Past Clients as a lead source won't produce a lot of business for you until you have some closed sales. And, it usually takes a few years for the past client repeat business to start, so this is a long game lead source.
As with all lead sources, there are lots of strategies you could implement to work your past clients. The end goal is return business but that might take a long time. You certainly want to sell their house when they’re ready to list, but you also wouldn’t mind a referral here and there, right?
Providing value is the name of the game.
Think about what a homeowner might care about:
- Wouldn’t it be nice to know what’s going on in the market?
- How is your neighborhood holding up in value?
- Speaking of value – is your house worth more now than it was when you bought it?
The simplest reason to stay in touch with a past client is home value. Some people call them market updates but a sexier name is equity updates!!
You could send a CMA on a regular basis, but that’s going to be cumbersome the more past clients you accumulate. An automated solution would be to use a software to send updates. Market Snapshot is a pretty good option at a reasonable price.
Maybe your website can send out home value emails? Kunversion offers this feature, although it doesn’t include SOLD properties.
You might just set up a saved search on your MLS and send it to each past client once a quarter with an update providing some color on current market conditions.
If you’re in their neighborhood, do a drive by. See some new landscaping? Did the color of the house change? How about the neighborhood – anything noticeable worth a mention?
Then, follow up with a phone call or email. “Hi, I was driving through your neighborhood and saw ________; it looks great! How’s life treating you?”
Other Resources
Inman news has a couple recommendations in this article.
You could also use many of the same tactics from the sphere of influence article to stay in touch with your past clients.
Realtor Mag also had some good ideas.
The key is to not be a nuisance. If you call them too much, they’ll stop taking your calls. If you ask them regularly for six years “Do you still like your house?” they will roll their eyes at the very thought of you.
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