One of the most effective ways to build a list of clients as a real estate agent is by word of mouth. You help a client sell their home or purchase a new one, the person is happy with your performance and mentions your name to a friend who is looking for a reliable real estate agent. The friend gives you a call. In short, personal recommendations are worth their weight in gold!
So, once you help a client buy or sell a home, the relationship shouldn’t end there. Discover a few ways to nurture long-term relationships with former clients who can help you connect with new clients.
Social Media
Not surprisingly, social media can play a big part in helping you stay in contact with former clients. You can invite them to ‘friend’ your page and, in turn, you can send a ‘friend’ request to them.
This allows both of you to keep up with one another’s posts. If a former client has a fundraiser happening or a community event coming up, you can advertise it on your page. Take it one step further and you can invite your social media page followers to share the post!
If you’re friends with former clients on social media, it makes it very easy for them to ask questions on behalf of someone who may be interested in your services as a realtor or even direct them to your page.
Having at least one page on social media means former clients will know about any open house announcements or other realtor related events happening in the area.
Invitations to Events
Another way to stay on the radar of former clients is to invite them to conferences or gatherings where they’ll interact with many other people who live in the area. This is a chance for former clients to share their positive buying or selling experience with others who may be interested in hiring you as their real estate agent.
Plus, when former clients attend a formal or informal gathering, the conversation doesn’t have to revolve around real estate. You can talk about family life, new businesses in the area and local events. When former clients get to know you a little better, they are all the more likely to keep you in mind if they hear of someone who needs a realtor.
Utilize Postcards
Sending out postcards via direct mail is very effective in keeping in touch with former clients. Using postcards means you are connecting with former clients both virtually and IRL (in real life). It’s a good idea to send out a postcard whenever you help a client sell or buy a home in the area. Your postcard can include a photo of the home, your smiling photo, some of the details about the property and, of course, the home’s address.
A direct mail company that specializes in postcards for realtors is especially effective if they’re sent out to people living in the same neighborhood where a home was bought or sold. There’s a good chance the former client walked or drove by the home. This is yet another demonstration of your abilities as a real estate agent.
Postcards are a way to show former clients that you can continue to succeed as a real estate agent in getting top dollar for sellers and the best deal for buyers. In addition, a postcard is something a person can put up on their refrigerator, keeping you top of mind. Working with a direct mail company that specializes in sending out postcards for realtors is going to make the process easier and more convenient.
Give Away Keepsakes
Giving keepsakes to former clients is another great way to establish a long-term connection with them. A keepsake could be a magnet with your photo, business name and contact information on it. Or you could hand out coffee mugs, pens, notepads or even car air fresheners.
All of your keepsakes should have your name and contact information on them. Giving out keepsakes to former clients means you’re always within arm’s reach when a person wants to pass along your contact information to a friend or family member.
Provide Valuable Resources
Compiling a list of dependable local professionals in a variety of fields can prove valuable to you in your real estate business. Plumbers, electricians, yard care experts, veterinarians and locksmiths are all examples of professionals to have on your list.
Giving a copy of this list to clients provides them a valuable resource especially if they aren’t familiar with the area. Be sure to include only the local professionals who you can vouch for personally.
A Yearly Check-In
You have records of when your former clients bought or sold their home. Consider checking in with former clients on the anniversary of their purchased or sold home. Create a personal note simply thanking them again for allowing you to handle the transaction.
A yearly follow-up like this to former clients is something that many realtors don’t do. So, when you decide to follow-up with a personal note, you’re setting yourself apart from the crowd of real estate agents in your area!
Summary
Lastly, make it your goal to be every former client’s go-to real estate agent. After all, most people have a go-to doctor, dentist, mechanic, veterinarian… Taking the above steps to nurture long-term relationships can help you become the one your former clients and their family and friends call when they need a stellar real estate agent.