Best Florida Real Estate Professionals

Advice for Realtors

Staying in Touch With Past Clients

    Have you ever considered how many home sales or listings you could have had if you just stayed in touch with all of your past clients?<'P>

    No one lives in one house forever. In fact, statistics show that the average family moves from one home to another in less than 7 years. Each time they move, there's an opportunity for both a listing of their current home and a sale of a new home to them. If not a sale of a new home because they move out of your market area, there's an opportunity for a referral fee from the Realtor in that locale that you refer them to.

    I know, I know. I've heard it all. It's a bother to maintain a mailing list and postage is expensive. Get with the program," says Bob Henley, a successful Sarasota Florida real estate agent, "With your own email distribution list or, better yet, a Blast Email program, as well today's social networking sites, finding your clients and keeping in touch with them by email or on FaceBook or Twitter and staying in touch with them is relatively painless. At most, it might require that you get your clients' email address and social network addresses as the last thing you do at closing before grabbing your check and running out the door.

    Oh yes, "keeping the conversation going" with past clients is going to take a couple hours a week to do. But, isn't that at least a more productive use of your time than sitting in the office, drinking coffee and complaining about how slow the real estate business is right now?

    In addition to the possibility of repeat business from your past clients, letting them know you're still in the business and that you care enough to stay in touch may lead them to refer their friends and relatives who need a home to you.

    Some other ways you can stay in touch are:

• Determine family member birthdays and anniversaries while you're working with them and send appropriate birthday cards on the appropriate dates
• While out working you "farm," make it a point to drive by their homes and drop in. If they're home always ask if they know anyone in the neighborhood thinking of selling or buying. "If they aren't home," says Connie belmont, a specialist on Sarasota waterfront homes, "leave your business card with the comment on the back that you were in the neighborhood and wanted to say hello." Another smart thing to do is to leave a color Personal Brochure outlining your professional qualifications and service offerings.
• Send the same periodic postcards that you send to your "farm" to your past clients.

    You know you really ought to be doing these things. So, here's a simple question to ask yourself, "Do I want to be as successful as possible as a Realtor or am I willing to "just get by." If it's former, get started today and don't stop.