Five Tips for Fostering a Client-for-life Strategy

It's a simple fact for most brokers and agents: There are limited funds for large marketing efforts. That's why it is important to leverage the best of what you already have—past clients who know your value and may pass on their good experience to future prospects!

A proactive client retention strategy that builds on these existing relationships can reduce the marketing cost per customer, enhance your brand reputation, and increase bottom line profitability. Building lifelong consumer loyalty may feel overwhelming, but let's take a look at five easy tactics that you can implement today.

1. Connect with your current clients. Make every real estate transaction an opportunity to create a deeper sense of shared understanding. It's easy to get caught up in business as usual, but clients like to work with people they can relate to. Let your caring personality shine—ask them about their lives, their hopes, and their goals. And then, make sure to keep in touch!

2. Share resources. Consumers are increasingly moving long distances for job opportunities, family changes, and age-related transitions. So there's a significant pool of would-be home buyers and sellers that will see the value of selecting a real estate agent who can connect them to localized service providers for any home repairs or other relocation logistics in their new hometown. Nest4Less, for example, empowers brokers and agents to provide localized and customizable online directory content to prospects and clients for free.

3. Position yourself as a resource for life. Let your clients know that you will be there long after their real estate transaction is done. It's OK to be a little forward here—tell them again and again that they can come back to you whenever they need. Communicating this explicitly can help differentiate yourself from the others who are still focused on blind lead generation.

4. Reward clients for staying on. Offer added services that have value to clients long after the sale. Our online Technology Guide features leading client retention tools like property valuation tracking and service provider directories that will continue to drive past-client traffic to your branded website for years to come.

5. Keep learning. The more knowledge, skills, and experiences you can bring to the table for your clients, the more valuable you will be to them. And, the more benefit clients gain from your services, the more likely they are to come back to you when they are ready to buy or sell again. The RE Technology website is a rich source for finding out about the latest industry trends, continuing education opportunities, and technologies that can help your business become more competitive.

Cultivating a client-for-life strategy delivers the best return on investment for your marketing dollars, and it's all about showing that you are both professional and approachable, whether online or in person, even long after the sale has closed.