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Walter Sanford is an international speaker and author of 14 books for real estate salespeople
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Give Clients the VIP Treatment
Make past customers feel valuable with a membership club that rewards them for staying in touch with you.
BY WALTER SANFORD
In my never-ending quest to separate myself from the pack, I’ve looked for unique, low-cost methods to keep my sphere of influence chanting, "Walter Sanford is my real estate salesperson!” Towards this end, I developed the VIP Client Club--an incentive-based program that rewards past clients for staying in touch with me and recommending my services to their friends and families. Gradually I extended the club’s membership to include all the hot prospects in my database. This program not only helps me keep my customer database information current, it generates invaluable word-of-mouth advertising by keeping my name in front of my sphere of influence.
Club membership begins at closing. I give customers a VIP club membership card and explain to them how the system works. (These are simply plastic cards printed with my name and contact information and their names. These cards are available from any company that makes membership cards for approximately $1.00 each.) The main benefit of the VIP program for clients is the chance to earn a 20-percent discount off my commission in their next real estate transaction. To get this discount, clients must earn a certain number of points. There are several ways to get points, each of which encourages clients to continue our relationship after closing. I reward them with one point for supplying me with updated contact information, such as a new phone number or e-mail address. Also, I offer points for spreading the word about my services. For instance, I give three points to members who give me a referral, four points if the listing sells. These numbers are somewhat arbitrary--you can assign them whatever relative value you like. The point is to create a system that motivates clients to stay in touch.
I know what you’re probably thinking about offering a commission discount, and I agree. I don’t do it, except in this case. These past clients have jumped through numerous hoops prior to the discount that help insure my net profits from them are much greater than the discount I’m offering. Also, relatively few members, maybe two or three a year, will achieve the necessary 20 points.
While the commission discount is the main draw, VIP club membership has other privileges. I have a significant list of free services that clients can avail themselves of at any time. These services cost me nothing, or very little, to provide, but people like knowing that they’re available. Some examples of these free services include:
· Preparing mortgage amortization schedules, customized for any payment or interest amount for clients considering a refinance, adding principal to their payment, or considering the purchase of another home.
· Performing investment analyses of any income property, showing internal rates of return, financial management rates of return, cost per unit, gross rent multipliers, and capitalization rates.
· Giving advice on future buying and selling decisions, as well as an analysis of refinance viability.
· Supplying referrals to the best contractors, lenders, and other real estate services in my area.
· Providing comparative market analyses and marketing plans for all friends, relatives and business associates of members.
· Calculating cost vs. value estimates for any real estate improvement.
· Providing referrals to top salespeople in any city of North America should you contemplate a move.
· Conducting a rent vs. buy analysis.
Of course, you can add to this list, based on your business’s capabilities, your client base, and which features you can offer inexpensively. But don’t be reluctant to offer a variety of services. Every free services that you supply gives you another reason to contact pass clients and hot prospects and remind them of its availability. If you’re still not convinced, I would recommend sitting down and writing out all the services that you already provide free of charge to clients, but might have failed to publicize. You’ll find that many services that seem ho-hum and boring to you are new and exciting to clients once you promote them in this way.
Past clients are usually better qualified than prospects obtained through cold calling or mass mailings. And because they know you, they’re more likely to be receptive to you as well. Maintaining a relationship with this profitable customer base is of paramount concern to top real estate salespeople who want to build their business on referrals. The VIP client club is a low-cost, high-impact, proactive lead generator that will accomplish just that. I hope that you will take steps to implement it soon. You’ll be excited about the reaction that you receive. Your past clients are very important people, treat them like it, and you’ll find that membership has its rewards for you as well.
Ask Walter
Q. I want to build my prospect base with a direct marketing campaign, but I want to be sure that my efforts really make me memorable to prospects and set me apart from the competition. What do you recommend?
A. Begin by identifying the group you’re mailing to and deciding what their interests are. Ask yourself, “Will anyone care if they receive this?”
In my opinion, most prospects prefer a mailing that furthers their interest in real estate by providing them with substantive information, such as a newsletter, a postcard directing them to services on your Web site for neighborhood news, or a list of sales in their neighborhood. This type of information adds value and because you are developing it yourself, offers unique content they can only get from you.
You should also make sure that your mailing is not just a one-time effort. In direct mail, repetition is key. For this reason, it’s important not to do a single mailing that’s so expensive that you can’t afford to do it more than once or twice. To be sure that a mailing campaign is effective, try sending out a small sample to a random list of prospect and then track the results. Using this feedback will help you refine your target group and improve your mailing materials before you overspend. Another way to help hold down your costs is to use an e-mail solicitation. This method allows you to inexpensively reach a large number of people. Beware of spamming, which can turn off more customers than it attracts.
Because you’ll want to follow up with prospects after your mailings, compile the phone numbers of your prospects at the same time that you’re obtaining street and e-mail addresses. Carry out these calls starting five days after the mailing. You might want to stagger the mailings so that you can keep up with the calls.)
A well-thought-out mailing and a series of follow-up phone calls should yield you a 5 percent return of new, interested prospective customers and put you much farther along in your efforts to build your customer base.
Want selling and marketing advice? Send your questions for Walter Sanford to salesclinic@realtors.org | | |
