Do you have the touch? Stay in contact with past clients to build future business.

Here’s one way to increase your business activity: stay in better touch with your past clients and prospects. How do I know this will make your business better? There are many reasons, but here are three that come to mind immediately:

It keeps the door open for referrals. Remember, it’s much easier to keep the clients you have than to find new ones. Plus, why not let your past clients find new clients for you through their referrals?

It helps you stand out from the crowd. NAR reports that most Realtors begin losing touch with their clients in six months. Stay in touch and you’ll shine in comparison to your competitors.

It shows you care. What do you figure your past clients think when communication drops off or ends? One possibility is that they believe you “got your money and ran.” That doesn’t put you in a very good light.

Generic and bland won’t cut it

The value of maintaining contact with previous clients should be obvious. Now, how to stay in touch? Yes, customer relationship management (CRM) software packages are plentiful, and I’m not suggesting you ignore them. In fact, I often recommend Top Producer to my clients because it operates online and you can see everything at once.

But let me address all those bland postcards, cut-and-paste generic letters, and e-mails that border on spam. They’re not cutting it today. We’re smack dab in the middle of the information age, and people are becoming connoisseurs of information because it’s so pervasive and accessible with a few mouse clicks.

So what does this have to do with CRM for Realtors? It means you better be dishing out some high-quality, useful information about real estate.

Today’s best agents and brokers understand this. They’re steadily building job security by giving past clients and prospects bona fide information they can use—not just postcards talking about how many listings they got last month.

This is just one of many CRM tactics I suggest, but I believe it’s one of the most important ways to keep your business growing. You will not only will increase your number of clients but also boost your reputation as a professional.

What type of info?

So how do you share this information and exactly what kind of information are we talking about? First, I like blogging. It’s easy and it’s free. I blog once a day, which has helped me grow my business by leaps and bounds. I give my clients—Realtors—tips and news that help them in their businesses. (You can find my blogs at www.activerain.com/blogs/corcoran). So consider a blog, Facebook and other social media, and an electronic newsletter (emphasis on news) that’s chocked full of items that relate directly to your farm area. The better-quality information you’re sharing, the more demand you’ll create. If you don’t have the time to do this, hire a virtual assistant to manage your social networks for you.

In a phrase, the type of content you provide boils down to this: be helpful. Share referrals for plumbers, electricians, contractors, carpet installers, landscapers, appliance dealers, and so on—every homeowner has to grapple with issues that require these types of products and services. What about offering a free advice on which home improvements have the best return on investment? Market updates? You bet.

As for how often these touches should occur, I recommend about one a month. In addition to blogs, social media, and an e-newsletter, think personal such as birthday cards, home-anniversary cards, and a phone call each quarter.

Start your post-closing relationship on the right note with a memorable closing gift. Be strategic here. I recommend gifts your clients see often that remind them of you. Possibilities include cool mailboxes, brass house numbers, doorknockers or nameplates, wind chimes, birdhouses or feeders, picture frames or nice photos of the home.

You can take charge of your future by cultivating relationships with past clients. The valuable information you provide on an ongoing basis will keep you top-of-mind for referrals and repeat business.