Old Rule:     The dot-com era was the peak of the Internet.

New Rule:     The Next Wave Internet boom is here -- and it's going to last.

No matter how you slice it, repeat business and referrals remain your most profitable source of business. Satisfied clients know you, trust you, and appreciate all your efforts made on their behalf. Your next logical step is to put all that good will and positive energy to work for you -- over and over again.

With the diverse methods of communication made possible by the Internet, customer relationship marketing (CRM) has come into its own.

Seven Proven Strategies to Build Referrals and Gain Repeat Business

1. Communicate regularly with your past clients, and others in your sphere of influence. Take advantage of all available online and offline methods to express your professionalism and continued interest. At the end of each communication, always ask for a referral, and don't be bashful about it. Some top e-Rainmakers report success using these techniques when asking clients for referrals:

   • Honor their referrals by adding gracious follow-up that happy homeowners will really appreciate. For example, for each referral sent to you, send a "Thank You" to your client, preferably by e-mail, such as an electronic coupon (printable PDF) for a home-oriented gift, or peel-and-stick new address labels.

   • Another approach would be to put your client's name in the electronic pot for a drawing of a curb-appeal landscape "Makeover Madness," floor covering spring cleaning, or an artist's rendering of family home with envelopes, greeting cards, and stationery. Winner notified by e-mail.

2. Take all the credit due to you for helping your buyers find their dream home. Who could resist the opportunity to show off a new house? As an example of your continued service after closing, offer your happy buyers this golden opportunity: Create a virtual tour of their new property and make it accessible to their friends through your website, as an e-mail attachment, or on a CD. Always include your contact information, and a direct link to your website. Virtual tour software will make this easy.

   Another take on this idea is to prepare a "House Warming" web page for the buyers, even if you were the listing agent. Include photos and location maps of the new home, the neighborhood, and the community. Add a testimonial from your clients.

3. Demonstrate your continued high quality service with online newsletters. Whether you choose to create your own newsletter or take advantage of prepared e-newsletters, keep your homeowners' interests in mind. What are past clients looking for? Not the same things, obviously, that they needed before you helped them sell a home or buy one. Articles on improvements, redecorating, gardening, and seasonal and year-round home maintenance will be welcome. Always ask for referrals.

4. Feature links throughout your website to all your e-newsletters. Yet another bonus to online newsletters is that you can use links to specific home management articles, as instant answers to prospect and past client questions.

5. Create a personalized stream of birthday and anniversary tips for past seller and buyer clients. There are several sites on the Internet that provide amusing and interesting bits of information keyed to specific dates such as birthdays, purchase dates, and wedding anniversaries. For example, http://re-date.com will calculate how long you have been married to the nearest second and provide other fun-to-know facts such as how old you would be if you lived on Mars or Pluto.

6. Strive to average at least one new referral client per transaction. Again, don't be shy. Make it your policy that closings are never truly closed until you have asked for referrals from all the players. Activate a business-building campaign after each closing that includes e-mails, faxes, phone calls, and follow-up-letters to the buyer, the seller, friends, co-workers, neighbors, other real estate professionals present, their managers, loan officers, and attorneys.

7. Get feedback on phone calls and e-mails received from prospects, clients, and past clients. As part of your lifetime customer retention campaign, you need to know what questions your clients are asking. Then go about answering those questions proactively for prospects in the pipeline. Put the answers up front in a Q & A section of your website, or if the issue deserves more space, make it the subject of an article.

Follow-up is critical

Your ultimate objective is to pull as many referrals as possible into the "Lifetime Marketing Cycle." This all-important cycle begins with lead generation and acquisition, moves on to prospect follow-up and conversion, and long-term contact and retention, which, in turn, provides more referrals.

Effective customer relationship marketing calls for quick follow-up at each step of the lifetime marketing cycle. The biggest mistake you can make after asking for, and getting referrals is the failure to follow up with a series of targeted communications.

Published: March 8, 2005

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