As a real estate professional, it's crucial to build relationships with clients and prospects. This was the topic covered in RISMedia's recent webinar, "Connections Into Cash: Activate Your Database to Drive Referrals," sponsored by American Home Shield®.
Related: From Contact List to Follow-Up Machine: Database Tips
The webinar dove into the database tactics utilized by some of the top real estate professionals in the country and how they're able to successfully drive referrals. The speakers were Nate Martinez, broker/co-owner of RE/MAX Professionals in Glendale, Ariz; Josh May, owner of May Group Realtors® with RE/MAX Grand Rapids in Michigan; Lisa Rice, SVP of Sales - Western Division for American Home Shield; and moderator Verl Workman, CEO and founder of Workman Success Systems.
Here are a few ideas from the webinar:
Value
How do you assess the value of a client? What's the lifetime worth of any one of your clients? One tactic is to create a list of your top 50 clients.
"Most importantly, pare people down to who you most enjoyed working with and have friends that like them," said Martinez.
Each person on his top 50 list gets a quality touch once a month. This can take the form of many things, from invites to private events and exclusive videos, to one-on-one meetings and private Facebook groups.
In the chart below, Martinez demonstrated how, over the course of his 32-year career, he's been able to turn one solid contact into almost $200,000 dollars in commission. This is simply through noticing the inherent value in that client and following up with regular touches.
Touches
For any successful agent or broker, your database is an indispensable asset; however, if you're not engaging with clients, you're wasting its value.
"It's our mission to take care of you before, during and after your real estate journey," said May. At RE/MAX Grand Rapids, May and his team have already begun scheduling out their 2019 marketing list. From when holiday cards will be sent and free pizzas will be delivered to when large-scale events, like a hot air balloon festival, will take place, all are planned out several months ahead of time.
It's these fun events and gifts make May and his team relatable, "and that's what we want to be," May said.
In a calendar year, May tries to schedule two touches per client every month; however, he admitted, between follow-up emails, providing vendor lists and move-in gift baskets (below), those 24 touches per year end up averaging around 750 touches per year for active clients.
Reward
Maintaining relationships with the long list of clients and vendors in your database is easier said than done. That's why rewarding referrals can go such a long way for your business.
It doesn't matter if it's a gift card to a local restaurant or a mug branded to your company; the benefits of rewarding referrals is two-fold: not only is your client or vendor happy, but also, you've created a quality touch and encouraged them to send more business your way.
Learn more from the webinar in the recording below:
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