Had an interesting lunch yesterday with one of my girlfriends who has a personality like Bette Midler.   She is irreverent, funny as hell, talks like a truck diver and has me on the floor howling with laughter all during lunch.

And she did something that surprised the hell out of me.

She gave me a referral to a seller.

Now mind you, I still get giddy getting referrals from my peeps.  As I have mentioned before, it’s important that you establish your own army of warriors or bird dogs keeping their eyes and ears open to listing opportunities.

This is a good way to hear about leads that you would normally never catch.  You too can cultivate your own “army” of die-hard fans that can get you leads. 

Here’s how.  Go through your SOI and find a small group of people, past clients, friends, past referral sources, people that really like you, love working with you, are your staunchest supporters for whatever reason and then do one thing.

Spoil them. 

Spoil them with phone calls, hand notes, lunches, dinners, surprise gifts or whatever you need to do to get them to join your army.

I originally started with 20 people in my SOI, so I started calling them my “Group of 20” (I now have more than 20, but still call them that name).  I tag them separately and shower them with affection, gifts, dinners, lunches, hand notes making a point to “touch” them once a month with something.

They love the attention and they are always trying to find me listing leads.

So create your own “army” and cultivate them into your biggest fans.  Epic listing agents are Generals working with their armies to bolster their listing inventory.

Are you a General?