Providing excellent customer service is undoubtedly important in winning over your real estate clients, but top-performing agents take it a step further by utilizing various strategies that truly impress their clients. By establishing clear communication and building trust and confidence from the get-go, you can enhance your business and turn your clients into devoted advocates for your brand. Here are some valuable tips to help you achieve this goal.
What the best real estate agents know about wowing their clients
Connect them to businesses you trust.
“I’ve come to believe that connecting is one of the most important business—and life—skill sets you’ll ever learn,” says author and master networker Keith Ferrazi in his bestselling book Never Eat Alone. “Why? Because, flat out, people do business with people they know and like. Careers—in every imaginable field—work the same.” You know the community and the people in it, and you have likely built a database of local service providers, handymen, contractors, and more. Hook them up with the best professional contacts you have.
Give them your business.
Don’t feel obligated, but if your customers have a service you can use, why not use it? It’s a great way to deepen the relationship. This is another Ferazzi concept called “pinging.” Simply put — stay in touch. You don’t have to send out a birthday card each year, but if you need new tires and remember one of your clients sells tires — use the opportunity to connect with them.
Help them network.
Particularly for people who are new to the area, you can be a lifeline and assist them to get established in the community. “In the real estate business you learn more about community issues, you learn more about life, you learn more about the impact of government, probably than any other profession that I know of” said Johnny Isakson, a senator from Georgia with a 40-year career in real estate. Use your knowledge to make yourself the go-to expert. Tell your real estate clients about social groups, gyms, country clubs, Facebook groups they should be a part of, and more. Even better: Introduce them to people you know in the community.
Send over dinner on moving day.
The last thing people want to think about is dinner when they are trying to make their new home livable. Have a pizza, Chinese food, or some other meal delivered. To ensure you send them something they’ll enjoy, casually ask them what their favorite food is, without giving away your plans. This kind of service is what leads to more customer referrals.
Welcome them home.
Leave a welcome basket with a bottle of champagne and a gift card to a local restaurant, with the message “When you have finished all the unpacking, it is time to celebrate!”
Offer them a tour of the community.
If they are new to the area, spend an afternoon chauffeuring them around, making sure to show them all the hot spots and attractions.
Provide them with a “best of …” bag.
Include gift cards, pamphlets, and coupons for the best restaurants, salons, attractions, and so on in the community.
Remember significant events.
Send a birthday or anniversary card, a gift or a new baby, or school supplies for children starting a new school, or find some other way to recognize a big day for clients.
Hire a cleaning or moving crew.
Talk about taking a load off clients’ shoulders. Send somebody over to clean the home from top to bottom or offer them some extra hands to move in all their belongings.
Bring in a professional organizer.
In a house full of boxes, an organizer can help unpack everything strategically, so that the house is as tidy as possible when clients first move in.
Offer them a basket of essentials.
Load up a laundry basket with toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, sponges, hand soap, toiletries, paper plates, plastic cups and other items that clients will need in those early days of moving in.
Send them to local attractions.
Buy tickets to a local zoo, museum, comedy club, or other activity, or give them passes to a golf course, spa, pool or gym. Not only is that a way to say “Thank you,” but it prompts them to go out and enjoy the community.
The key to picking the perfect option? Getting to know your real estate clients. Ask questions and listen to what they have to say. A personal gift from the heart can be the perfect way to forge a long-lasting relationship—and that can lead to business now and well into the future.
