A real estate agent needs to maintain a strong communications network in order to be truly successful. As a result, it is important to build a relationship and regularl
y keep in touch with past and current clients, as well as plan to create ties with clients in the future. This personal bond with each client will make them more likely to remember you and your excellent services, rely on you in the future, and recommend you to their family and friends. The key to keeping in touch with clients is to determine if they want a relationship and then to contact them in a way that they prefer that still manages to be memorable.
1. Provide Memorable Gifts to Past Clients These gifts can be very small and unobtrusive, but also useful. They ought to have your contact information on them and be designed to be used in a prominent place. This way, if a client needs you, they will have your number close at hand to call. Some examples of unusual gifts that still manage to be completely useful are magnets that label the dishwasher as dirty and clean, thereby stopping anyone from putting away dirty dishes or rewashing clean ones. Sending small gifts of food that have a clever slogan is also an excellent way to keep yourself in the forefront of a past client’s mind and make him or her more likely to recommend you to family and friends. 7 Sending free movie passes, packets of seeds for flowers that are easy to grow, and entertaining stickers are all great, easy gifts to send to maintain contact with clients.
2. Personal Cards Many real estate agents send cards to their clients around the holidays, but there is a better way to stand out in the crowd. Remembering important dates in the lives of the clients, such as when they first signed the deed to the house, their birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and graduations. By sending cards that commemorate one of these days, it will show the client that you care about their lives. Handwriting the cards is a nice touch that is well worth the time and effort.
3. Use Customer Feedback Surveys Another excellent way to maintain contact is to use customer feedback surveys that assess how satisfied customers were with the services and show that their input is important. Most people recommend that the surveys be sent to the customers about two or three weeks after the sale of the home has been closed. This also allows you to solidify contact information with past clients.
4. Provide Organization When it is time for all of the taxes to be filed, a client can feel overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork that needs to be collected in order to accurately pay their taxes. One easy way to help a client and catapult yourself to high esteem is to take all of the forms and paperwork that were generated throughout the entire process and put them in a binder with marked tabs. The forms that could be included are warranties, any statements of settlement, HUD documents, and appraisals. All of this helps with homeowners filing their taxes and feeling confident that they have been done correctly. It also increases your usefulness, even after the sale has been closed.
5. Call Them If a client seems to be receptive to phone calls, a few days after they have moved into their new home, call them. This is an extremely effective tactic because it not only shows you care about how your clients are doing, but also shows that you are willing to be contacted after the sale has closed. Calling clients makes it easier for the client to call you if he or she is having a problem or wants advice. Using a service such as SlyDial allows you to call a client as unobtrusively as possible, performing the call without even disrupting a current call that might be going on.
6. Provide Useful Advice Providing helpful advice isn’t considered invasive. This advice could be in the form of tips for decorating a home for different seasons, ideas for home improvement projects, and advice with regards to maintaining the home. Past clients will appreciate these ideas for making their home worth more.
By using some of these methods, it will be possible for you to keep in contact with your clients and build relationships that will last for years and produce referrals regularly.