There are several ways you might want to search for a referral partner. You should concentrate on the geographic location your client is interested in. Zoom in on your location on the map search, and when you have a list of professionals in your target market, you can filter them in several ways. If you know someone there by name, enter their name in the "name" box.

Or perhaps you want to connect with a partner from your own company network. In that case, enter "company name" in the box.

Or find a partner with your professional designation, such as CRS, CIPS, TRC or another. If there is a professional there who matches your criteria, they will be listed for you.

You can also filter the results by the languages you need your referral partner to speak.

Each Global Referral Network profile has a "contact this professional" button that will allow you to email directly, outside of the referral structure.

Emails that you receive in this way will appear in your Referral Network Email box. To have all emails and notices forwarded to your email address, please ensure that you have provided your email address in your profile, and have checked the box asking to have your messages forwarded.

One of the helpful things you can do is make sure your Global referral Network level is set to Gold. This will cause your profile to come up higher in any referral network search in your area.

Profiles are listed in search results in the following order, from the top down:

Elite ( available by invitation only to Gold level members who have achieved 4 stars for successful referrals through the network )

Gold , in order of star ranking( 4 stars, 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star, no stars )

Silver, in order of star ranking ( 4 stars, 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star, no stars)

Basic, in order of star ranking ( 4 stars, 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star, no stars )

Another helpful thing you can do is to complete your profile to the fullest extent possible, and of course add your photo.

Try to mention specific things about your market or area of specialization that might make you an obvious choice for your partner's client.

This might include particular expertise in Golf properties, waterfront or boating oriented properties, Ski properties, and so on.

Anything that can set you apart can be a good thing.

There is no denying that some professionals will search for the partner offering the best referral fee. You will want to be certain that you are at least competitive with others in your area.

Do some market research. Check how other professionals in your area are marketing themselves, and consider what you might do to help your profile stand out from the crowd.

Finally, if you write your descriptive paragraph in another language, it is well worth your while to do so. If you have a colleague or friend who can help, ask for a favor. Otherwise, you can copy and paste your paragraph to a word document and send it to several translation companies for a quote to translate it into your target languages. You can find many good translation companies online. One is Translate.com, another is 1800Translate.com You will find that for less than you might expect, you can have your paragraph translated into two or three languages that might be of the most interest to you. This is an excellent way to give yourself more visibility to international professionals who will be searching the referral network in their own language.

From your client's point of view, you are making an introduction to a carefully chosen professional in another market, based on your access to information that your client does not have.

The more you can tell your client about the professional (s) you have chosen to introduce them to, the more confidence they will have about the referral.

Obviously, your client is not interested in hearing about the referral fee arrangements, and will not want to fee that they are somehow being "sold".

It is a good idea to make sure your client understands the "rules of the road" that apply to their destination. If there are no exclusive listings there, and they will need to work with more than one professional to see the range of properties on offer, they need to understand that. If professionals in the destination market operate under different rules, perhaps the buyer/ renter needs to pay all of half of the commission on a transaction, your client will need to know that in advance or it may cause them to doubt the honesty of your referral partner when they hear it for the first time from them.

One of the best things you can do for yourself if you are serious about international business, is to be educated about the different markets.

There are great courses available that not only educate you on international business practices, but also give you the credibility of a designation that demonstrates your advanced education.

This is also a help in the Global Referral Network search, where designation holders will likely search for referral partners sharing the same designations.

CIPS ( Certified International Property Specialist ) is one such designation, held by practitioners world wide. More information can be obtained at:
http://www.realtor.org/cipshome.nsf/pages/education

Another is CRS ( Certified Residential Specialists ), http://www.CRS.com

Another, especially focused in international referrals, is the TRC ( Transnational Referral Certification )
http://www.WorldProperties.com

That is a big question, and there is really no short answer.

In the most basic sense, what your clients will expect is that you will be able to help them understand your market, understand the price ranges, what makes one property more desirable than another in your area, such as location, proximity to water, certain views or exposures. They will also look to you to be knowledgeable about your local attractions and amenities , just like any newcomer to your area.

It is worth remembering that they may not be experienced with the buying process in your country, and will look to you for information on that.

It is a service to them if you can provide a list of possible lawyers and tax advisors in your area who are familiar with the needs of international clients.

If they are considering an investment that they will rent some or all of the time, they will look to you for introductions to a management company, a maintenance company, and guidelines on pricing and rental values.

It is a good idea to equip yourself with as much preparation and research as you can, before you even get that international client.

If you have multiple clients to refer, you certainly can!

If you want to open a referral with more than one partner at a time for the same client, you can. But you need to consider that this may create confusion and possibly ill will.

However, in many places, a professional will only be able to show their own listings, and so a client will need more than one professional to work with if they really want to see all possible listings.

In this case, it is important to make sure that your client understands the local "rules of the road". In general, this would mean that they only see each property with ONE professional. If they are being shown a property that they have already viewed with someone else, they need to simply say so, and not proceed to view it again. Otherwise, there will be a problem if your client decides to make a transaction on that property, because the owner will be liable for two commissions, and indeed, in some locations, your client will be liable for two commissions. This could cost everyone, by preventing a successful conclusion to the referral.

The Global Referral Network system is designed to bridge the communications gap. It is not actually necessary to be able to talk with your referral partner in order to initiate a successful referral.

However, there may be times when you need to have a conversation in order to finalize details, make arrangements for your clients visit or other issues that may arise. You have access 24/7 to a live interpreter who can join you in a 3-way telephone call and translate between your respective languages.

This fear has held more professionals back from the benefits of international business than any single thing. Which is a shame, because it is usually unfounded.

Few serious investors are going to contemplate coming to a country to buy property where they have no means of communication.

Most international clients will be able to speak with you in your local language, possibly even fluently.

If they can't, then they are well aware that it is an issue, and will have a plan as to how they will handle not only working with a property professional, but all of the other communication issues that will arise during and after the transaction.

They may have an advisor or family member who will assist them.

If they really cannot communicate with you verbally, there are many other means of communication you can explore if you are willing.

You can print out listings for them in their language, and let them show you which ones they like, and don't like, and which properties they want to view.

You can communicate in a basic way using Google translate, where you type messages and translate from one language to the other. If course machine translation is at best 70% accurate, and you need to stay away from "expressions" and stick to basic, clear sentences such as: Do you like this? Do you want to visit this house?

Alternately, you can refer them on to a colleague who can speak their language, if there is someone locally. You can find them by searching the Global Referral Network in your area, filtering results by language spoken.

One of the most important steps in the referral process is the agreement on referral fees. Please make sure that you thoroughly understand exactly what is on offer.

An offer of 25% of the commission your referral partner collects might be tempting, until you see that your referral partner is only going to get 25% of the total, after his or her agency and any other agents who may be involved are paid.

That is why we provide the extra step in the calculations:

On a transaction of 1 million ( Dollar, Euro, whatever ) I can expect to be paid X.

This defines what your expected share should be.

Once you are certain you understand the terms of the referral fee arrangement, it is important to remember that you should not reveal the name and contact information of your client until you have received the original of the signed referral agreement from your partner.

Without that original signed agreement, there is no binding agreement at all.

PLEASE NOTE: In most countries, the broker or agency owner must sign the referral fee agreement or it is not binding.

It is important that you have as much of your communication as possible through the Global Referral Network system so that it can be date stamped and archived. This provides a permanent written record for your protection.

Once the referral is "in progress" you have access to a status update form at all times. Just go to your Global Referral Network menu, select Open Referrals, and click on the link for the referral you want to update.

There are a number of options on the status update form.

One of them may suit your case.

Select the one that you feel reflects your situation, and the system will inquire of your referral partner about the status of the referral.

If you both agree to cancel, the referral is moved to "cancelled referrals" in both of your mail boxes.

If you do not both agree to cancel, the referral will remain "open".

In case of actual dispute, the ICREA arbitration process is available to you if the referral was international. ( http://www.WorldProperties.com )

If the referral was inside one country, then you need to use the procedures that apply to your market. If you are in the United States, you will need to approach your local board or association of Realtors? for guidance.

When requested by any arbitration panel or professional conduct panel, the chain of correspondence and agreements or acknowledgements between you and your referral partner to the extent that it was conducted through the Global Referral Network system, will be made available.