The Key to Referrals and Repeat Business
Key idea: Practice and implement the fundamentals. Do the things you know you should do (because they work!), do them well, and do them consistently. That’s the way you win loyal clients who will refer you time and time again.
This week on Stay Paid, we talk with award-winning agent, trainer, coach, and speaker Sean Carpenter. Sean’s a friend of ReminderMedia, having shared the stage with us during webinars and previously appearing as a podcast guest.
During this interview, Sean talks with us about the changing real estate market, the various ways agents can effectively reach out to their clients, and what goes into building a high level of trust among clients and prospects.
In these show notes, we give you a sneak peek about some of what Sean has to say about customer touchpoints.
What is a customer touchpoint?
Simply put, a customer touchpoint is any occasion when a current customer, past customer, or future customer comes in contact with your business. As such, there are a variety of ways to make contact with people before, during, and after the sale.
At ReminderMedia (the producer of Stay Paid), we’re concerned with keeping you in touch with the people in your database; that is, the people with whom you’ve already done business and the people with whom you hope to do business. As far as we’re concerned, our job is to make you unforgettable by keeping you consistently in front of these people—and during his interview, Sean offers several ways you can do that without stalking anyone and without being overwhelming.
The key is to use multiple channels of communication to connect with your audience.
The 6 channels of communication
The real estate industry is notorious for being behind the times in all kinds of ways—from the slow adoption of new technologies to not using social media effectively. It’s human nature to stick to what is comfortable and familiar, but the world is forever changing, and what may be comfortable and familiar today quite possibly won’t work tomorrow.
As a real estate agent or other professional who depends on commissions to make a living, you might be religiously sending your postcards to your farm every month—and that’s great, but it’s not enough. No single channel, whatever it is, is enough.
In order to avoid having your audience become desensitized to your marketing, Sean suggests using different channels of communication to connect with your clients (five of which are available on your ever-present phone):
- Face-to-face
- Voice-to-voice
- Text
- Direct mail
- Social media
The use of different channels allows you to be omnipresent—your clients feel like they see you everywhere—but the variety prevents the complacency that the same old email eventually creates when it’s all your clients ever receive.
Keeping it fresh is easier than you think
When you listen to his interview, you’ll hear Sean talk about how he manages to reach out to folks in his database organically, routinely, and in a variety of ways. One example he offers is event marketing. To get the word out, promote the event, and use its full potential for marketing, Sean will:
- Send an email blast
- Mail postcards
- Send a text two weeks before the event
- Call those he hasn’t heard from
- Talks to people at the event
- Post pictures of the event and tags individuals on social media
- Handwrite and thank you notes
Another way he keeps reaches out is with routinely scheduled touchpoints:
- An automated monthly campaign
- A call to clients on their birthdays
- A card mailed to clients to recognize important anniversaries
- Two additional reasons for contact
That’s 16 touchpoints without breaking a sweat! Everything else, he says, is gravy.
A final example we’ll offer here is Sean’s six-channel challenge. Emphasizing that your touchpoints don’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) all about real estate, he recommends the following system for optimizing your efforts to connect with your database:
- Six social touches
- Five text messages
- Four handwritten notes
- Three personal emails
- Two phone calls
- One face-to-face interaction
That’s 21 touches in a single day. If you follow this system for five days, you’ll have touched 105 people. Do it for a month, and you’ll have connected with 420 people. It’s a system that demands discipline, but make it a routine part of your job, and you will stay top of mind.
There is so much more to Sean’s interview that we can’t capture here. It’s an engaging conversation and one you’ll leave feeling inspired, energized, and motivated.
Please enjoy this episode and take a moment to leave us a 5-star review and comment on Apple Podcasts.
Connect | Resources
Instagram: @seancarp
Blog: carpscorner.net
Website: SeanCarpenter.com
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
