Word of mouth marketing is a powerful phenomenon in marketing – and since real estate agents are representing themselves and their firm no matter where they are and usually don’t have the luxury of a high-powered marketing team behind them – it’s important that they pay a lot of attention to detail and a provide a commitment to great customer service. Each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones your way and opens up a wider network for you to operate.
What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?
Word-of-mouth is triggered when a customer experiences something far beyond what was expected. It’s what consumers trust above all others and what will drive sales for your company.
According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. Word of mouth marketing is a powerhouse movement that promotes your brand growth – it is essentially happy customers promoting your business.
Develop phenomenal customer service
“Slightly exceeding their expectations just won’t do it. You’ve got to go above and beyond the call of duty if you want your customers to talk about you.”
People remember outstanding customer service. A good word of mouth marketing strategy, much like a great customer service experience, is credible, repeatable, measurable, and respectful. Remembering tidbits of information from the last conversation you had with a client, or something personal that they shared goes a long way in strengthening a relationship.
Customer service should be embedded within the fabrics of how you operate. Try focusing on improving the overall customer experience for a positive end-to-end involvement with you by asking: am I giving them enough reason to spread my name in a positive way? Was it a unique experience? If the tables were reversed – would I feel comfortable with making a recommendation?
In a sea of vendors, people remember these positive experiences, and are most likely have your name top of mind when someone is looking for the services of a professional agent.
Here are a few ways to help with your word-of-mouth exposure.
- Position yourself as a thought leader
Becoming a recognized thought leader within the field of real estate is a long-term objective by aiming to continually provide value, sharing in-depth knowledge and becoming a trusted source of information. The building blocks to becoming a thought leader happen by telling people to think about ideas they didn’t know they needed to think about. By looking at what everyone else in the field is saying, and finding an area that isn’t being discussed, that allows you to carve out your own niche.
Thought leaders consistently seek to generate high quality content in the form of blog posts, eBooks, articles, newsletters and email communications. The other end of this is to have a strategy in place to help broadcast this expertise – instead of just tossing information out there and hoping it sticks.
- Become active within your community
Household name real estate agents are pillars in their respective communities because of their outreach, sponsorship and volunteering. A great way to start is to host events like a client appreciation night or sponsoring an organization in your community. These are great ways to help spur positive word of mouth about you and your services. As these engagements start to build up in your rolodex, you need a digital sidekick to keep you organized and give you access to key information quickly and at a glance – that’s where a CRM comes into play.
- Build off your sphere of influence
Your sphere of influence (SOI) is comprised of close friends, relatives and acquaintances, all of whom are phenomenal avenues to new networks to explore when growing your enterprise. According to research, most homeowners know three to five people each year that will move – making your sphere the perfect starting place for building referrals. Having a real estate CRM helps with staying connected to your sphere and to schedule regular check-in calls to properly qualify and convert on these leads.
- Enhance your reservoir of testimonials
Testimonials are a powerful business-building tool because they harness the positive feedback and experience that embody the type of work you want to stand for. Testimonials are great marketing pieces that essentially act as social proof that can give prospects the extra validation that you have a proven track record and they can feel confident in working with you. Happy clients are phenomenal lead generators.
- Have a CRM in place to capture these new leads
Capture and convert – that’s the endgame here. In order to capture leads, nurture and convert them, there has to be an end-to-end solution in place that streamlines the whole funnel. Having an easy to use real estate CRM allows you to build lasting relationships with past clients and hot prospects immediately so you can respond quickly and convert that lead into a client before they start shopping around.
In this fast paced landscape of real estate, staying organized and in control are the twin keys to staying ahead of the competition – and putting some distance between them.
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