Keeping in touch with your friends, family, clients and contacts – also known as your “sphere of influence – is one of the critical tasks that need to occur on a regular basis in order to insure your success as a full-time Realtor. I often hear from people that they are unsure of what to send to these people.
Don’t over think it, just send something!
It helps if it’s valuable and relevant. That will mean different things to different people so really ask yourself what you want the recipient to think, say or do with the information once they receive it.
Regular contact with the people who know, like and support you will insure that they will continue to do so in the future with their business and all-important referrals. Brand recognition is critical in a crowded landscape like real estate and unless you have the millions of advertising dollars of a McDonald’s or Coca Cola, chances are you’ll need to be persistent through many different channels of contact.
What’s your plan for email? Direct mail? Personal notes and letters? Phone calls? Personal visits? Customer appreciation events? Most experts say that people need to be exposed to your message once every 16 days or else they’ll begin to forget you and your message.
If you’re associated with a powerful brand (local, national or international) some of the “recognition” has already been taken care of. In national studies, the Coldwell Banker logo has a 96% awareness among those who were surveyed. That means that Coldwell Banker associates need to do everything they can to connect their name, face and service to that recognizable logo so when people see the blue and white CB, they think of you. If you’re affiliated with another real estate company or brokerage, how can you leverage the name/brand recognition of your company in the area where you practice to grow your business in 2010?
Below is an example of the kind of thing I think your “contact list” may find valuable, relevant or both, depending on their current situation. If nothing else, it’s that “touch” that connects your brand, your name and what you do and gets them thinking for that brief moment about your face and what it is that you do.
So what is it that you find valuable and relevant to send to your contacts? How has your business grown by keeping in touch with your spheres of influence? I’d love to hear some of the “stuff” you have sent to keep in touch with your contacts in your data base.
Thanks for reading and remember…keep building relationships…solving problems…and having fun.