A real-estate relationship is one that you might initially envision as fleeting. In other words, your current assumption might be that once the house is sold or bought, the connection between you and the client is over. Ending the relationship here is a mistake for multiple reasons. In fact, you can employ strategies to ensure that this connection lasts.
Understand the Purpose
Before you put efforts into maintaining clients with past customers, you’ll want to know why this endeavor is so important. Think about how real estate marketing works. Certainly, you craft digital and print marketing materials to distribute to target audience members.
However, people also pass on positive experiences with real estate agents to their relatives and friends. Consider the sheer number of individuals whom any one person knows. Eventually, many of these people will sell or buy a home. When they ask their relatives or friends for recommendations on a real estate agent, you want your name to be the one stated.
Give a Gift
You’ve probably heard of real estate agents providing a gift to their clients upon the purchase of a new home. Imagine how happy and appreciated your clients will feel if they walk into their new house for the first time as the owners and find a gift from you waiting there.
This personal touch can encourage them to want to stay in touch with you. Remember that you can try all of the methods in the world, but if clients aren’t invested in maintaining a relationship, you are likely to fail in your pursuit. Provide them with some incentive to stay connected.
Offer Guidance
You want to show your clients that your expertise in the field of home ownership moves beyond the buying and selling process. For example, you should have a list of referrals for various home repairs in your toolkit. Also, you can stock up on resources that help guide residents to different elements of the community.
After the new buyers move into the house, let these individuals know that you are still there for them. If they are in need of a referral for an entity to complete some projects around the house, these new buyers should know that they can call you or contact you via email or social media to ask for information. This endeavor also allows you to establish relationships with businesses in the community as well.
Connect on Social Media
Social media channels provide the perfect platform for staying in touch with past clients. You can connect with these clients on your professional page. Demonstrate an interest in their lives by liking their posts or photos. You can also ask your past clients if you can share their posts that are related to the community.
For example, imagine that your past clients are involved with volunteer work in the community or that they are hosting a neighborhood event. Share the posts about these endeavors on your page. Showing other prospective clients about all of the positive happenings in the community can encourage them to make a purchase in that neighborhood.
Show Interest in Educational Activities
If your past clients include parents, think about how joyful they might be to learn that you are interested in the success of the schools in the community. Whether you yourself live in the community or not, your presence as a real estate agent there makes you a member of the neighborhood.
You might choose to follow the schools on social media and to share posts that contain good news about the district. Showing your continued involvement in the community is a good way to maintain contact with your past clients.
Invite Past Clients to Events
As a real estate agent, you may host events so that prospective clients can get to better know you and your work. Ask some of your past clients to come to these events. Individuals who are savvy about hiring real estate agents want to hear true stories from clients. While these prospective clients can read reviews online, some people are simply more trusting of in-person interactions.
Of course, you could also facilitate these events through video-conferencing platforms when necessary. By using this method, in fact, you could extend these meet-and-greet experiences to prospective clients who are looking to move to the area from across the country. Remember to treat all of your clients well at the events. Offering light snacks and refreshing beverages can make the atmosphere feel more inviting.
Make Announcements
You can encourage past clients to feel excited for you too in your future endeavors. When you list or sell a property in the area, you can make announcements to your large network. Of course, you will want to post this information on social media.
When your past clients follow you on social media, you are thereby encouraging them to like these posts. You should also opt for a direct-mailing campaign. For example, you can select an array of postcard templates for mailings from wisepelican.com, that will allow you to deliver the good news right to the door of your past clients.
This type of delivery helps to elevate the importance of the news that you are sharing.
Furthermore, this approach can serve as an excellent source of real estate marketing. Visitors to the homes of your past clients might see the stunning postcards and want to learn more about their own home-buying possibilities.
Another benefit is that once you start to use these services for connecting with clients from the past, you can see the advantages of using the same products to market your services to prospective customers.
Mail Holiday Cards
Another possibility is to start a practice of sending out cards with thoughtful greetings around the holidays. Do make sure to select cards that are inclusive of all religious traditions. This approach shows past clients that you care about them from a human angle and that they are not merely objects of business to you.
On these holiday cards, you can remind past clients that you are still there for them. It’s quite possible that they will have forgotten your offer to connect them with industry professionals in the area after some time has gone by. The holiday cards give you the perfect opportunity to send both greetings and reminders.
You might not think that you need to establish long-term relationships with your customers. However, this assumption is false. These long-term relationships are important in terms of establishing your presence in the community and for building up your own business.