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Reach Your Buyer's Network of Family & Friends

You know there is no way to guarantee that your clients are going to run and tell their friends and family about you... no matter how great of a job you do for them on either side of the real estate transaction. You can't force them to do it. But on the buyer side there is a way to insure that they will email their friends. Create a "just moved" presentation about their new home. Do it in an evocative way. Make it emotional.

Here's a fact. I've never purchased a home that, at the time, I wasn't proud of. I look back on some of them now and I'm not so proud, but at the time, I was proud. Your clients are as well. Help them share their pride. Giving them something they can forward in an email is the perfect way to do it. And it costs you nothing! It's free. You can't reach their network in a simpler and more emotionally appealing way.

Here is an example: Gordon Shelton was brief and to the point. "They loved the Show and are forwarding it to friends and family," he said.

And that's all that really needs to be said. What more could you ask for? A "we're moving" Show sent from the buyer to their friends and family is an endorsement, a defacto recommendation of you and your services. There simply is no other way to guarantee that your buyer client is going to tell their contact network about you. But a Show like this "we're moving" Show, makes certain they will.

View The "We're Moving" Show Here

Show Produced by Gordon Shelton, McGraw Realtors®
Tulsa, OK | 918.697.2742 | Site

Posted by Jeff Turner on 11/29/2006 02:11 PM

Comments (22)

internet marketing, buzz marketing, marketing, sales, relationships, buyers gifts, real estate shows, jeff turner

Originally posted at: Turner's Perspective: Reach Your Buyer's Network of Family & Friends

22 Comments on Reach Your Buyer's Network of Family & Friends

NOV

2006

Jeff,

Never thought of that, the technology also exists if there friends do not have email to have the buyers send them a mini disk with a virtual tour of there new home. If you use virtual tours you can have them hand them out. In this way there is a stronger reinforcement as the label of the mini CD has your information on it.

You got me thinking, Thanks.

The beauty of email is that it's instant, spontaneous and more than 90% of the US population has it. The difficulty in handing out anything that your client has to send is that they have to send it. Then the recipient has to put it in their computer to watch it. There is work involved on both sides.

Email simply works and it works simply. It's a part of our culture now and a preferred way for many people to communicate. I always open my friend's emails. I always look at the photos they send me.

"When I really think about it," when I'm moving I don't know where the stamps are and I'd be likely to lose a CD before I located them again. Email always works.

No matter the age or size, when I've bought a house, I have always felt happy and wanted to share it with others.

Dawn

This is a wonderful way to build repeat business. What buyer would forget how you helpled them to let their family and friends see the new home they purchased? This is something I plan on incorporating into my own business.

DEC

2006

We use VisualTours and find that both during the contract-to-closing phase and after the sale that buyers like to send a link to their friends so they can share their new house.

The tuff part is over 50 % of my new business is my clients are relo. But I do send out holiday cards and hopfully they will tell their new friends and co-workers and that will pay off down the road.

DEC

2006

Jeff, Thanks for sharing. Over the years I have learned that you need a steady stream of promotional items in front of your sphere of influence. In addition to calendars, birthday cards, quarterly market updates and homeownership anniversary notices; Nine years ago I initiated an annual "Customer Appreciation Dinner". Every year my company invites via the agents, those sellers and buyers who used our services and in turn referred us to someone who used our services. It is a fun filled evening at a banquet hall, complete with dinner, dancing, libations and entertainment. The cost is shared between the company and our allied partners. We have clients and customers that look forward to qualifying every year.

William, I love the appreciation dinner idea for existing customers. I stumbled on this blog post last night that boasts of success getting new clients in a similar way. John Novak writes about a marketing event he calls "A Day In The Park." He has some numbers to back up the idea as well.

DEC

2006

Susan, the feeling the relo client would get from something like this is worth the effort - which is minimal.

DEC

2006

This is good thinking - out of the box.... I never thought about doing this through my "buyers" network - in part because I dont know how they would feel about showing the interiors of their homes. Maybe on the exterior, they may not have a problem with that.

With Sellers, since most of them arent trying to be too "private" about the home they are selling, I think that's where I might want to start.

Thanks for sharing.

Loreena, it works for they buyers because the link is not public. They are only sending to their friends and family. They don't mind them seeing their house. In fact, just the opposite!

DEC

2006

A few more examples:

Look Who's Moving!

Spanish Language

Columbus, Ohio

MAY

2007

I love the concept. I have tried to do the note cards with the picture on front but half of the time, they are late arriving and the moment has past. I know clients would love emailing something like this to their family and friends. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sandra... you're very welcome!

Jeff:

I have been tring to move away from the print media since the first of the year, ans this is one more step in that move. THANK YOU.

Robert... I think this is one of the more powerful ways to use a Show. It creates immediate desire to forward to friends and family and those are really the people you want your name in front of.

MAY

2007

This is such a great idea. Thanks for sharing Jeff. I also like to do just moved cards, but am finding more and more of my clients prefer to tell people they have moved via email. This is a perfect way to get their friends and family to see who helped them move!!

Thanks!

Ginger... that's a fact. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, this is one of my favorite uses. It just makes sense.

MAY

2007

That's a great idea! It really sets you apart from the competition. Of course, now that you have shared it with everyone, you'll need to come up with a new angle to differentiate yourself.

Steven... thank you. Fortunately, very few people actually act on ideas. Those who do will set themselves apart from the 90% who don't.

That was a genius idea. I try to do anything I can to get my name out before during and at the closing. I like the idea.

Hey I wanted to ask you if you would please join my AR Group. I would be honored to have you there. It is called:

http://activerain.com/groups/KentuckyProfessionals

Thanks so much

Ben

Benjamin... thank you. I'm happy to join. We'll be driving through Kentucky on our way to our farm in West Virginia this summer, so it will give me a place to post. I plan on posting about every state we drive through and hope to coordinate some meetings. Of course, who ever joins us for breakfast, lunch or dinner will have to put up with six kids wound up from sitting in a car for 12 hours a day! :)

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