About Bucks County, PA

I think by now we've all seen this commercial:

The Swiffer commercial has a "regular" mop asking, ok, begging and trying to "woo" the customer to come back to them with flowers and song dedications on the radio, now that they've switched over to using the new and improved Swiffer mop.

The woman's reaction - "too little, too late Mr. Mop." It doesn't matter what you did before, and what you'll do now to try to get me back - I'm convinced I no longer need you.

I think the commercial is brilliant for the message Swiffer is trying to communicate to it's consumers - sometimes another product provides so much more and cares about it's consumers that there's nothing you can do to change that and keep them.

Sometimes messages like this are a little too late and give us the message we're not important to these companies.

The "baby come back" method of marketing is not the kind of marketing we want to be focused on when it comes to our consumers, especially with all the ways we have to stay in touch with them - it should never get to this point!

To market to this very important group - your sphere of influence - you don't need to purchase any special tools - you possess them already, but you have to be willing to use them.

By using your blog, social media sites, the phone, email and any way you can find to make a connection with your clients, you are given numerous opportunities to provide exceptional customer service - value - and a need for your clients that will have them very much aware of how you continue to be a resource of value for them beyond their day at the settlement table.

Think about a company whose product you used to use regularly - what made you stop using it and back away from this company? Did the company stop providing any of the following?

Customer Service

Value

Keeping in Touch

Listening more than Speaking

There are so many easy ways to make a prospect and customer feel important and the investment of time that you put into it will be well worth the rewards you will receive - another opportunity to work with this person and an opportunity to work with their sphere of influence.

Some key ways to invest in your relationships with previous clients (will also work with new prospects - start off on the right foot):

1. Provide targeted information (whether in a phone call, report, newsletter, or email) - fulfill your client's needs - give them what they want and need.
2. Marketing Updates - provide information on your client's listing before they even have a chance to ask. Why leave them wondering or questioning what you're doing to get them to SOLD.
3. Send a link to a client when you post some new information to your website - why keep what you're doing a secret? Perhaps include it in your next newsletter. Mention a question that recently came from a client and address it in that newsletter (be sure they get a copy.)
4. Invite them to your blog - show them what you're involved in - direct them to the blog about their listing, send a link to the local business you just mentioned, promote your community - your next client could very well discover you and your services with their next Google search.
5. Engage on social networks - make your profile visible in the searches. Invite clients to your page and engage with them. Think about it - do you really want them to stop communicating with you after their transaction is completed?

• This is a great way to keep the communications going and a wonderful opportunity to be exposed to their sphere of influence that could most likely see the link or comment you provided your client and perhaps a referral or new client is within arms reach?

Think about it - Why would we ever want to stop communicating with a previous client who we invested time with to get to know them, spent many hours with seeing homes or spending time showing their home and got them the results they were looking for - wouldn't we want them to feel good about our relationship so much so that they would want to mention our services to others? Does our commitment to them stop after we sign the papers at the table?

Ever notice the great feedback you get in touch with someone simply because you acknowledged them with a note or a call? When we commit to stay in touch we are not only building on that relationship but increasing the chances of having relationships with all the people that person knows.

As previously stated in one of my blog posts:

"Simply offering "good" or "average" services to your clients is not going to get you noticed or talked about. Being honest, sincere, genuine will speak volumes to your clients. Every time you interact with a client think to yourself is this the best I can give? Would I feel special if I were the client?"

Think of a cat and some of the traits they have. They are creatures of routine and if you change their setting and eating times it throws them off so much so that they turn away from you.

Can't the same be said with our clients? If we change our habits of staying in touch with them they'll undoubtedly get upset and turn away from us as well.

Taking care of our prospects and customers from the very beginning and throughout the relationship is hard work but so worth the effort of having to turn to marketing them to get them back which in all likelihood will not happen - once they're gone they're not coming back.

Don't become a dispensable service that can be easily discarded because there's no more use for it or value in it.

I hope this post inspired you to make the commitment to your clients:

1. To stay in touch well after the transaction is complete and,
2. Encouraged you to find ways that you can commit to regularly and that will work for your clients to keep that relationship alive.

Feel free to share ways you continue to engage with your clients (whether past or current)

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Some other blogs to help get you moving in the right direction of providing exceptional customers service and marketing expertise to your prospects and clients:

• Marketing Strategies
• Your Newsletter
• Areas to Focus

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So it looks like the tax credit timeline will be extended and will now offer $6,500 to move up buyers who have lived in their current home for 5 of the last 8 years. Check out this link for more info.

http://rismedia.com/2009-11-04/senate-clears-homebuyer-tax-credit-extension-may-pass-as-early-as-this-week/

Often times websites are created and change very little or only certain pages change. There are many reasons for this:

1. We build it and forgot about it
2. We are driving visitors/traffic to our other sites (blogs and social media sites - important, yes, but if you have a website you want to make sure it's receiving traffic and directing traffic bank and forth to all your sites)
3. We simply don't have the time to update our sites

So here's your opportunity to regularly change the content on your website to encourage visitors (prospects and past clients) to visit again and again and again - you get the point.

As I mentioned in the title of this blog - you also want search engines visiting and revisiting your website and they will do that when you add fresh content to your site.

This can be accomplished by adding a "What's New" page to your website. Here you are focused on updating and directing your visitors to important new content on your site and fulfilling their need for information.

The benefit of adding a "What's New" page is that you are primarily updating one area of your website and since you are adding links to the pages you want to direct them to - those pages are automatically updated and generating traffic. Search engines love new content and if you are using keywords and optimizing this page you will benefit from having a page that is seen as being regularly updated and has the content that consumers are seeking.

While I don't encourage adding everything from the list - pick some key areas and see how they work - analyze your website visitor statistics and see where they're going. Keep at it until you have the right content driving traffic - repeat traffic to your site. Ideally you will want this "What's New" Page to be easily accessible from your Home page - appearing on your navigation bar so that it's easily found. The key is not just mentioning what's new - take them there by including links to take them to those pages directly.

Here are some examples of things you might want to include in your "What's New" page of your website:

New, Featured Listings & Open Houses - whether it's a widget or a featured listing

MLS Search - why have them go elsewhere? - provide right there on your website.

Hot real estate tip or link (a good opportunity to share some link love with some of your local business owners)

Updates on Your Company

• Awards
• Community Involvement - show how you're involved in your community - link to a blog or social media site in which you've mentioned what you're doing. Show it on your calendar of events.
• New Staff - link to a blog that you've written about this new staff member
• New Testimonial - Link it to your testimonial page

New Video - what a great way to show your prospects and clients new listings. Most video tools have the ability to embed them into blogs and websites. (who knows - they may even forward to someone that might be interested.)

Links to news articles about the real estate industry and your market - whether from your blog or a pdf file that they can print directly from your site. Another way to show your expertise and the value of working with you.

Calendar of Events and Community Events - a great way to show things going on in your community is to have a calendar that has dates highlighted to encourage them to explore and have them coming back to your site for this information. Be sure to highlight what events you're involved in and take them to the blogs you've written about your community, events and new businesses you have highlighted.

Newsletter Sign up another way to stay in front of your prospects and clients and show the value of your expertise and of working with you.

Your blog - Either feed your blog directly into your site or at least mention some of the most recent blogs you've done that you feel would be of interest to your visitors. Encourage them to subscribe to your blog via the rss feed so that they are getting regular communication and content from you each time you update your blog or simply encourage them by providing relevant content.

A call to action asking them if they want to be notified when updates are made to your site - encouraging them to revisit your website when you add something new - a reminder if you will to visit again.

Social Media Engagement - Encourage them to interact with you on social media sites that you participate on. Engaging with them in this fun way is a great way to build on your relationship and show them what you're involved in - maybe they'll see something in your stream and it will encourage them to ask you a question. Often customers may be thinking of something and won't reach out to you but if you put it out there they just might.

Visitors (prospects, past clients and search engines) may come to your site once, but to keep them coming back you need to have fresh and relevant content. You need to provide solutions to their questions. You need to provide information that means something to them - that fulfills their needs (WIIFM.)

How does your website stack up? Are you seeing repeat visitors and are there key pages/content that drives traffic to your site? Do you have a page like this that generates traffice?

What other suggestions for content to a "What's New" page would you include that would not only provide great content for your website visitors but also generate more traffic for your website?

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