Does this mean top agents just suck it up and feel dirty to get ahead? Are they all extroverts who love to schmooze? Of course not. They just learned smarter ways to build their sphere. To get you started, we put together this list of seven creative ways to build your sphere of influence in real estate.

What Is a Sphere of Influence in Real Estate?

As a real estate agent, your sphere of influence (SOI) is made up of the people you are personally connected with who you have a reasonable chance of influencing with your real estate expertise. People in your sphere include your friends, family, former clients, and their second-order contacts. In other words, a friend of a friend, or a family member of a friend, should be in your sphere of influence.

7 Tips for Expanding Your Sphere of Influence

1. Write a Great Pitch Email for Your List (Script)

While having someone in your sphere follow you on social media is great, getting into their inbox is better. Getting someone to opt in to your email list isn’t easy, but it is much, much easier if you already have a connection with them—even just on social media. You just need to write a persuasive email template to ask them. Here’s one you can use:

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Hey [First Name],

This is [Your Name], [the person you know them through]’s friend from [how you know them]. I just wanted to let you know that I run an exclusive [your farm area] real estate insiders email list and I wanted to invite you to join. I really think you’ll find it useful and enjoyable.

I share sneak peeks of off-market listings, deep dives into the [your farm area] real estate market, actionable advice from experts on negotiating multiple offers, and getting the best deals in [your farm area]. I also do office hours every Wednesday, where I answer questions from the list.

Should I count you in?

[Your name]

2. Automate Your Content Marketing to Cast a Wider Net

Posting engaging, relevant content to your social media channels is a crucial part of building your sphere. The only problem is that writing or finding the engaging, local content that can help build your sphere is time-consuming. If you just wing it and send out mediocre content, you risk losing your audience. This can happen faster than you think.

This is why automating your content marketing with a service like Artur’in is a great way to expand your sphere. Artur’in will create and share local content to your social media channels every day so you can focus on outreach to your inner circle. Even better, Close readers save $300 through waived setup fees.

Visit Artur’in

3. Not an Extrovert? Science Says to Focus on Learning, Not Selling

While some agents take to networking events like fish to water, others would rather get a root canal than schmooze in a roomful of strangers. Luckily, according to research from Harvard, a simple shift in mindset can make networking much easier.

All you need to do is focus on what you can learn from the people you will meet rather than the potential business you can get. So instead of saying to yourself, “I am going to promote myself and get 10 leads tonight!” say something like, “Who knows, maybe I will meet people who I can learn from and become a better agent and better person tonight.”

4. Volunteer in Your Local Community

Volunteering at your local church, synagogue, mosque, school, or food kitchen is another great way to build your sphere of influence. As a bonus, even if you strike out making new contacts, you will end up helping the people in your community who need it most.

Even better, studies show that 72% of wealthy people volunteer at least five hours per week. That means your fellow volunteers will have a better than average chance of owning a home and possibly needing your services. You also won’t need to pitch people to expand your sphere volunteering. After all, most friendly conversations with strangers eventually turn to work.

5. Center Your Mission, Vision & Values

Another simple mindset shift that can make networking to build your sphere less awful is to center your Mission, Vision, and Values when you’re networking. For this to work, you’ll need to have a mission that’s a little deeper than “I want to make more money.”

For example, top agent, real estate coach, and Close Contributor Sean Moudry’s mission is “To help people in Boulder, Colorado, build generational wealth through real estate.” So when Sean heads out to a networking event or a dinner party, he is not trying to sell himself, get more clients, or even build his sphere. He is trying to help people in Boulder, Colorado, build generational wealth through real estate. It’s a subtle difference—but a powerful one.

6. Join Local Subreddits

With more than 52 million active daily users, Reddit is a sleeping giant for real estate agents who want to expand their sphere. Reddit’s communities, called subreddits, are organized around millions of topics, many of them focused on cities and towns. Chances are, there is a subreddit for your town and maybe even your farm area. Even better, getting noticed on these subreddits can be much easier than getting seen on Facebook Groups.

For example, /r/NYC has 465,000 members, but some posts make it to the front page with fewer than 30 upvotes. That means you only need to get a handful of people to like your post to get in front of thousands of people, who all live in New York City. The subreddit for Portland, Maine, /r/portlandme, only has 16,000 members, and you can get onto the front page with less than a dozen upvotes.

Just keep in mind that your hard sell is not going to work on Reddit. You need to build trust first. The only way to build your sphere on Reddit is to genuinely engage with the community and only offer to help solve people’s problems when they ask. Eventually, you will become a trusted resource for the community.

7. Add Personal Information About People in Your Sphere to Your CRM

If you want to get business from your sphere, you can’t just blast out real estate facts all day. If you do, you’ll get ignored, then abandoned. Instead, you need to make, and more importantly, nurture personal connections. To do this successfully, you need to share things they care about. As Beverly Ruffner always says, “Selling steak to a vegetarian is not a good sales tactic.”

Adding personal information about hobbies, pets, family, or other interests to the contacts in your customer relationship manager (CRM) helps you deliver appropriate news to them. Want to share news about a new dog run being built in your town? Filter to the contacts who love dogs in your CRM. Got tickets to a baseball game to give away? Filter to your former clients who love baseball.

Bonus Tip: Keep Your Sphere a Manageable Size

Most new agents think that they need hundreds or even thousands of people in their sphere of influence to get new business and referrals. They’ve been taught that real estate is a “numbers game,” and the more people they can influence, the more money they will make. This is not realistic or practical for most agents.

Most social scientists today rely on Dunbar’s number, which says the average person cannot maintain relationships with more than 150 people. Since your sphere of influence will include second-order connections (friends of friends), a healthy size for your sphere of influence should be around 300 people.

Having thousands of people in your database is just a vanity metric. It won’t help your business. If you have people on your email list who never open emails or respond to texts or calls, delete them and use the other tips in this article to add more people to your sphere who will engage with you.

Over to You

Have a great tip to help expand your sphere of influence in real estate? Let us know in the comments.

The post 7 Tips for Building Your Sphere of Influence in Real Estate (+ Script) appeared first on The Close.

Knowing how to generate referrals is key to building your business, and winning organic referrals and repeat clients from your personal connections—the folks who know, like, and trust you—requires thoughtful strategy. We spoke to top producers nationwide to get their best advice and tools for building a steady flow of referrals (and income!) from your sphere of influence.

If you’re looking to learn more about paid, broker, and realtor referrals, check out our recent article about referral fees, how they work, and best practices.

7 Ways to Increase Your Real Estate Referrals

1. Create Buzzworthy Client Events

A surefire way to get your clients buzzing about you with their friends and family is to invite them to be a part of events that they can’t help but talk about afterward. These can be live or virtual, and as simple or elaborate as your budget allows.

Top 1% Chicago Realtor Akos Straub has perfected this strategy. Here’s what he has to say:

“My best referral sources are private and intimate events for my past and current clients, usually for no more than 20 couples or families.

“For instance, before COVID-19 hit, I offered a private screening of the new Aladdin movie at a downtown AMC theater. I reserved all the seats for the Saturday morning show, and I offered popcorn, drinks, and a gift bag with Aladdin-themed items. When an attendee was asked how their weekend was, they were for sure going to mention my name and the event.”

2. Build Community & Connection Online

Your past clients are less likely to give you real estate referrals if you aren’t top of mind. So, consistently share both real estate market and lifestyle content online and encourage your social connections to share it with their friends and family.

You can build a community website with Parkbench and make it the hub for the community to learn what’s happening near you. Host interviews with local business owners and give your recommendations for the best brew pubs, neighborhoods, dog parks, and eateries in your town or city.

Check out the Parkbench website to see if your market is available (they only allow one real estate agent per area), reserve your spot, and start talking up your community’s local hot spots.

Visit Parkbench

Miami luxury listing agent Brad Cooke suggests a way to make your online content and social messages highly shareable:

“I am constantly keeping my name in front of clients with advertisements, postcards, e-blasts, and so forth regarding new listings, but I also include content like ‘My Favorite Places.’ Whether it be restaurants, bars, dry cleaners, or car washes, people share when they read something they agree with, so just give them a reason to share your message.”

3. Stay Top-of-Mind Using Key Market Insights

 Agents who think their clients’ interest in real estate ends at the closing table aren’t getting as many referrals as they could. Key market insights shared with potential buyers and homeowners help to position you as a knowledgeable market expert who can expertly advise them on a property’s investment potential or performance. Bonus: Make this info easily shareable for broader reach.

Use your real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) or your email marketing platform to create templated messages you can use to send timely stats to your different client types. Then, pull the numbers from your market every other week and fill in the blanks.

Manhattan luxury real estate agent Alyssa Martin uses this strategy regularly. Here’s her take on it:

“You’ve got to stay up to date on the latest real estate trends, and you’ve got to share those trends. I share valuable information with past and future clients, both to educate them and to stay on their minds. Most people don’t use the same agent twice; I want my clients, their friends, and all New Yorkers to know that I’m consistent, caring, and tenacious.”

4. Cross-pollinate Your Prospecting & Referral Game

 Referral opportunities increase when your varied marketing efforts hit the same person with coordinated messages. Your neighborhood is a great place to start since this audience is already in your sphere of influence, they just aren’t active clients—at least not yet.

To get started, you’ll want to make sure your prospecting tools are sharp. For coordinated business cards, postcards, flyers, door hangers, and much more, check out Lab Coat Agent’s Marketing Center. This site is like Canva on steroids but for realtors. They’ll help you create recognizable, consistent media that will make your referral connections easier.

Check Out Lab Coat Agents

Brooklyn expert and New York real estate rock star Marie Bromberg shared with us:

“I regularly prospect Bushwick—the neighborhood where I live—and it just so happens that a parent, whose daughter went to the same school as my daughter, got my postcard in the mail, and we matched. This person was a part of my school circle, but my extra touch with the postcard helped to make the connection.”

5. Ask for Real Estate Referrals at the Happiest Moments

 There are many instances in a real estate transaction when you get to celebrate. The closing table is definitely one of them. But don’t forget about the moment you find that perfect property for a buyer, or the moment your seller gets a full-price offer.

These are a few of the perfect moments, when emotions are running high, to subtly remind your clients how much you appreciate them sharing their positive experiences via reviews and referrals.

We heard more about this strategy from commercial real estate guru George Smith:

“The best way to get referrals is by asking for them at your client’s happiest moment.

“For example, I was once able to negotiate three months of free rent for a client. I congratulated them on their great deal and asked them right then and there if there was anyone else they knew that I could also help. Ask and you shall receive!”

6. Sustain Client Relationships Authentically

 The more specific a message is tailored to a person, the more likely they are to respond to it. If you pay attention not only to what your client needs, but also to who they are, you can leverage that knowledge later to boost your referral rate—big time.

Get started on this strategy by using your CRM to keep all your client interactions organized and in one place. Start by sending out a personalized email celebrating the anniversary of your clients’ purchase or sale. The typical realtor will be sending out one or two of these emails every week, maintaining consistent, ongoing conversations with their past clients throughout the year.

New York apartment expert Shanna Sharp uses this approach and gave us this example:

“I noticed a group of my past clients were major foodies and home cooks. Not being a great home cook myself, I wrote a blog-like email of my failed attempt at a pumpkin curry one fall.

“At the end, I jokingly asked for referrals since I should probably stick to real estate as my cooking career was clearly not taking off. I got multiple referrals that helped me have a strong winter that year.”

7. Maintain Client Communication Using a CRM

 Stay on top of your post-closing communication by establishing a communication cadence—a plan that will dictate which messages you’re sending to which clients and when.

You can create some of this communication well in advance (e.g., anniversary messages, birthday greetings, holiday well-wishes). However, you’ll want to create some of it in the moment. Make sure you’ve got a good CRM to help you manage your communication and remind you when it’s time to reach out.

If you need a recommendation for a CRM, check out LionDesk. It’s affordable, powerful, has excellent automation options, and they even offer an artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual assistant that is so real, it’s a little spooky.

Check Out LionDesk

Tennessee real estate authority Sheila Reuther explained it this way:

“The key to repeated referral business is continued and consistent contact. Obviously, you need to do a good job for your clients, but those clients passing your name on to others is what matters here.

“Keep your name out there whether it’s mailers, email, phone calls, or social media. Remember the little things about people. A small detail can go a long way.”

Over to You

Have a great way to generate referrals organically that we didn’t cover here? Let us know in the comments. Also, if you need more real estate lead generation strategies, make sure to read our 37 Underrated Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas.

The post 7 Savvy Ways to Generate More Real Estate Referrals appeared first on The Close.

Since we’re firmly in the pro thank-you note camp, we decided to work with some top-producing agents who gave us seven real estate thank-you notes they actually use to connect with clients. Following the thank-you notes, we’ll share writing tips from top Douglas Elliman agents.

1. Thank-you Note From Listing Agent to Homeowner

Beverly Ruffner, Real Estate Coach, Close Contributor

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Mr./Mrs. [Client’s name]

[Client’s address]

Congratulations on the sale of your home! It was an absolute pleasure working with you. Your business is greatly appreciated, and I am so honored that you trusted me with the sale of your home. I would like to offer you my continued service, so please don’t hesitate to call should there be anything that I can do for you.

And remember, your referrals are the greatest compliment you can extend. I highly value all clients who refer friends and family to me and do my best to ensure that they experience only the utmost in excellence!

Thank you,

[Your information]

[Your signature]

2. Thank-you Note From Buyer’s Agent to Buyer

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[Client’s first name],

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how thrilled I am that we found a home for you and [spouse’s name, kid’s name, pet’s name]. I hope you will be happy in it for many years to come—seeing the big smiles on your faces after closing is the best part of my job! It truly makes it all worthwhile.

I also want to let you know that I am available to you as your real estate insider from now on. If you have any questions about the market, even if they sound silly, call or text anytime.

Congrats!

[Your information]

[Your signature]

3. Thank-you Note From Buyer’s Agent After a Difficult Closing

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Hi [Client’s first name],

I just wanted to thank you for choosing me out of all the agents in [your farm area]. It was truly a pleasure helping you navigate this deal, even with [something that made the deal difficult].

Once you’re settled in, we should grab lunch sometime, on me.

Congratulations and best of luck with your new home.

[Your information]

[Your signature]

4. Thank-you Note After Receiving a Closing Gift From a Buyer

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[Client’s first name],

Thanks so much for the [gift they gave you]! Working with kind, thoughtful people like you reminds me why I got into real estate in the first place.

If you or anyone you know ever needs real estate advice or just wants to chat about the market (trust me, I can talk their ear off!), text or call anytime.

[Your information]

[Your signature]

5. Thank-you Note After Finding a Buyer an Amazing Deal

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[Client’s first name],

I just wanted to congratulate you on scoring such an AMAZING deal in this market! I would love to take all the credit here, but the truth is sometimes the real estate gods just smile on you. I know you and [spouse’s name, kid’s name, pet’s name] will spend many happy years there.

If you ever need any real estate advice or just want to chat about the market, call or text anytime.

Congrats!

[Your information]

[Your signature]

6. Thank-you Note to Homeowner After Not Getting the Listing

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[Client’s name]

[Client’s address]

Mr./Mrs. _______,

I wanted to thank you for meeting with me last week and offer my best wishes on the sale of your home. If you ever need unbiased market advice in the future, please don’t hesitate to text or call. My door is always open.

Thank you.

[Your information]

[Your signature]

7. Thank-you Note to Former Client After They Give You a Referral

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Hi [Former client’s first name],

It’s hard to express how grateful I am that you gave [name of referral lead they sent you] my number. We had a long call yesterday morning and [she/he] is excited to start hunting for a home.

The next time you’re in [neighborhood where your office is], let’s get lunch at [nice restaurant]. On me, of course!

Thanks again.

[Your information]

[Your signature]

Thank-you Note Strategy & Writing Tips From Top-producing Douglas Elliman Agents

Of course, how you send out your client thank-you notes is almost as important as what you write in them. That’s why we reached out to some top-producing Douglas Elliman agents in Miami, Beverly Hills, and Manhattan to see how they tackle writing and sending their notes.

Tina Perkins, Douglas Elliman in Beverly Hills

“We leave them in the house along with a token of appreciation. So, when the client walks in, they are greeted by an unexpected surprise. The tone should be personal, but always professional. Never use ‘friend language,’ even if they are your friend.”

Marlene De Cespedes, Douglas Elliman in Miami

“Showing how grateful I am for my client’s business and the opportunity to work for them is a staple in my business. I always send a handwritten note to my clients, also to the agent and team I have worked with on the transaction, i.e., title company, lender, attorney, designers, etc. If there is a referral partner, I will also send them a handwritten card showing my appreciation for thinking of me.”

Miltiadis Kastanis, Douglas Elliman in Miami

“Agents should choose the tone that they have had with the client through the process. I personally do very light and airy notes with a key detail from our transaction and also include some humor.”

Mia Vissichelli, Douglas Elliman in Locust Valley

“I have one client in particular who was SO extremely grateful for everything throughout our entire transaction. After the closing, I dropped a thank-you note and gift to her new house and she has since referred me to her best friend and two of her family members. Every time she speaks to anyone about buying or selling, she tries to connect me with them, which I truly appreciate!”

Georgia Kaporis, Douglas Elliman in Manhattan

“I always send a congratulations email right away, but the thank you is two weeks and I send handwritten thank-you notes with the gift.”

Emily Margolin, Douglas Elliman in Manhattan:

“I make homemade jam every year and send it to my clients. I usually accompany the jar with a handwritten note that says how grateful I am for their business and time, and am sure to include my team’s logo and contact information on a sticker on the jam itself.

“I send them to all past clients, bring them to closings, and even hand them out when I stop by to visit a client after they’ve closed. The great thing about jam is that it never really gets old for them! In fact, I have many clients who look forward to it every year.”

Carrie Juliao, Douglas Elliman in St. Petersburg

“I feel thank-you notes should be handwritten. People love that and it feels more personal than a text or email. So many times, I have received a call or text from the recipient, very happy with their note. Some have even reached out to my broker to say what an awesome gesture that it was.

“I will always include thank-you notes as a part of my weekly tasks. It leaves an impression in the person’s mind but most importantly, it makes people feel good!”

Over to You

Have any great tips for sending real estate thank-you notes you think our readers will love? Let us know in the comments.

The post 7 Real Estate Thank-you Notes That Create Clients for Life (Templates) appeared first on The Close.

Let’s review why referrals are sometimes necessary, how real estate referral fees work, how they may vary, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about real estate referral fees.

What Is a Real Estate Referral?

A real estate referral is the act of getting a client into the hands of the person who is the most qualified to get them the real estate services they need. As much as real estate agents would love to be the go-to resource for all things real estate for all our clients all the time, there are times when our clients request things that we simply can’t deliver.

Most commonly, real estate referrals occur because a real estate agent is either unlicensed or unqualified to service their client in the purchase or sale of property in a particular geographic area or for a specific type of real estate.

Real Estate Referral Form

The only paperwork required for a real estate referral is a real estate referral agreement. This is a basic contract between the two brokers of the referring agents that covers how the commission will be split, the length of the referral, and other matters.

It’s typically the referring agent’s responsibility to supply the referral contract with the initially stated terms. If the receiving broker wants to negotiate these terms, they may do so.

Need a referral contract? Click below to get our free, customizable, and easy-to-use template. The National Association of Realtors also has an easy-to-use referral form you can find here.

Download Your Free Real Estate Referral Fee Contract Template

When to Make a Real Estate Referral

Let’s say you’re a real estate agent working in Maryland, and you have a client who wants to purchase a beach house in Delaware. Even though these states are right next to each other, Delaware is a turf state, and as a Maryland license holder, you’re unable to conduct business in Delaware.

However, you can refer this client to a real estate agent who is licensed in Delaware. In exchange for that referral, you (or more accurately, your broker) will receive a percentage of the commission.

[Related article: Real Estate License Reciprocity & Portability: A State-by-State Guide]

Another situation where a real estate referral fee may arise is when your client is seeking services that you’re licensed to provide, but perhaps you don’t have the knowledge or expertise to feel confident that you can adequately represent your client’s best interests.

Consider the following scenario: You’ve got a client who you’ve helped with residential real estate transactions in the past, but now they want to sell an industrially zoned building they own.

If you’ve never worked on a commercial transaction, you may not be qualified to give your client advice on pricing, negotiation, or closing conditions since the best practices of residential real estate may not apply to commercial or industrial real estate. So, a referral to an experienced commercial and industrial real estate agent would be the best option for your client.

Real Estate Referral Fees: Chris Answers Your Most Frequently Asked Questions

Real Estate Referral Fees: Money Matters

Now that you have a basic understanding of real estate referral fees, let’s dig into the financial nuts and bolts. Real estate referral fees present a pretty straightforward topic, but since there’s money involved, more knowledge is good knowledge, and we want you to be the smartest person in the room.

How Much Is a Real Estate Referral Fee?

When to Negotiate a Real Estate Referral Fee

How Do I Get Paid When I Make a Real Estate Referral?

Can a Broker Pay a Referral Fee to a Non-licensed Person?

Real Estate Referral Essential Tools

Real Estate Referral Contract

Electronic Signature Platform

Real Estate CRM With Transaction Management Options

Are There Real Estate Referral Companies?

How Common Are Real Estate Referrals?

Sounds Great, But What’s the Catch?

The Future of Real Estate Referrals

We’re confident that agent-to-agent referrals are going to remain a part of the real estate business. Businesses like ReferralExchange, OpCity, and Agent Harvest are going to continue to offer their services, but they won’t be alone.

Companies like Zillow, through programs like Zillow Flex, are getting into the referral business too, giving credence to a Tom Ferry prediction that by 2023, a full 50% of real estate transactions are going to have some form of a referral fee attached to them. Will that be the case? Only time will tell.

Bringing It All Together

Knowing how real estate referral fees work is a must for any real estate agent. Whether you’ve got clients who are movers and shakers, or you live in a desirable spot where people are moving or purchasing vacation property, you need to know about real estate referral fees. They can be a great source of income for you and the practice is vital to providing your clients with the best service possible.

Have any real estate referral fee questions we didn’t get to? Ask away in the comments!

The post Real Estate Referral Fees: How They Work & Best Practices for 2022 appeared first on The Close.

The answer does NOT lie in the ongoing boasting and broadcasting of your results, accomplishments, and credentials, but rather in encouraging and leveraging others to tell your story for you.

We’re talking reviews, recommendations, and testimonials here, people, and chances are you need to up your game. If you’re interested in increasing your credibility and building your personal brand, check out these nine tips and tricks that will get you a consistent stream of endorsements.

Get Email Templates that Drive Referrals

1. Want Glowing Reviews? Give Glowing Reviews First!

You know that feeling you get when you receive a glowing review or recommendation? Nothing better, right? Consider the goodwill you’ll create if you generously commit to providing reviews and recommendations for others FIRST.

When you give reviews, you’ll create a deep-seated urge in others to do the same; in fact, what you get back often far exceeds what you’ve put out. Social psychologists call this the Universal Law of Reciprocity, and it’s a proven concept. Time block to do this once or twice a week—there’s no downside!

2. Acknowledge That Reviews Are Your Social Proof—& Your Social Currency

The truth is that we live in an Amazon product review society; most people seek support in making their purchasing decisions. From refrigerators to restaurants, florists to flooring, dog food to doctors—we look for evidence that our money and time will be spent wisely.

We rely upon friends, family members, influencers, and even strangers to advise and guide us. The same applies to those looking to hire a great real estate agent.

The positive reviews you receive and share are the social proof people are looking for, so commit to giving them what they want. If you don’t, they will choose someone who will.

3. Repurpose Your Positive Reviews—Put Them to Work!

If you want to make the most of your reviews and recommendations, simply ask yourself this: “Where else might these positive words be impactful?” The answer? Almost everywhere! Great reviews and recommendations are a gift to you, and once received, they’re yours to do with what you want.

Making use of all or parts of these comments isn’t just smart—it’s a strategic time saver. Use them to create attention-garnering graphics and posts for your pages. Highlight them as featured content in your seller and buyer guides. Gather as many as you can and create a word cloud, which can be used in a multitude of ways.

Even better than what’s been stated here so far? Video testimonials and reviews. Ask clients to create and submit their own mini-productions to you, then compile, edit, and share them. If allowed in your market, make a contest out of it. You’ll be surprised by the creativity and effort they’ll put into this, and what you’ll likely receive is priceless!

4. Make It Easy for People to Review You

Jessica Russell, a top producer serving the suburbs of Ft. Worth, has essentially automated her systems to insure that she’s receiving positive reviews across a variety of platforms.

“I send an email and provide very clear instructions along with links to three pages or platforms,” she says, noting that occasionally she’ll switch things up. “If I need fresh reviews on Realtor.com, I’ll provide that link as opposed to Zillow. I’m currently working on adding more reviews to Google, so I’ve gone back to previous reviewers asking them to simply copy and paste what they’ve previously posted elsewhere—and I provide them with their original review so they don’t have to go and look for it. People are happy to post somewhere new, especially because I’ve made it so easy for them!”

A tactical tip: Include review-garnering action items in your transaction checklists, mentioned in your pre- and post-closing activities.

5. Reviews Should Be Found Where You (& Your Competition) Are

If your reviews are landing only in one place, you could be missing out. Those dozens of 5-star accolades may look good on Zillow, but what if your prospect doesn’t find you there? What may be the result if your other profiles or sites aren’t effectively telling your story?

You may be passed over and not afforded the opportunity to share your value and the benefits associated with working with you. People and prospects should be able to easily access what others think and say on your website, Google My Business profile, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and on industry sites like Zillow and Realtor.com. Don’t disregard Yelp either, especially if your competition has a strong presence there.

Search for yourself online and see what comes up. Let’s say, for example, that the first results for your name on Google are found on Zillow. Make sure you have plenty of positive—and recent—reviews there!

Now’s the time to build or enhance any missing or existing pages and profiles, and to set a goal to add a reasonable number of reviews or recommendations to each and every place. This is an exercise you should engage in every quarter of the year.

Consistent and current (endorsements) equal currency—social- and earnings-wise!

6. Don’t Forget About Endorsements & Recommendations on LinkedIn

Perhaps you’re a newer agent with a limited amount of transactional experience. Maybe you’re a highly seasoned top producer with a strong network of business-to-business contacts and relationships. In both cases, LinkedIn can be leveraged to assemble an impressive list of recommendations that speak to your professionalism, work ethic, people skills, and sales acumen—and these carry a lot of weight.

Request these valuable recommendations and endorsements from former coworkers, supervisors, community leaders, service providers, even clergy. Most people are happy to help, especially if you commit to doing the same for them. For those who are too busy to provide a testimonial, simply ask if you may add them to a reference list. Providing this resource to potential buyers and sellers is impressive enough on its own, and those featured there will rarely be contacted.

7. Make Reviews Part of Your Process—Set the Expectation With Your Clients Early & Reinforce It Often

Don’t make the mistake of waiting until the end of the transaction to request a review; you should set the expectation from the very first meeting!

This is something that top producer Cari McGee, an agent serving Kennewick and Richland, Washington, has done exceptionally well since she started in the business.

“I let my clients know that I am very clear on their goals,” she says, “but I also share that MY goal is to be so great that the client can’t help but to review and refer me to others. I have learned that when I lead with providing an exceptional experience and outcome for the client, everything I want for my business happens as a result.”

This strategy also makes it easy to ask the “how am I doing” question at any point during the transaction, reinforcing your commitment to them and reminding them that you hope to receive raving reviews at the conclusion of their sale or purchase.

8. Don’t Let the Occasional Negative Review Get You Down

Inevitably, it’s going to happen. At some point, someone is going to leave comments that are rude, inaccurate, or even irrelevant to you or your business.

Remain calm and deal in the facts, not in your feelings. Don’t engage in social media warfare. Attempt to contact the person who posted to confront and resolve their issue. If you’ve smoothed things over, request an edit to their original comments. If they are unreasonable or unwilling to communicate with you, state your case simply and unemotionally as a response:

“I’ve made three attempts to contact you to discuss your concerns and displeasure. I’m disappointed to learn that you feel this way. Will you please send me a DM so we may speak about this?”

Your professional demeanor and stated desire to make things right—even if the poster is flat out wrong or unreasonable—will be remembered by those reading the review. Also, know this: If you are consistently receiving positive reviews, any negative post will eventually get flushed out or dismissed.

One bad meal or inattentive waiter doesn’t necessarily make for a lousy restaurant, right? It’s the content of the majority of your reviews that matter, so work to keep them coming and highlight them frequently.

9. Leverage What You Receive

Are you the most highly rated agent in your town or market on any particular platform? Tell the people who live there! Did you help a family accomplish the nearly impossible? Share that! The post—or postcard—that features what you’ve done for others is way more compelling than the typical “I’ve done it again” message. What will resonate and be remembered is not what you’ve managed to do for yourself, but what you have achieved for others.

Summing It All Up

Reviews, recommendations, and endorsements are simply the stories others tell about you and your business—and they play a huge role in a prospect’s decision-making process. A growth-minded agent will do all they can to receive them consistently, leverage them creatively, and promote them effectively. Now’s the perfect time to fearlessly assess where you stand and what’s needed to make strides in this area. Once you do, get to work!

The post 9 Tips to Earn More Reviews & Help Build Referrals & Repeat Clients appeared first on The Close.

Some are too eager to move on to the next deal, some genuinely don’t get the idea that they need to nurture relationships past the sale, and well, let’s face it, some Realtors are just selfish jerks who give the rest of us a bad name.

It’s Not Like This in Other Industries…

In almost every other professional sales environment, clients are treated like royalty.

Armed with corporate Amex cards and and a small army of logistical support staff, most salespeople woo clients with extravagant dinners, box seats at baseball games, and absurdly meticulous onboarding and closing plans.

Of course the royal treatment doesn’t end when the deal closes. Far from it.

Smart brokerages in Manhattan offer season tickets to Yankee games, trips to Peter Luger’s, and concierge level customer service to their property management clients.

…and it Had Nothing to do With Being “Nice”

These companies treat their clients like gold for one very simple reason: it makes them more money. Full stop.

While a reservation at a Michelin star restaurant and $1200 bottle of wine won’t make a bad product good or a good product great, it can and does help influence clients who have a wide variety of very similar contractors to hire.

Sound familiar?

Enter the Anti Realtor

When he was buying his first home, Jay O’Brien was underwhelmed at the level of service that seems to dominate the industry.

In fact, the service he received was so below the standards of other sales industries that he not only knew he could do better, but that he could do MUCH better.

During his first year as an agent, he sat down and came up with a service plan that would remove virtually all the pain points his clients faced. He also came up with a system to not only make his client’s transaction easy, but one that would be so much better than the status quo that his clients would sing his praises from the hilltops.

He was right. After only two years of selling real estate he was getting the vast majority of his clients from referrals and stopped spending money on lead generation entirely. Unheard of for most new agents.

Instead of sitting back and relaxing, he decided to double down and offer even better service. Once his business took off, he was named one of Inman’s Innovators of the year, and made NAR’s coveted 30 Under 30 list.

Client Giant & The Future of Real Estate Client Service

After the overwhelming success of his referral strategy, Jay started Client Giant, a white label concierge solution for Realtors that offers customized, branded, concierge plans so other Realtors could apply the same 7 star service for their clients.

Check out our interview with Jay below to hear his story and how he managed to get almost 100% of his business from referrals after only two years in the industry.

Jay O’Brien Interview Transcript:

Jay O’Brien:
Okay, so I got into real estate shortly after purchasing my first house, which was in 2010. I bought my first house, and the real estate agent that I was paired up with and the mortgage lender, it was just, as the story goes, a very sloppy and unprofessional experience. I was figuring things out as we went along. Surprises all along the way, with the home inspection, with the appraisal, with costs that were being incurred that I was unfamiliar with. I kind of just finished the whole thing. At the time I was 23 years old, and I was like, “Okay, I mean, this is kind of baffling to me. I borrowed the most money I’ve ever borrowed in my life, I just bought the biggest thing of my life, and I’ve had better experiences buying shoes, or something that’s just so much more insignificant.” It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Jay O’Brien:
I never really forgot about that, and about a year later, I was at a crossroads with my employment, and I was just kind of discontent and wanted something better. I knew I wanted to go into business for myself one day. Naturally, real estate presented itself, and I went against it saying, “I’m going to go against what I know with current real estate agents, and all my experience that I’ve see with the lazy behavior, the unprofessional attitudes, and I’m just going to do things differently.” From day one of getting my license, I branded myself as Anti Realtor.

The Close:
Right, yeah. That’s originally what I saw. They do the innovator of the year, and I think it was Kenny Truong that got it last year. It’s interesting, I saw the words Anti Realtor, so I was like, “All right, I got to talk to this guy.” Originally, I started out working in Manhattan, and it was such, the pressure to be the salesman, and to pitch, and to be the little ponytail sleazy guy, it’s through the roof. There’s a ton of money to be made on the one hand, and then there’s also the risk of catastrophic failure right next to it.

The Close:
Yeah, so I saw that, and I’m like, “Okay, I definitely got to talk to this guy.” I think it’s a cool approach. Yeah, so tell us about the approach, and how you came … You came up with it, so how did that play out in your approach to selling real estate?

Jay O’Brien:
Yeah, so I’ve been in sales basically my whole life. Selling was really something I was very familiar with, but my style and the way I’ve done it has always been very honest and ethical. That, essentially, would win over the customer, because the approach was, the truth is I don’t care if you buy or you don’t buy, I mean, this is the truth, it’s the facts, here’s where I’m going to steer you based on what you need. What do you know? You get repeat and referral customers that way, and then people end up buying even more with you that way. I just translated that same thing over to real estate, and from day one, I just was like, “Okay, I remember that my service experience was very lackluster when I purchased my first home, so I’m going to just go above and beyond the best I know how, and make sure that people are really getting a high quality experience here.”

Jay O’Brien:
In the first few years, it was just the regular grind. Do anything and everything you can do to find someone who might be a prospect, might be a client. Then, following through with it, I just did the best I know how to. Answering the phone, going to appointments, all these things. I discovered a couple interesting things my first year. My first year in the business, I did about 14 transactions, and half of them came from someone who already had a realtor. I shouldn’t say they were committed to that realtor, but when the conversation happened with them, I would ask questions, you know, and then I would say, “Okay, are you working with anyone?” They’d say, “Well, you know, we called this one guy, but he hasn’t called us back.” I was like, “Okay, well when did you call him?” “Monday. It’s Saturday.”

Jay O’Brien:
These people were … Half of my business came from people who didn’t follow up, didn’t pick up their phone, and I was like, “Oh my god. The bar is set so low in this industry.” Just like any other agent, I’d close these deals, I’d ask for testimonials, I’d ask for five star reviews, and Yelp reviews, and what have you, and post them on the website, advertise them, do whatever you do. It wasn’t until like 2014 where I was reading these, and it’s nice. You get this validation. Okay, these five star reviews. I must be doing something right, whatever. Then you kind of need to check yourself for a minute, and audit these five star reviews, and read the comments.

Jay O’Brien:
The comments are stupid. You know, they’re comments are like, “Jay is the best. He showed up to every appointment on time. He answered his phone when we called. He communicated the deals.” I’m like thinking to myself, “Is that what I bring to the table? That’s so shitty. That is a normal, regular job. You’ve done your job.”

Jay O’Brien:
I started to measure it against other industries, like especially hospitality industries. Thinking about different restaurants, and different resorts, different hotels, and thinking like, “Would this same sort of thing fly in these verticals?” The answer is absolutely hell no.

The Close:
“We got our food. It was correct.” Like, what?

Jay O’Brien:
It’s silly, but it’s true to think of it that way. You know, “We checked into our hotel and they gave us our room key. Are we going to [inaudible 00:06:43] stay at this hotel? Room service [inaudible 00:06:45] arrived.” It’s ridiculous, but somehow we managed to get away with it in real estate. The truth of the matter is, we do it across the board even as consumers. I mean, if you think about staying at an Airbnb, or an Uber, or a Lyft, you get out of the car, it asks you to do a review or a rating, rather, and pretty much, if you showed up alive, you’re like, “Five stars, done.”

Jay O’Brien:
That might be great. The Uber driver might be like, “Hey, I got 717 five star reviews, I’m awesome.” At the end of the day, I don’t remember my last Uber driver’s name. You know, they’re all saturated in the same sea of people, and ultimately, at the end of the day, I believe that real estate agents have the same challenge. As much as these five star reviews were coming in in 2012, 13, 14, I believe that there wasn’t a remarkable experience to be had, so the referral side of it may have happened, but a very diluted version of it, whereas you have, let’s say hypothetically, one of my past clients over here, someone saying they want to buy a house, I do believe, I’m confident that they would say, “Oh, you know, you should give my guy, Jay, a shot. He was great.”

Jay O’Brien:
Then, if that person responds and says, “Oh, yeah. Well, you know, John knows a guy, and we’re actually going to go through him instead.” That’s probably where it stops, you know? That past client probably goes, “Oh, okay.” Because, “I’m sure he’s probably going to be as good as Jay, whatever.” It kind of illustrated this huge white space to me as far as how far above and beyond you could actually go to get insane repeat and referral business, and really create an evangelist versus someone you’re asking to do you a favor.

Jay O’Brien:
People are always saying, “Oh, hey. Can you call your past clients? Do you ever follow up with your past clients? Do you ever ask for referrals?” The answer is no. I never do that, because the same way the Ritz Carlton never asks me to refer people to them, like the service stands on its own two feet. If you deliver a high enough caliber of service, people will naturally refer it out. Not only refer it out, they’ll passionately refer it out.

Jay O’Brien:
If you’ve had a stellar experience at a restaurant, or a hotel, whatever it is, you are telling anyone who will listen how great your VIP treatment was, and you’re like insanely passionate about them experiencing what you have experienced. That [inaudible 00:09:10] in 2014.

The Close:
That’s awesome. Like I said, some of the best advice I ever got, particularly working as a buyers’ agent, was from one of the first companies I worked for, the sales manager was like, “Look.” He’s like, “Just think about it like you’re with your best friend and you’re going shopping. You’re not going to lie and say, ‘You look great in that.’ If it’s your friend, you’re going to be like, ‘That jacket looks awful.'” You know what I mean? It’s just, you’re there for service rather than the sell. [crosstalk 00:09:43].

Jay O’Brien:
Yeah, so that’s kind of where things went. In 2014, I started to build out like systems and processes to, “Okay, what does this actually look like? What does [inaudible 00:09:55] experience look like? What is something that if that same past client heard someone say, ‘Oh, yeah. We know this guy John knows, that we’re going to work with him-

Jay O’Brien:
-client heard someone say, “Oh yeah, we know, this guy John knows we’re going to work with him.” What would happen, what would I need to do to make that person say, “No, no, no. You don’t understand. This is the guy to go to, and I can’t even explain, I can’t even put into words how great the experience was. I can assure you, there’s no one else doing what he does.” I started to put things together, and building systems and processes that would be mirrored through the transaction, be uniform every time. As an example, I wanted … one of the things with real estate that makes it very unique, is that we have a pretty big duration of time to create an experience for someone. 30 days, 45 days, 60 days. Whereas most other industries don’t. It’s more transactional.

Jay O’Brien:
If you’re shopping for auto insurance or something, you go over the best quote, and you go, “Okay, let’s do it. Boom.” That insurance agent doesn’t really have much opportunity to like, wow you. It’s kind of like, it’s done. You’ve made an order, and they’re going to fulfill it. With real estate, we’ve got like, a month or two to absolutely crush the experience, and so I started to think about pain points of the consumer. Even unknown pain points that we can deliver on every single time to make them feel special throughout the entire transaction.

Jay O’Brien:
As an example, it’s like when you open escrow on a file. Obviously someone who’s either buying a home or selling a home is going to feel a little bit of anxiety. It’s probably something they haven’t done in a very long time, or something maybe they’ve never done. What we do is we send out, like right now we’re sending out stress relief tea, motivational stress balls, a head scalp massager. The message is just like, “Hey, during this time, it’s my job to remove as much stress from the equation as possible. If you feel yourself being a little anxious, here are some things that might help.” It’s funny and whatever. It sets the tone on day one.

Jay O’Brien:
Then days after that, they’re getting moving boxes to their front door of their current residence, with packing tape and markers. It says, “Hey, here’s one less thing you’ve got to stress about.” This same sort of theme continues with about eight to twelve touches during the entire transaction. What it’s doing, is it’s telling the consumer, “Okay, my agent actually gives a shit. He’s not just waiting for the culmination of this thing to conclude and collects a check.” Instead it’s like, here are things that are going to help you. Here are things you might need. They’re not corny. They’re not punny. It’s real. It’s like, “Hey, gifts from me to you as a friend.”

Jay O’Brien:
Fast forward until now, 2018, I have been giving talks about this for the past couple years. Just, here’s the secret sauce. Here’s what I do, and I don’t spend any money at all on cold marketing. Zero dollars, literally. I don’t want the cold client. I just don’t. I’d much rather-

The Close:
Well, no one wants it, but they kind of need them.

Jay O’Brien:
Right, well I think if you take the same budget you had on your postcards, and your fliers or whatever, and you put them all back into your past clients or your existing clients, the people who already trust you. You need that evangelist. What I mean by an evangelist, like if you think about your favorite movie, right? Think of Shawshank Redemption. It’s like a blockbuster classic, right? I take it you’ve probably seen the movie?

The Close:
Many times.

Jay O’Brien:
Okay, so let’s say as an example that I have not seen the movie, and you and I just start talking about it. You’re instantly going to be like, “Dude, how have you never seen that movie?” Right? You’re going to be like kind of bothered by that. “How have you never seen that?” Then, you’re going to obviously recommend it, and now take it a step further. If I’m like, “Yeah, me and my girlfriend are actually thinking about watching a movie tonight. We don’t know what to watch, so maybe we’ll watch that.” You’ll be like, “Yes, dude. Please watch that movie.” Right?

Jay O’Brien:
If you see me tomorrow and we talk, you’re anxious to hear my feedback, number one.

The Close:
Right.

Jay O’Brien:
If I’m like, “So here’s the deal, we actually didn’t watch that movie. Instead we ended up watching Bridget Jones Diary.” You’re going to be like, super pissed off, and be like, “Dude, what? Why wouldn’t you watch this movie?” On the flip side, if I did watch it, you’re going to start drilling me with questions. “Dude, what’d you think of Andy Dufresne. What’d you think of this character? What’d you think of this? What about this part?” What you’re doing, is you’re getting all this fulfillment based on an experience you once had that now, I’m having. We do it with restaurants. We do it with hotels. We do it with beer. We do it with everything. Real estate is really no different, so long as you knock it out of the park. You know?

The Close:
That’s really awesome, and again, I think people, especially beginning agents are a little bit hesitant to sort of drop the money on something that’s not a done deal. On a smaller scale … Like I said, I worked in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I haven’t driven a car in 15 years. My clients don’t drive cars. One of the things I did was like, you know, I’m going to go … I was Uber VIP. I was paying for like, the Uber office rent for a good portion of time. People were really, really appreciative. It’s like, on the one hand, I had co-workers who were getting on the bus. I’m like, “It’s going to cost you $20.” We’re talking rentals where you can make $5,000. It’s like, “Why would you not spend $20 to make …”

The Close:
I totally get it, and again, this is a big part of the reason I reached out. This is something that I think a lot of really talented realtors do without necessarily putting a label on it. I think it’s something to do intuitively. I think it’s awesome that you’re kind of coming out there and sort of telling people about it, rather than just like, “Oh, you’ve just got to be great.” You get this wishy-washy kind of advice from Dolly Lenz or somebody. One of the [inaudible 00:15:58]. They don’t tell you, “Look, this, this, this, and this.” So, talk to me a little bit about the company that you started.

Jay O’Brien:
Yeah, so this all kind of led to this. For years, from 2014, 2015, to now, I’ve been doing more and more public speaking engagements. A lot of them are along the same topics and themes. Like you said, I’ve just been, “Here’s the information. Here’s the secret sauce. Here’s whatever,” you know? Information has never been the problem though, it’s the execution that’s the problem. Naturally, after doing this for so many times, I just saw what was happening. I would get off stage. People would come up to me and they’d say, “That was great. Oh my God, I completely see the value in this. This makes total sense. I’m going to start doing this in my business,” and low and behold, it never happened.

Jay O’Brien:
There’s like 1% of the audience that actually started implementing things. In January of this year, I was like, okay, enough is enough. This is a real pain point. It’s something that people arguably, I mean almost everyone understands that it is critical to happen throughout the transaction with any client, with any industry, real estate just being one of them. Almost unanimously, people say, “Yeah, I could be doing more for my past clients, and I just don’t.” Instead I’m like, I’m going to just create a company that does this for you. You can set it and forget it. There’ll be different tiers of service. I created focus groups based on people who follow me and what not. Built the whole business around that. Opened up beta in March or April, and limited it to 100 customers. It was crazy what the response was. We were inundated, hit that mark very quickly. Had repeat customers and repeat sales within that very short time frame, and then officially went live just a few weeks ago.

Jay O’Brien:
Basically, what Client Giant is, is it’s a white-labeled concierge service for any business, but let’s say real estate specifically, that is delivering seven star client experiences to the client on the business’ behalf. Client Giant is not seen anywhere ever. Our branding is not seen anywhere. It’s always coming from Amil, from Amil, from Amil, right? In terms of what’s relevant with real estate, like I mentioned before, having this period of time where you’re able to really execute on something, that’s what we call an escrow package. You can go gold, platinum, or diamond, depending on what it is. You’d mentioned investing in it earlier, and I get this question a lot where people are like, “Wow, that’s a lot of money,” or whatever.

Jay O’Brien:
First thing I would ask someone is what they’re spending on cold leads, you know? I can almost guarantee you, your ROI is not even remotely close to what it’s going to be on this. Secondly, on an escrow package, you’re just taking a portion of your earnings. You’re not coming out of pocket and saying, “Oh, I hope this works,” like with postcards and stuff. It’s quite literally, will work every single time. You have the money to do it coming to you. That’s how it works, and depending on which tier you go with, the touches become very, very high level. Very high level concierge-esque, like Ritz Carlton sort of service. The responses we’ve been getting are just unreal. Our customers can’t even believe what we’re doing for their clients. That’s ultimately what I set out to do.

The Close:
That’s really, really cool. I think one of the great things about that as well is that, I think people don’t really factor in the marketing that they’re going to do after they close. Like, “Hey, I’m going to nurture this former client over the next year,” or the next six months, whatever. You’re doing emails, and you’re sending holiday cards or a bottle of wine, or this, this, that and the other thing. All that adds up, especially if you’re focusing on the wrong people. You know? You’re focusing on your sphere, and it’s like the people that trust you the most, like you said, are the ones that, if you can convert from trusted client to evangelist-

The Close:
… trusted client to evangelist is going to have a much higher ROI than converting from regular Joe Shmo to maybe client right? I think people are maybe trying to focus on the latter and they’re trying to say, “Hey I’m trying to convert this guy I went to high school with to maybe a client or to a client who is going to sheepishly let me show him three properties and never call me back”. You’re zeroing on the best possible opportunity for long term success. I think it’s really, really smart. I definitely think this service that you have that’s set it and forget it is something that a lot of agents wants. Also, is there any training involved in this? I think people that are going to respond to this and maybe tell me if I’m wrong are people that already have a sense of what they want to do, they have decent clients, they’re working with luxury properties and they want to have it done and not have to worry about it. Is it more for new agents or are you trying to hit all the tiers of agents or for the high end people?

Jay O’Brien:
No actually our customer base now is all over the map, literally all over the map too but no, we’ve got very high level high volume brokerages that have implemented it top down saying, “We want to control the client experience and have a uniform top down” so they’re mandating it across the board. Now some brokerages are taking the cost on themselves as a piece of value add to the agents for agent recruiting agent retention, client retention right? Others are passing the fee along as a transaction fee to the client just like a TC fee or something. Others are leaving it for the agent to reimburse the brokerage post close. To answer your question I mean this has hardly been in fact I don’t even know if we have a formal luxury agent who is on Client Giant. We’ve had people say that they would pay more for even more things because their medium price is significantly larger than most. No right now it’s all over the board with people who are putting in clients.

Jay O’Brien:
The thing that was the most validating for me is that during the beta phase, so many of the people the customers who signed up continued to buy escrow packages sometimes multiple a day sometimes multiple a week so they’re totally seeing the value in it, getting these thank yous and referrals. On our small business side which is purely client retention and I can go over that in a little bit, that’s been really interesting too. We had a guy who signed up with us the beginning of last month he imported 40 clients. The first touch that went out to those 40 clients he got one referral securing a contract of 25 grand a month in revenue. I mean you talk about the ROI of being fucking thoughtful it’s like it is a no brainer.

The Close:
It’s what your mom told you really is. Your parents were right 100%. Okay so let’s switch gears a little bit. One thing I’m trying to do is every super successful realtor I talk to, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but what if you have it off the top of your head, what tech are you using that you thought was awesome like the CRM website stuff? What was your main go to secret weapon tech?

Jay O’Brien:
With tech, the CRM thing it’s always been and always will be probably a hot topic where people lean on their lack of organization as being the root problem and they go, “Oh if I had a different CRM”.

The Close:
Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.

Jay O’Brien:
“I don’t have a six pack because I don’t have a Bowflex in my house. If I had that, then six pack”. The CRM thing that’s never been a secret weapon for me. The way I stay organized you can probably laugh at but there are a couple secret weapons out there that I like. One that comes to mind and probably again when I think of tech I think of ways to automate and streamline cold business right? All your hot and warm stuff you’re probably touching yourself. In order to stay organized and whatever we use the CRM Infusionsoft which is that’s a behemoth of a CRM. It’s very, very robust. Only if you’re inclined enough to use it could it do wonders for your business. This is more brokerage level. There’s a company called Real Contact they do SMS lead follow up and nurturing.

Jay O’Brien:
Now the way this works and it’s really cool, it’s really impressive and I think it’s more relevant now than ever, cold lead comes in, you can trigger it however you want whether it’s lead sign up on your website or whatever, but it’ll trigger instead of going email drips, email drip campaign, email, email, email that no one even pays attention to anymore, it’s text messages directly to the phone right? This is important because you can build out your script in terms of “Okay here are the initial questions I want asked. If they don’t respond, then I want this one to go out the next day. If they don’t respond in three days later I want this” and bla, bla, bla, that’s one piece of it. The other piece of it is “If they do respond, here’s what I do want the funnel to go and here’s where I want it eventually to lead”. The initial question goes out, the person replies via text, it immediately assigns it to a live concierge at the company who is actually behind a computer and typing, they understand where the funnel should go so they’re answering questions.

Jay O’Brien:
The reason why this is important is because it’s not a bot. About six months ago, one of our things went out and it said, “Hey I see that you’re looking for property, you’re looking in this city, in this city” whatever the automated whatever, the person’s first response was, “Yeah we’re looking right now, things are on hold. My mom just passed away last week”. If you had a bot, this would be a problem. “Great”.

The Close:
Oh man slap your face yeah oh geez.

Jay O’Brien:
This live concierge they go, “I’m sorry to hear that. Please reach out to us whenever you’re ready”. The reason why this is important is that again unanimously I’m sure that most people can say they don’t call leads the second they come in. They wait a little bit too long. They don’t nurture leads more than five, six, seven times whatever. This is a way to do this through text versus email. I don’t know if I’d call it a secret weapon but if I’m going to say any tech is a secret weapon that would be it. I also like this company called RealScout. Basically it’s a pretty MLS, yeah that’s probably it for tech.

The Close:
Yeah I think those are two good picks. I think you’re right in that the tech companies like Riley, a lot of these tech companies are doing really well are integrating human beings. “Okay we have a concierge, we have a guy”. It might be somebody overseas, it might be somebody who is not necessarily licensed or whatever, but there’s only so many variables of things that they’re going to say that a bot like your example is perfect, a bot is not going to cut it. The chat bot lead qualifying thing I think, everyone wants it everyone wants to implement it. I feel like it’s a couple years away at least. I think people are sinking a lot of money into the wrong thing whereas even if you hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines or you have a company that has people in the US and it integrates that kind of tech, it’s really following the things that convert.

The Close:
It’s text messages and Facebook chat, open rates are 10 times what they are in email. Having that human touch automated I can see why you would choose that. You’re probably not going to need a real secret weapon but that’s okay.

Jay O’Brien:
No, but I’ll tell you anything that you want to know.

The Close:
No, no I’m messing around with you. Awesome man so Client Giants and the website is clientgiants.com I’m assuming?

Jay O’Brien:
Clientgiant.com

The Close:
Cool okay so yeah I’m definitely going to send that out and we’re going to go through all that details at the bottom of this. Awesome man, it was awesome talking to you man thanks a lot.

Jay O’Brien:
Thanks Emile bye.

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All across the country, top producing agents and teams are starting to get back to basics.

The laser like focus on digital marketing, whether through Facebook ads, SEO, or display ads, has been slowly giving way to something more central to a Realtor’s bottom line:

Relationships.

That means relationship marketing– the systematic cultivation and nurturing of relationships to grow your business– is having something of a moment.

One of the earliest adopters of this strategy in the real estate tech space is Contactually CEO Zvi Band.

In order to get a sense of what relationship marketing looks like with the tools available, we sat down with Zvi and picked his brain.

Here’s what we learned:

Escaping the Tyranny of the Urgent

Smart automation of daily relationship marketing tasks helps agents escape the daily grind of small tasks that demand immediate attention. Like any entrepreneur, Realtors need to focus on the big picture work that will actually propel them forward.

Getting stuck in the weeds with calendars, emails, texts, and social media means that big picture focus often takes a back seat. This is what Zvi calls the “tyranny of the urgent” and beating it is a crucial goal for any Realtor who wants to grow.

Automating Personal Connections to Build & Nurture Relationships

While it may seem contradictory at first automation is the perfect way to make the personal connections that a crucial to build and maintain relationships. This was Zvi’s goal for Contactually from his days as a tiny startup, and is their core principle today as one of the largest and most powerful real estate CRM’s available.

For example, Zvi used AI technology to determine the best time to reach out to each contact in your CRM. While your buyer with cold feet might be more likely to answer an email at noon, your former colleague who might want to sell may be more likely to respond at 7:00am.

While you could take meticulous notes on your friend’s schedules, wouldn’t automation make the process much easier? After all, you have big picture work to do today.

Zvi Band Interview Transcript:

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Hey everybody, we’re here with Zvi Band, the CEO of Contactually, one of the best real estate CRMs around. And we’re here today to talk about Relationship Marketing in particular, some of the pain points agents have and the idea that it’s something worthwhile, maybe a new concept for some of our listeners.

So we figured, we go right to the source, Zvi started Contactually, what was it 5, 10 years ago?

Zvi Band:

It was 6 years ago, I feel like I’ve aged 10 years, but it’s been going so fast that I still think it was last year that I started it. So sure why not all the above.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

That sounds perfect. I know that for startups, it’s like feast or famine, you guys have seen incredible success over the past 6 years. I know you’re growing in leaps and bounds like our sister site, Fit Small Business. We actually love Contactually. I think you have a product that is kind of head and shoulders and what a lot of people are trying to do is, what I mean is that you guys have a precision scalpel that just seems to work great.

So, why don’t we just start out for people who may be new to Contactually or even to CRM general? You’d be surprised! I know, I won’t name names but I know an agent on a team who just sold an 8-figure listing in Manhattan, he came to me looking for advice for your CRM and I asked him what he was using and he said he was using Excel. So, just for the people who maybe some sort of catching on new agents. I know that Contactually focuses more on Relationship Marketing…

Zvi Band:

Yeah.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

…so maybe if you can talk a little bit about what relationship marketing it is, why it’s a better system to nurture leads and maybe how can Contactually or other CRMs or maybe even just as a concept that people can apply to their to their lead nurturing

Zvi Band:

Yeah absolutely. So first off thank you so much for having me, especially braving the flu to have this conversation today. Yeah, so, Relationship Marketing, let’s pull back and kind of view it as a real estate agent and again real estate agents, I hate to say, are not unique because there are your lawyers, and financial advisors, consultants, and small business owners and entrepreneurs, they share the same trait where when you boil it down, their core asset is who they know and who knows them, right? That is their currency, especially in a world where the knowledge gap disappears because I can go on Zillow or Redfin to find any property I want, the skills gap is gone because , there are 1.2 million other real estate agents in the US that can do what you do and so we’re really left with that relationship gap,how do I build and maintain that best relationship and so Relationship Marketing is all about this general idea and practice of, how do I better market my skills and my services to and through my relationships, to nurture new repeat and referral business.

So it’s really taking this whole idea, yeah, I know people are important some way and I care about referrals, and breaking it down into what is the exact strategy? , who do I talk to? What do I need to talk to them? What do I say? And that is really solved through both people, processes and technology and in Contactually we’re were thankful that we provide what we believe and what our many customers believe is one of the best pieces of technology to help solve that Relationship Marketing challenge. .

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Great, yeah and I think that’s such an important concept that everyone sort of understands intuitively I think like you said, most people that are in sales are like, well, I need to develop these relationships…

Zvi Band:

Yeah.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

…to take my business to the next level but it kind of gets lost when it comes down to the actual processes and the actual strategy. Like I said, I’ve known a lot of agents who, they had a birthday list, they have a list of , anniversaries for move-ins and move-outs back to back kind of stuff and that works to some extent but to do this really effectively and especially in 2018, , there’s a lot better tools that you can use that are going to sort of augment the just the Excel or email lists or something like that.

Zvi Band:

Yeah, yeah, so I think you’re there, that that’s kind of one of the interesting things. I think the first step is to take that as a new year’s resolution of saying, oh, I want to be better at my relationships and breaking that down into the strategy that you want to do, like, okay, this is a strategic process I’m going to follow and then the next are the tools. So I actually think what if you’re making the Excel spreadsheet work for you, great!

I know fortune 500 CEOs who literally their processes every morning, they wake up and they write down on a piece of paper a list of the ten people they want to talk to that day, they put in their pocket and then over the day, they’ll email those people.

That might work, right, the challenges is , especially in this day and age, Excel spreadsheets and thousands of contacts and who run it? Who do I need to talk to? That’s where those things for most people very quickly fall apart and we built Contactually hoping that we can actually solve that issue.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Yeah, absolutely and I think also we’re talking about CEOs or people that are the sort of front view of any kind of business, their circle is a lot smaller in some ways because they have maybe 10, 15 people that they really need to talk to, maybe someone comes in, a new client they have to move or something but , I mean real estate is such a numbers game.

Here in New York City we’re dealing with renters. When it was working as an agent, I could get , 50 calls in a weekend, just it’s a sort of churn and burn and I think the sheer volume of people that real estate agents need to talk to in the numbers that they need to convert whatever , 3%, 1%, it’s just a lot higher so that’s where I think this focus on relationships kind of comes good.

Zvi Band:

That goes back to that issue why I started Contactually six years ago is I think yeah there are… it’s not even a matter of like how many people we need to engage with per say but it’s also just the number of people coming into our sphere every day right? the human mind, your research has proven that the human mind can only remember 150 people at a time and usually those are the 150 people that you’ve been engaging with most recently, maybe not necessarily the most important people, so , I would meet someone for coffee and then 2 weeks, later completely forget about them and so, yeah, if I can’t remember who I sat down for half an hour with and had coffee, , how is a real estate agent going to remember the lead that came in 3 months ago, right? And so, yeah, I think that is a big opportunity that is kind of the big gap in the human condition that technology really can fill and fill it incredibly well.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Definitely. So speaking to that, so how do you think agents today, I mean, talking just where we are in 2018, I think a lot of people are starting to wake up to sort of , I mean, not the drip emails or anything or new technology but I think people are starting to wake up and say, “Hey look, I can kind of systematize this, I can send these templates and I can make this. So it’s a lot less sort of busy work I don’t jot down the leads, I can just sort of set it and forget it in the sense.”

But, so how do you think… because I feel like a lot of agents do that but maybe they are a little too much on the side of, just automation and they don’t really have that sort of personal touch in there. I think that’s something where people think like oh well I get these market reports from my broker and it’s like oh, this is the vacancy rate or, I may just kind of pump it out and it’s not making that sort of personal touch, it’s like birthdays or something like that. Is there something you think that agents are doing a good job of this and in your sense right now or is it something that…?

Zvi Band:

I think there’s definitely something there and that’s kind of the issue right. I think agents, I think unless you are really great at building and maintaining rapport, you’re dead right, you’re really not in business as a real estate agent. Let’s face it, I think this is one of its points where all right, they know that digital marketing is really important and being able to strategically market themselves is important.

I think this is where that may be an issue where other industries are coming in and somewhat corrupting it right because you’ll bring in a tool like MailChimp or a HubSpot or something like that. Or some general digital marketing practices that are meant for brands and companies to maintain relationships with thousands of contacts right and in a very brand specific way and that kind of over automation and over-mechanization yeah that can kind of lead people astray.

Listen, it’s still important to have a monthly newsletter and send you the market updates but still an agent and a consumer still has to have that personal relationship so I think yes, like one-to-one relationships sitting down, being together it was on one side and then your mass marketing on the other there is that gap in between.

I think that’s where an agent has the opportunity to really focus on. This becomes the root of the issue that we see is that in the present day and age, we’re so stuck in focusing on what’s urgent like meaning, like the push notification that came up, the listing appointment I have today, the lead that just showed up, the inspection that isn’t happening, the transaction have to close this moment that we often lose sight of the longer term opportunities right? Who are we going to do business with in three years?

Therefore, I just want to touch base with them today and check in and make sure they know that I’m in their corner and that is really the core essence of relationship marketing, how do we break out of their urgent and the tyranny of it and spend more time on that important side.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Right. The tyranny of the urgent that we have to steal from you…. That’s a great way to say it. I mean there’s so much we actually have to do. It’s not something we invented but there’s this idea of rock’s, if you’ve heard of this so it’s this idea that yeah so you have the sort of bigger long term goals that you have and you have the sand and this the pebbles that are sort of the smaller day to day emergencies and fires that come up and focusing on the long term is super important

Zvi Band:

We can spend all day in our inbox, right?

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Oh yeah easily.

Zvi Band:

All day in our inbox responding to what just came in and completely forget about let’s say kind of you go three or four pages back in our inbox and kind of going, “Oh I talked to that person two weeks ago and I haven’t spoken to them since June maybe it’s worth sending her a message, right?”

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on AI coming in and there’s all this stuff that’s supposedly going to be able to disrupt the industry. Returning this but I still am sort of under the idea that again the little personal touch accounts which is why even something that’s super corny like the the pop by gift with a little corny message on it, it’s just like it puts you in there, it helps you build a rapport rather than just your faceless nameless information sort of person who’s just giving them market news.

So do you think that, is there like an equivalence is there like a digital equivalent of that pop by gift? Is there something like I know you guys have dabbled with handwritten notes and stuff like that that get sent out or is there anything you think that might kind of replace that or is that something agents are always going to have to just sort of use shoe leather it to get results?

Zvi Band:

I mean I think it’s important I think to kind of identify like with that pop by gift or the closing gift or the personal coffee what is it? And what’s going on there and my friend Jason Gainart he runs a great series of events for CEO’s, he kind of told me one day that caring is the ultimate competitive advantage. What we’re doing with that pop by gift or with that personal outreach or the holiday present is we’re showing that we care about them right and especially when you’re dealing with such an incredibly valuable transaction like my biggest asset the biggest purchase I’m ever going to make it’s terrifying, it’s scary.

I need to make sure that I have the best person in my corner making sure that I’m working with someone who does care about me that matters a lot right? I’m in them in the market for a new home don’t tell anyone and I’m working with a number of different agents and I’m able to see clearly like all right who’s treating me as another contact in their database for lack of better terms and who’s going above and beyond and showing, they really care about me and I think it can be translated in a digital way, in pretty straightforward ways.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

I think one cool thing that’s come on our radar recently is a company called Eva Bot, have you heard of this?

Zvi Band:

Yeah.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

It’s an interesting idea and that I think it’s also this thing where it’s making it helps you make this personal connection but it also kind of increases the distance in a sense because it’s like it helps you figure out what they want ostensibly, but if you’re building rapport with somebody you should kind of that’s kind of the point of giving a gift. You get to know somebody and say, “Oh I think they would like this and there’s some thought behind it.”

Zvi Band:

That’s okay right I think at the other day like when the important thing I think and this is something we get caught into sometimes too is like there’s all this talk about it’s all about the follow up and the follow up and the follow up. Yeah I mean following up is basically just means maintaining cadence, really what you’re trying to do in that is you’re trying to deliver value right and show you’re valuable and show you care. Yeah, I mean giving a gift is really valuable but at the same time to your point if you over mechanize it to say, “Oh clearly I’m just a line in Excel spreadsheet that says okay you should care about Emile today.” that does attract it and so that’s why the over automation, it’s a double-edged sword for sure.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Definitely and then so if I can get in another kind of big picture question I think we can get down to the weeds and as far as leadership training and technology and all that but just a bigger picture question. We keep hearing these certain rumors about the impending disruption that AI is going to bring. I just I don’t see it, I feel like we have a lot of remote workers in the Philippines and they do amazing work and it’s that personal just okay yeah, I’m a human and I get you, and I think I feel like that it’s just people are going to automatically sniff it out and if they don’t like it… God forbid like you said you’re looking for a house have you have you gotten canned email responses and recognize them as coming from a certain CRM?

Zvi Band:

I can tell for example at this point I can almost tell which automated marketing tool they’re using these days based on the design of the email. I can tell that that’s coming from that system or I can tell you’re paying that service who I know and love right? But you’re right like maybe I sent an unique place because I know so many but I think there is a little bit of concern that it becomes an arms race and everyone’s arming themselves with tools and that’s why I do think using those tools in the right way but then again layering in your own personal and authentic relationship building on top of it that is going to be they can be competitive advantage.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

I absolutely agree and it just seems like drone photography and the 3D tours and all this and everyone said, “Oh this Open Door is coming it’s the end of the agents.” Yeah I’m sort of heartened to see that you’re a tech guy and you’re kind of agreeing here… hopefully.

Zvi Band:

Remember I’m actually a software developer. I actually like naturally an incredible introvert so I actually spent two weeks on the road just now I came back and I spent the entire last weekend just literally in a hole not talking. But yeah I learned early on that there’s such incredible value in relationships and that is really what set me on this path so now this is something I’m thankful to be able to dedicate the past six years of my life to.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

You’re saving introverts and bringing them up into the daylight, I love it. Cool. So just one more quick thing, so I noticed that you guys have something called like the best time to send email intelligence and I just sort of came across that and I’m just curious if you can just give a quick description, I mean if it’s anything proprietary we’re going to have to get into the skunk works here but just a quick overview of how that works for lead nurturing is it something where it’s just time of day or is it by lead or…

Zvi Band:

I mean we talked about it you touched on a little bit earlier. I do believe it’s a over-hype concern about artificial intelligence and it potentially replacing us entirely, right? I don’t think that’s that’s the point I think it’s it’s really thinking about how can artificial intelligence actually help. the best time to send and where we are heading to as an intelligent CRM is how do we take the information that we have and help you in a way, right? So what we do is again we’re tracking 250 million relationships at any point in time. We’re pulling all of your email conversations we’re looking at all of your calendar appointments.

So we are pulling in all this information for you, what we do with that is then how do we help you with that and so one thing again, we’re looking at 250 million relationships I can tell based on the patterns that you and I are using to communicate that the best time to send you an email is at 10:00 AM. Why? That is when you’re most responding to people. That’s when you’re engaging with the most number of messages so I know that I want to email a meal all right 10 AM is the best time and so Contactually our whole purpose is you don’t care about the algorithms and all the prediction stuff that we do behind the scenes, you just want to know all right when Contactually says you should reach out Contactually says, “Hey by the way email him at 10 AM, click here and we’re going to automatically schedule the message to go out this time.”

Emile L’Eplattenier:

That’s great and that’s super important and I think it’s nice to see people that you’re trying again to sort of bring this into the fold and saying, “Look we have data here” and the amazing thing too is just having access to that data which is just unbelievable and I think it’s going to lead to even greater stuff down the road. Just to be clear, am I pronouncing Zvi, correctly?

Zvi Band:

You got it listen, every relationship I’ve had in my life, has begun with like so how do I say your name? We’re doing great man.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Awesome same, my name is Emile spelled E-M-I-L-E so yeah, we’re sort of in the unique name club together so I’m glad I nailed it on the first try. Awesome. Hey it’s been absolutely fabulous talking to you is there anything you want to kind of mention to for listeners or anything got coming down the pike and you think it’s exciting new products cool stuff.

Zvi Band:

Yeah absolutely I mean so Jeff Bezos has CEO of Amazon has this attitude that your every day is day one and that’s definitely something that we subscribe to at Contactually, right? We believe that relationships will always be this important asset that’s one thing that won’t change but then everything in terms of how we interact them, how we build and maintain relationships that is what is so incredibly powerful. So yeah I mean we know we’re just the beginning of our journey, we’re thankful to partner with thousands of agents and work with seven of the top 20 brokerages in the country as well as dozens of others but really like our mission is we believe that the best businesses are built on personal authentic relationships.

So, for any of the listeners here and for anyone that that Emile, as our team’s incredibly receptive and we’re always happy to help in any way.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

Awesome great and that’s contactually.com.

Zvi Band:

Contact and actually if they had a baby.

Emile L’Eplattenier:

I never got that awesome Zvi Band thanks so much appreciate it.

Zvi Band:

Thank you so much for your time.

The post Why Relationship Marketing Should be Your Primary Lead Gen Strategy: Interview w/ Contactually Founder, Zvi Band appeared first on The Close.