5 Steps to a Healthy Repeat and Referral Business

To say you're in for a treat is an understatement, as successful agent Leah Goldstein shares the secrets to how she keeps her repeat and referral business thriving.

Leah's strategy is so easy to implement and effective that you'll begin seeing results right away. From finding out what makes your clients tick by sending a survey, to using that knowledge to provide the exceptional service and thoughtful surprises that will win them over, her strategy is nothing short of brilliant.

Here's how she does it.

The goal achieved in the wee hours of the morning.

With a Starbucks within arm's reach, Leah is on the computer by 6AM. Before the phone starts ringing and the hecticness of the day ensues, she's checking three things: email, Facebook and Top Producer CRM.

On Facebook, she's looking for meaningful events in her clients' lives—graduations, birthdays, anniversaries. If she sees anything, she enters it into Top Producer (see #3 in 'How she does it' below).

She then begins writing the notes and gift cards for her clients that, when received, will elicit that "Aww, look what Leah sent us" reaction. (Why? Because Leah pays attention, but we'll get to that.)

The formula she uses to get it done.

If you read our first post about Leah, you'd know that she's all over anything annual and meaningful—house anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, etc. It's the little things that go a long way in any relationship—listening, noticing and remembering. And here's the thoughtful but simple process Leah uses to spread a little love to 50 or more of her clients each month.

And here's the 'how she does it' (so you can too)...

1. Send a simple survey to your clients

From preferences on things like loan officers and mortgage lenders, to how they prefer to be contacted and whether they like coffee/tea or beer/wine, the 'All About You' survey Leah sends to new clients is very clever.

Using your Google account, you can create a survey using Google Forms. Just enter the questions you want to ask, then click a button to send it via email.

And since relationships aren't one-sided, Leah answers some of the survey questions and includes them in a PDF. That way her clients will learn a little about her too—how she loves her dachshunds and Starbucks, what she likes to do when she's not working, etc.

Next, track it in your CRM

If you're a Top Producer user, go from the Contact Details tab in their record > click beside the Contact Type field on the left > then click the Add link to add tags that reflect their likes—coffee lover, wine lover. You get the drift.

2. Stalk on Facebook

Now I know you don't need the steps on how to do this, but you'll be pleased to know that Leah's experience with this approach has only been positive:

3. Enter birthdays in your CRM

Open the contact's record and enter the date in the Birthday field. You can enter any other important dates while you're in their contact record, too.

Bonus tip: When you're adding the date, put the year in brackets. For example, if they moved into their house in 2013, type Home anniversary (2013). That way you can say, "Can you believe you've been there four years?!"

4. Spread the love with a thoughtful gift

Jamba Juice, Bath & Body Works, Starbucks, iTunes—Leah keeps a stash of these gift cards in her desk so she's ready to rock each morning.

And since she's kept such good track of her clients' likes, knowing just which one to send is a cinch.

5. Last, but not least, make a note to connect

For each gift card and note Leah sends, she records the details and sets a follow-up reminder on the actual day. That way she can post a message on the day of to say happy birthday and enjoy the frozen yogurt!

That's it for now, folks. To close, though, we want to say a great big thank you to Leah for sharing not only the secrets to her success, but her precious time, too. The exceptional service she provides to her clients and the help she so readily offers to her fellow agents is pretty inspiring stuff. We wish her only the best and look forward to working with her in the future.

To view the original article, visit the Top Producer blog.