Top Real Estate Strategies Email Newsletter

Creating Customer Loyalty

Boni Lonnsburry
President and CEO, In Touch Today Corporation

Just how important is customer loyalty?

According to “The Loyalty Effect” by Frederick F. Reichheld, retaining just five percent more of your customers can boost your profits as much as 95 percent (Harvard Business School Press, 1996).

That's the power of customer loyalty – and it’s obviously very powerful.

The retention of loyal customers increases your bottom line for two simple reasons:

It costs far more to acquire a new client than to keep a current one.
Loyal customers not only guarantee repeat business, they also refer business.

Most real estate agents know they should retain customers. Most know they need to maintain customer contact to do so. But many don’t. That’s good news for you - because if you do, you’re in the minority of professionals and your customer will become even MORE loyal.

How can you keep all your customers loyal and referring? You don’t. It could make you crazy trying to create personal relationships with every contact in your database. Instead, segment your client base to determine which clients are in the top echelon. Likely, they will be those who move more often, refer more people and buy more homes. Next, determine your middle and lower echelons. Spend your resources according to each segment’s value to your business. You may never personally call your lower echelon list. You may only send hand-signed birthday cards to the higher echelon list.

No matter how you divide up your resources, here are some loyalty-building ideas to implement REGULARLY (that is the key, folks – regular contact so your customers don’t forget who you are and think your once a year mailing is from some stranger who bought a list).

LOYALTY BUILDING PRACTICES:

Strengthen your one-to-one relationships. Maybe not with all your clients, but at least with those whose business you really value. These are the customers you take time to call at least once or twice a year.
Send “pure” communications. This means sending birthday cards, thank you cards, gifts, even making phone calls that don’t contain sales messages. The point of these communications is strictly relationship building. Especially around special days, these “pure” forms are appreciated.
Regularly check client satisfaction levels with calls and surveys.
Add value in other ways. For example, develop a website containing useful home-related information. Send emails that do the same.
Support community and charity projects and let people know about it.

And lastly, think about cutting back on the time you spend with non-revenue producing people. Cut the call short with the client who’s been a TBD for 18 months and shows no sign of buying. Cut the appraiser out of your business who takes up more time whining than referring.

An extra five percent client loyalty will take a little bit of resources but will pay off big time in long-term business.

In Touch Today offers Automated Mailing Programs for Professionals, assisting them in increasing their repeat and referral business as well as building professional referral sources and prospecting new clients. www.intouchtoday.com

And another important resource:

“People don’t want to be “marketing TO”; they want to be “communicated WITH.”

– Flint McGlaughlin

Birthday Greeting Cards

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