.
Sincerely, Garrett. Right. Boom! There it is. Send it to everyone. Handwrite it. Hand address it. Right.
Because the way they know to open it is because it's the hand. You have physically written the front of
that note card, and then you send it boom, simple and easy. That's the one that takes the longest. But it
doesn't even take that much time. You just write notes. You're just write notes. You're just write notes.
Right. So, so in the second month notes and Popeyes, you're getting out there. Less than 0.7% of mail
today is a handwritten note. They're going to open an emotional deposit into their life in the third month
of every quarter is. A client event or a client coffee. Now, depending on where your business is, I would
tell you do it. A client event every single quarter is an amazing way to get a lot of touches all in that one
stack, right? But, but and remember, you're going to ask your mortgage lender whenever you do a client
event, you're going to ask your mortgage lender to partner with you. They're going to pay half. And you
can make it super, super simple. We don't have time to go into all of it. We've got a coaching cohort I
want you to jump in. We will install this system and actually build it out for you quickly so you can start
executing on it. If you're wondering what are all these things I need to do? The point is this every third
month you should either be. And we actually do both. On my team, we're doing a client event. And for
those who can't come to the event, we're sitting down and trying to get face to face with them. Our best
people who have sent us most of our business. But you could do a client coffee, you could say, this
month I'm going to aim for ten client coffees, and that's my entire lead generation. Just try to sit down
with ten people. Five people, right? Get face to face. If you're going to do a client event, which is what
we do, we're going to pre-plan those. And December of 2025, we had already booked December of 2026.
Right. You want to get way ahead of those. You know exactly what's coming. And for me, it took me a
couple years to figure out which events are we going to do. And now we don't do those like clockwork in
March, we do a movie event, in June, we do an ice cream social, in September, we do a family photo
event, and in December we do a Christmas lights drive through on repeat. We've done all of those now
for six plus years. You will figure out what works for you. So let me recap every quarter. The first month
is a phone call, video, text or text. The second month is a note or a poppy. The third month is a client
event or a client coffee. Okay, so and then we just rinse and repeat. We just rinse and repeat. So in April
it's the first month of that of the second quarter you're going to send a mailer on. On the first you're going
to send an email on the 15th and you're going to be doing, let's say, video text throughout that month to
everyone in your database. So now we move to May, right in May when I think this episode will come
out in May. In May. Here's what you're doing a mailer on the first, an email on the 15th, and notes and
Popeye's in that month. And then we move into June. On June. What are you doing? June 1st. Mailer.
June 15th. Excuse me, June 15th. It's an email. And then you're doing client event or client coffee or
both. That's it. On repeat over and over and over and over again. Consistency is what wins, not creativity.
Consistency. You're allowed to get creative once you've been consistent. Don't get creative first. That
comes second. Be consistent first. Put the right activities in to your business. I can't stress this enough.
People ask me all the time, how have you been so consistent selling 50 homes a year? And my answer
honestly, is for ten years in a row, I've done the same thing every single month. I've never missed a
month. Even when my mom passed away, I have never once missed a month. I've always put in the input
in my business that I knew was most important. Always, always, always. I have never once missed in ten
years because I've been consistent. So is my pipeline. That's what this is about. Most agents fail at
referrals because they rely on memory instead of systems. They think I will reach out when I think about
it, but life gets busy. Transactions happen. You know, kids happen, stress happens, and then months go
by, they panic and they try to reconnect with everyone all at once. But relationships don't thrive on
intensity. They thrive on consistency. Which is why systems matter. Not because systems are corporate,
but because systems protect relationships. Here's what I want you to really understand. A referral
business is not built by consistently and constantly chasing new people. It's built by deeply serving and
consistently loving the people already in your world. The gold is already under your feet and honestly,
this is a much more sustainable way to build anyways. Not just financially, but emotionally, spiritually,
relationally because you stop treating people like transactions, and you start building a real community
around your business. The reality is, no one can take your relationships from you. But if your business is
built on Facebook ads, Facebook can change this algorithm and it does like 25 times a year. Google can
change this algorithm if you're built on pay per click, and they have 24 major updates a year or
something like that, but they have 500 micro updates. How in the world do you stay on top of that? If you
want a business that is sustainable, that no one can buy from you or you can't buy? It's built on
relationships. The question is, how will you consistently show up and do the right thing? That's the
system. You got to take what I just said, right? Take it. And look, if you're thinking about all the new
cool things you could do, I don't care. And I don't mean that in a mean way. I love you. I want you to to
win. That's why I just gave you what I'm doing. I want you to win. But you're not winning by spending
time doubting everything and trying to come up with your own way. Your own way might be better, but
your own way is not working right now because you're not working it. I want you to take what I just said
a mailer, an email, and a personal touch every single month. I want you to do that for a year. When
you've proven to yourself you can actually be consistent in doing the work, then and only then, have you
earned the right to tweak it and change it and make it look more like you. Right now, my friends, it's just
do the work. And if you want help with that, there's a place in the show notes. You can grab a time with
me. We'll talk about our group coaching, where we're going to implement this for everybody. I want you
to win. I really, really want you to win. And I want to want you to win by relationships. Not only is it the
best way to win, not only is it the least expensive way to win, not only is it built the way that the Lord
wired you, which is by relationships, it's also the way that you own your business and pipeline for the rest
of your life. And nobody can take that away from you. If your business feels exhausting right now, it's a
good chance that you're trying to constantly manufacture momentum. But referrals work differently.
Referrals compound. Every relationship matters. Every touch matters, every moment of consistency
matters. And over time, that consistency becomes trust, and trust becomes referrals. I love you, faithful
agents. I hope this is a blessing to you. Take this information, put it in your calendar. Your only job is
you either do it or you defer it. You cannot delete it. Just show up and do the work. Do the work, do the
work, do the work, do the right work and it's going to pay off. That's how we honor the Lord. I love you,
I'll see you next week. Hey Christian again, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If it resonated, would
you take 30s and share it with another agent who's also trying to grow their business without losing their
faith, family, or peace? That's how this message spreads. And if you haven't yet, hit that subscribe button
so you don't miss future episodes. I release new ones each Thursday to help you build success that
actually lasts. It genuinely fires me up knowing this podcast is helping you pursue excellence to the glory
of God, both at work and at home. I'll meet you back here next week for another episode of The Faithful
Agent.