Market to Previous Customers: Look to the Past to Build Toward the Future

...or Happy Halloween from Your Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents, like other commission-based sales professionals, know that staying in touch with everyone in their address book is essential to growing their business. Referrals are a salesperson’s bread-and-butter; sales are easier to make when you have a prospect’s friend or relative greasing the tracks for your deal.

Dana Griggs, my parents’ real estate agent with Hasson Company Realtors, knows that one of the cardinal rules of successful marketing is to stay in front of people. And she does it so well.

More than a decade after she helped my parents find and buy their home, she continues to regularly send cards to them. Last winter, Dana sent my mother a holiday greeting that was customized with a picture of my parents’ house on front. My mother, who really loves her house, told me it was her favorite card (after the one she received from me and her grandchild, I’m sure).

This morning, my father sent me Halloween greetings via an email forwarding of an electronic card from Dana.

Every time you reach out and stay in front of your previous customers or clients, you give them the opportunity to pass on your information to others. Not only have my parents talked to me about Dana and her cards, they’ve shared her name to many other people as well. And now, I’m sharing her information with you.

By consistently making yourself visible to those you’ve served in the past, you remind them of what you do and how you helped them. It keeps fresh the positive feelings they associate with your assistance and skill. And because of those positive feelings and your past relationship, they are your best source for repeat and new business.

There’s no need to be pushy or glitzy. Even a simple letter on stationery can be effective. But to ensure your business is remembered, thought of, talked about—and maybe even displayed on your customers’ refrigerators—the key is to find timely, thoughtful, and simple ways to remind them of you and your business.