This week I, Jaime Resendiz, had the honor of presenting to the Agent First Group about nurturing clients the right way. A little about me: I’m a REALTOR® with eXp Realty with expertise in online marketing (Facebook, YouTube, Google, Instagram, etc). I have a strong background in executive management, online marketing, and real estate marketing. My passion for marketing has always had one focus though–the people. That’s how I learned all I needed to know about nurturing.
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Today, I’m going to share with you how nurturing your clients the right way will authentically and successfully bring them into your business.
The Different Types Of Nurturing Clients the Right Way
There are several types of nurturing that you’ll want to get into as a real estate agent. Each one has a different purpose and a different place on the road to real estate success. The three main types of nurturing you’ll partake in include:
- Leads > activate into transaction
- Current clients > create the experience
- Past clients > convert into advocates
It’s important to remember that you are in the real estate business to provide for your family and creating relationships is the best way to do that. With that being said, these relationships eventually need to convert into business or you will go OUT of business. You need to do the hard work to activate your leads even if some people get annoyed and end up leaving.
The Principles Of Successful Nurture
No matter who you’re working with, there are a few principles that will make any nurturing experience successful.
- It must feel personal. Even if you’re not always the one doing your emailing and calling (i.e. you have a virtual assistant), you still need to create a personal experience for every single client.
- It must be replicable. You must keep the process of each transaction consistent for every client. There are a few steps to that:
- Create a system to protect yourself from overwork and stress.
- Automate as many tasks as you can.
- Hire others to help you as your business grows and expands.
- It must be effective. Regardless of what you do, you have to make it effective. If it’s not working, get rid of it.
From Leads to Transactions
You have options for connecting with new leads. You can use email, text, phone calls. There are several ways to go about getting the best results from each.
- For email, make sure you always provide a robust 30-day follow up. Also make sure you’re providing them with value and education in each email. Even if there is no reply, at least you can know that people are reading your emails and finding some value.
- For texts, make sure you provide a robust 14-day follow up. Primarily, texting is for getting to know people. You don’t want to push it too far, but you should do your best to keep their mind on you.
- For phone calls, you need to provide a robust 7-day follow up. Try to get their story. Engage with them and find out what they need.
Regardless of what methods you use, make sure it’s sustainable. After the initial month of first contact, you want to create a method that will last you throughout the year. Send out monthly emails, quarterly texts, and biannual calls. Persevere and engage with them to get to know their needs, desires, and pain points. Remember that not everyone buys a home immediately…but everyone DOES have a housing need.
You’ll also want to use social media. Use it for advertising, absolutely. However, the most important part of using social media in nurturing clients the right way is to have educational videos that provide value to everyone who sees them. Create your own content to keep it personal and show your clients that you genuinely care about them and want to answer their questions.
As you go, you can retarget your email list so that you can reach the same people on social media as you do in emails. Now, your leads will see you everywhere and be open to further help when they need it.
Create The Experience For Current Clients
Nurturing clients the right way is especially important for current clients. With current clients, start out the relationship by asking about their communication preferences. That way, you can be sure that you are both communicating at the appropriate times in the way that works best for their client experience.
Once they’ve committed to using you as their real estate agent, send out a “welcome/expectations email” to let them know how things are going to go during your time together. You may want to consider creating a home buying journey chart for your client to help them see what steps will be taken and what dates they need to complete things by.
Once you’ve established expectations, keep them updated with a weekly email that lets them know how the process is going. This email needs to be done on the same day of each week at the same time.
As the closing day draws closer, you should send a “closing email” that gives them all they need to know about the closing process. This eliminates most questions and gives your clients the confidence they need as the big day approaches.
Finally, 2 days prior to closing, it’s time to send them a “goodbye email” that assures your client that you want to stay friends with them in the future, even if you aren’t staying in touch as regularly.
Of course, you don’t want to do everything by email either. Make sure you also call and text them (however they prefer to be contacted) pretty often to keep in touch and maintain the relationship. Be there with them throughout the process as often as you can. Always attend the closings, and, if you are comfortable, provide closing gifts.
Become friends with clients on social media to develop a community relationship. As you develop your relationship, provide your clients regular value. Make workflow videos that show them how to go through each process. You can also provide them with some top-tier partners (title, lenders, inspectors, insurance, etc.) who will provide real value and support to you and your clients.
Converting Clients Into Advocates
You absolutely want your clients to drop your name whenever they meet someone who needs a REALTOR®. If you’ve helped them buy or sell a home and built a strong relationship (by nurturing clients the right way as detailed above), they are familiar with you and comfortable with you. In almost every situation, you’ll be able to help those clients more than once. However, only truly exceptional service will make your clients your advocates.
To really convert clients into advocates, there are a few steps to take.
- Set a budget for how much you’ll spend on your client each year–how much is it worth to you to get a referral?
- Keep connecting with them over the first 30 days in their new home in case they have questions.
- Provide monthly educational emails…forever.
- Check in with phone calls and texts throughout the years.
- Send them postcards/mailers with small updates about your life and business.
- Invite them to events.
- Drop by their home with a little gift.
- Keep active on social media–use marketing (videos, posts, etc.), advertisements, and direct comments/messages.
- Constantly provide workflow videos to each client, present and past.
Work each of these connection opportunities into your budget to make sure you spend the right amount on maintaining your clients as your advocates for years to come.
Getting Help Nurturing Clients the Right Way
Feeling overwhelmed? That’s no surprise. There is a lot to do to maintain so many relationships! But you don’t have to do it alone. You can hire people to help you with many of these tasks. For example, you can hire people to help you close contracts or virtual assistants to help you with follow up.
In addition to hiring, you can automate things. You can send Google Forms for client intake–it’s easy and you don’t have to write down all the things they tell you. You should use Calendly to help you schedule appointments–you can even create different calendars that offer different time slots depending on your priorities and who you want to meet with most.
Email and text automation is easy with a CRM. You can also record voicemail drops that go straight to voicemails so you don’t have to make a new call every time (this should only be done for leads and NOT past clients).
No matter what tasks you automate and what you do yourself, don’t forget the three main principles of nurture that will bring you success. Make it:
- Personal
- Replicable
- Effective
If you can create strong nurturing relationships that are personal, replicable, and effective, you will set yourself far above all other real estate agents out there. Before you know it, you’ll be one of the top agents in the world. And it’s all because you worked hard to nurture.
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