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Like most agents, you are probably focused on prospecting for new customers and it never occurs to you to work with your past clients. But that’s exactly what you should be doing. Building relationships with your clients does not end with making the sale—maintaining those relationships is how you generate future business, with them and the people they refer to you.
Handing over the keys to a property should be a beginning, not an ending. You want to remain relevant to every client you have worked with. To do that you need a system that is scalable and teachable so that it grows with your business and becomes part of the regular work your team does.
First, as you study your market for new listings make sure you contact past clients in your database with listings in their area. Call them up and let them know when a property near theirs goes on sale and then what it sells for. This is not primarily about getting appointments, but staying current and establishing yourself as their trusted advisor. You want to be their “friend in the business.”
When you call your client back with the final sale price of that property, then you can ask if they would like to make an appointment to assess the current value of their own home based on current sale prices.
One simple system to follow is the one day, one week, one month and one year strategy that begins the day after selling your client a home. Simply call them the day after they move in and ask if they have any questions so far about the property that you can answer, or that you can ask the former residents.
A week later, call them again with an item of interest in their new neighborhood. One great gesture is to tell them about a local restaurant and arrange for them to have a round of free drinks there on your tab by mentioning your name to the owner.
In a month call them to let them know you will continue to be available if they need to contact you, that you will call them occasionally with news about properties in the area, and you will be happy to answer any questions they may have by then. This is a way to step back without stepping away, and maintaining that connection with them for the future.
The one-year call is to reinforce the continuing relationship with the client and to make an appointment to assess their home again if they are interested in knowing its current value.
Following this system is not just a good idea for keeping your past clients active with your company, but it also puts you ahead of your competition. Most agents only see 10% of their past clients again after the sale. That means their past clients can easily become your current or future clients if you build and maintain the client relationships that your competition fails to follow through with.
There is a lot to be said in favour of working with people you already know and have established rapport with. You still want to always be prospecting for new clients, but you don’t have to generate as many new contacts to be highly successful if you can maintain all of your past client relationships as well.
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.