Real Estate Marketing: How to Maximize Repeat Business

There’s an old saying in business: “Getting clients will make you money. Getting repeat clients will make you rich.” That makes sense, of course. Yet, many agents don’t realize just how profound that adage is.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Depending on the market and demographic, a client will move again, on average, once or twice during a 25-year agent career. That’s one to two repeats. So, if you have 50 past clients in your real estate CRM, that’s potentially 50 to 100 new listings waiting for you down the road — in addition to scores of buyer agent opportunities. Sweet!

But it gets even better.

Those clients have friends and neighbours who will need real estate help occasionally. In fact, the average client will get an opportunity to recommend you two to three times a year. You do the math. That’s a lot of potential real estate referrals.

So, how do you ensure you maximize repeat business and real estate referrals from past clients? The formula for success is actually quite simple:

1. Stay in touch regularly.
2. Add value with each communication.
3. Continually position yourself as the kind of agent they’ll want to hire again and recommend to their friends and neighbours.

That’s what you should do. Now how do you do it? That question is key because there are so many wrong ways to build strong relationships with past clients.

For example, if you merely send a holiday card, calendar, or fridge magnet each year that’s not going to have much impact. A client won’t see you as the kind of agent worth recommending. Sure, you may still get a few real estate referrals, but not nearly as many as you could be getting.

In our work with thousands of real estate agents over the years, we found that, without a doubt, the ideal frequency to connect with past clients is monthly. When you “show up” for your clients each month — and add value (that’s important!) — they’ll increasingly see you as the agent they’re glad to have hired and happy to recommend.

That’s why you need an automated, done-for-you real estate marketing system for client referrals. Only with a proven system will you be able to stay in touch with your past clients effectively and maximize repeat business.

So, take a look at your list of past clients. Then, multiply that number by four and ask yourself, “Are those future listings and real estate referrals worth going after?” If the answer is yes, get started marketing to your past clients today.