I was so inspired by Desiree Daniels post, Holidays...Are You Planning Ahead? that I wanted to share my Thanksgiving gift from last year.
I like to contact my past clients once a month. I send a newsletter every month and phone or send a personal note at least four times a year to each of my "A" clients. At least once a year, I like to make face to face contact with these people. I love Thanksgiving because its non-religious and much easier for me to determine what to deliver without offending.
Last year I gave a set of Thanksgiving potholders to each of my clients. I bought these on eBay and tied them together with raffia and then attached a tag that had my business card on one side and a cute little note on the other side with a call to action.
People laugh about the tag, but they know exactly what I want. Its important to ask for referrals. If you are not asking for referrals, another agent will.
If you you don't ask for the business, and take a more subtle approach it can sometimes be misconstrued. Dont assume that your past clients know that you want referrals if you don't ask.
Not everyone is in sales. Most people don't really understand what we do. Many people think we just sell houses and that is not the case. Houses sell themselves, we are facilitators.
We are lead generation machines.
For example, your past client may think that you are too busy to take on more clients, or that you don't need new clients. Most likely they are so wrapped up in their own life and drama that they don't take the time to figure out what you need, so you need to tell them.
If you think about it, real estate agents by design, give off a successful and upbeat persona. Even if we haven't had a transaction close in a few months we still give off the success vibe. And rightly so, people like to do business with people that are successful, but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't ask for referrals.
Every good commercial and advertisement that you see has a call to action. You need to tell your audience what you want them to do...
- Call Now
- Go to your local store and buy
- Drink this beer
- Eat this food
- Watch this show
- Hurry before the offer ends
- Not available in store
- Call before the price increase
There is nothing worse than those artsy, funky TV commercials that leave you feeling blank. You know the commercials I'm talking about, when you turn to the person sitting next to you and you say, "What am I supposed to do, what do they want me to buy?"
Thank you Desiree's for the wonderful pie idea. I'm going to add a sticker to the top of my pie boxes.
;)
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