How To Turn Your Clients Into Friends & Win Referrals
Make Fun Part of Your Business
As many of you know, I’m a huge advocate of dropping by clients homes and writing personal notes. But, while those things are great, they are also pretty one-sided. If you want to deepen your relationships with your sphere of influence, you have to actually get to know them.
Realtors are social people. We have to be. In order to have a successful business, we have to build rapport. And the best way to build rapport is to connect with people. And what better way to connect with people than to go do something fun!
So I made “fun” part of my business practice (awesome, right?). Each month I would do something social and I would invite my clients to join me. Whether it was a snow day or wine tasting, I made it a point to reach out to my sphere of influence. My ultimate goal was to get to know my clients better and build rapport.
What initially seemed like a fun hangout sesh with my clients and colleagues became a network of “friends with benefits” (i.e. referrals of course…I’m not talking about THOSE benefits)!
But seriously, here’s what happened: when I spent quality time with my clients, we made memories. We shared ideas, became familiar with each other and built trust and loyalty with each other. In the simplest terms, we became friends.
This inadvertently led to tons of referrals. And guess what referrals lead to? More clients! Clients, who I invited to cheer (or jeer) on the Green Bay Packers with me at my favorite pub. It was a big ol’ circle of success!
Big Ol’ Circle of Success
We all have hobbies, interests and talents and hopefully we make time for them. Now all you have to do is invite your network to join you. I did six outings a year. Try to do just one. Here’s a list of things that I’ve done in the past (but feel free to come up with your own!):
- Sledding
- Wine tasting
- Sporting events
- Afternoon at the dog park
- Pub crawls
- Hiking
- Fun Runs (also often raises money for a local cause)
- Picnic in the park
- Floating down the river/day at the beach or lake
- Sushi sampling
- Day at the Zoo
- Bike rides
- Day at the local pumpkin patch
- Check out the best Christmas lights (in Sacramento we have a couple of neighborhoods that put on a great show!)
How To Execute
Now, more than ever, it is super easy to reach your clients. From Evites to group texts, there are tons of time-saving ways to connect.
My favorite is Facebook Events. It’s so simple and you can reach your clients in a fun and personal way. Check out this Facebook Event I created:
Facebook makes it super easy but here’s what are the steps to creating an event on FB:
- In your newsfeed, click on the Events link (it’s located in the left-hand column)
- Click the Create button
- Chose if you want your event to be Public (anyone can see it) or Private (accessible by invite-only)
- Fill in the rest of the information: Event Name, Location, Date/TIme and Description. Don’t forget to add a photo!
- When you click Create, your event will either post to your timeline (if it’s a public event) or you will then have the opportunity to invite specific people, in which case it will be sent them as a notification.
I truly value authentic relationships. My goal was always to turn clients into friends. It didn’t always happen and that was ok but I did my best to provide opportunities where I could better connect with my sphere of influence.
Let me know what you are planning! Send me an invite!
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