One of the key tenets of sales is “Always be closing.” Another could be “Always be promoting.” After all, if you’re not going to promote your business, who will? The more you promote your business, the more leads you’ll generate. Now, this doesn’t mean bore your friends, family and anyone within earshot with the minute details of your business. Most people don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to, even if they already know you.

Traditionally, agents spent all their resources on conventional promotional materials—billboards, advertisements in the newspaper and ads on bus benches. With the advent of social media, many agents are spending more and more time online, posting ads on social media. While these are important avenues for promotion, when you work by referral, your top promotional tool are your relationships. Here’s the promotional mix for business success.

Spend 70 percent of your resources on relational promotion.

The most important way to promote your referral-based business is by building your relationships with your clients, so keep in touch. Pick up the phone, call your best clients, follow it up with a personal note, and deliver small gifts of appreciation to your top referring clients. The most important thing is to maintain consistent contact and ask for the referral.

Spend 20 percent of your resources on conventional promotion.

Even when you work by referral, there is a place for conventional promotion; it just shouldn’t take up all of your resources. So, go ahead and invest in billboards and newspaper advertisements to get your name and business out there and reinforce your spot in the community.

Spend 10 percent of your resources on digital promotion.

Digital promotion is anything done online, whether it’s social media, your blog or your website. While it’s important to have a presence, don’t spend all of your most productive time there. There’s a difference between updating your clients about the state of the market and wasting time playing games and looking through photos of your friends from high school. Try to make your time online as productive as possible to help you generate more leads.

Your resources—your time, money and energy—are important. If you want to generate a stream of high-quality leads, you have to be smart about promotion. If you’re working by referral, invest the majority of your resources into your relationships and it’ll come back to you in people you want to work with. Nurture those leads by staying in touch, offering great service and finding needs to fill. And, always remember to ask for the referrals.

For more information, visit www.buffiniandcompany.com.